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Punjabi poetry is a rich amalgam of romantic verse a la Damodar’s Heer; sublime Sufi poetry as epitomised by Bulleshah and others, and soul-cleansing philosophical minstrelsy — a product of divine afflatus that was the hallmark of Guru Nanak Dev and other Sikh Gurus. Then we have socio-political poets like the leftist Jaswant Singh Kanwal, and the folklorist Qadir Yar. Of course it would be sacrilege to not mention such all-time greats like Dhani Ram Chatrik, Amrita Pritam, Shiv Batalvi, Surjit Pattar et al. Tasneem has done well to introduce us to the poetry, and poets, of Punjab.
The story ideas in this volume are good and could’ve been developed into riveting narratives. Unfortunately, tales like The Faithful Crow, Wisdom of Ages, The Sleepy Clerk, The Mysterious Goldpin etc are half-baked. Cavalier editing and lackadaisical proof-reading become evident on pages 12-13 when the paragraphs beginning with ‘So for seven years... are repeated.
Anil is tormented by voices in his head. Schizophrenia? Whatever. He gives a first-person account of his encounters – real or imaginary – with different people. The characters mouth arcane, pseudo-intellectual stuff that might zap some of our impressionable adolescents, but the wiser among them might just toss this book into a nearby trashbin. Take this first encounter between Anil and a young girl in an "exclusive" club in New York; their talk is quasi-philosophical that’s out of place given their age, the place and the situation; sample this: "Sometimes it’s sheer bliss!" "You mean when you’re paying attention to ‘it’, right?" "What do you mean by that?" "I mean ‘what is’ in the sense of here and now." "I’m not sure I understand..." the girl is confused. So is this reviewer. |
The Contours of Punjabi Poetry
The Mysterious Goldpin
Bright Lights Big Buddha