|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
His looks seem to be quite misleading. He may appear to be a grand old man but his ideas sound quite young, amusing and enlightening. There is no stopping this 84-year-old Dogri poet and Sahitya Akademi awardee, Yash Sharma. He has been writing tirelessly and has recently compiled a new poetry book, Boond Trailu Di (Drop of dew). The book would be in the hands of Dogri poetry lovers after it is released shortly.
The new book by this octogenarian poet comes after an anthology of his Dogri poetry, Hun Main Utthein Nahin Rohanda (Now I no longer live there), compiled under the auspicious Writer in Residency scholarship awarded by the Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, was released in Jammu University in March this year. `A0 Boond Trailu Di contains as many as 151 poems — each comprising four lines in the format of a rubai — in an innovation style. Unlike the traditional pattern of writing rubais, each poem describes only a dew drop, which remains the central theme of the book, in a new light. The poetry in its new avatar is a beautiful confluence of fresh perspectives, subtle ideas and nuances of age-old philosophies about life.`A0 Talking about his poetry, Yash Sharma says: "Nature has been my favourite subject of poetry since the beginning. This time a fragile yet an attractive object — a dew drop — sparked my imagination. I saw philosophy of life in it. Like human life, a dew drop is also momentary yet beautiful in spite of being unpredictable and uncertain. So there is a relation between the two." Age is no hindrance for this prolific poet. "I will keep on writing as long as I am alive. The poet in me remains always absorbed in new thoughts toying with different ideas. I am quite sturdy and would never sit idle," he muses, and adds naively: "Poetry is an addiction to me." "Earlier, I started writing in Hindi under the tutelage of famous Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan during my college days," he says, and adds: "Then I switched over to Dogri along with two other noted poets of Dogri, who are no more — Ved Pal Deep and Keri Singh Madhukar. There was a movement for the revival of Dogri and Dogri culture at that point of time, and we certainly felt an obligation towards our own land, people and our culture." "I and my friends would have been bureaucrats, engineers or doctors as parents usually expect their children to be. But we listened to the heart and started holding poetic congregations for the promotion of Dogri. We would spend all the pocket money in pursuing poetry. This kind of dedication and devotion towards art and culture is missing among young writers today," says the poet.`A0 On life, he points out: "As I have written in one of my poems, I do not want salvation from the cycle of death and birth. There is a beautiful myth, which says that if a union remains incomplete in this birth, it will get completed during the next birth. I subscribe to this philosophy." Some critics call him "songster extraordinaire;" others describe him as a wordsmith par excellence, who paints with words. His poetry makes him the most loved and respected poet in Dogri language. Whatever may be the theme of his poetry, he draws inspiration from rich folk culture and history of Jammu. Most of his songs, which have attained the status of being folk, evoke the pathos of women of the hilly state of Jammu and Kashmir. Whatever he writes, it exhibits an inherent lyrical value always close to Pahari music. "Poetry comes to me during the pious hours. It is meditation," he says, and defines good poetry: "If a poem does not have any symbols, then it is no poetry at all. In a good poem, every sentence should convey a deep-rooted philosophy. It should neither conceal nor reveal the idea. For, poetry is more subtle than prose, and it must keep this feature in tact for the sake of its identity." In one of his poems, he candidly confesses that "twilight has descended on the minarets of mind as its dusk of life."`A0 Yet his philosophy does not lead to gloomy pessimism but makes one accept two supreme truths about life — arrival and departure. "If a child does not grow, it is unnatural. If an adolescent ceases to be adult, it is unnatural, too. If the adult does not grow old, it is again unnatural. And, if an old man does not die, this too shall be unnatural," he believes. According to the poet, half of his life’s work still remains unpublished. Hopefully, his admirers and lovers of Dogri poetry would get to read some more of his books in the near future. `A0`A0 In one of his critically acclaimed poems, on the shaky India-Pakistan relations, he writes: "Now I can go to the moon but not Sialkot." On the impact of war on the common masses, he asks: "Have you seen a child feeding at his mother’s breast? The mother, who is lying dead?" And warns: "For heaven’s sake, don’t teach this child history, geography and sciences. This child is a human being; let him remain so; let him remain illiterate. Your education is going to teach him animalism only." `A0 Dusk has been his`A0favourite`A0muse all through his poetry. In his works, dusk attains different manifestations and it has secured him the title of "Sandhya ka Kavi" (Poet of dusk).`A0
|
|||
|
|
|||
