>From a poet's perspective
Vivek Narayanan's collection of poems, "Reasons For Belonging", looks at the tragic and comic side of life. He recently read out some of his poems at a session organised by the Prakriti Foundation. By PRINCE FREDERICK / The Hindu http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mp/2002/08/19/stories/2002081900180200.htm POETS ARE of three different varieties. At one end of the spectrum are the crusaders, who are descant on the contemporary socio-political climate with an aim to set an "errant world" right. Usually, they try to sell solutions they have in mind. At the other end are those who steer clear of the issues of the times. Taking the middle course are those who dwell on the issues for the simple reason that they are drawn to examining them. They take a good hard look at the issues, but stop short of offering solutions. Vivek Narayanan has taken to the middle path. His poetry gives voice to issues rocking contemporary society, but does not get embroiled in them. You would better appreciate his stand if you were au courant of his view of human existence. "I somehow find life tragic and funny at the same time. You could call it a `tragic irony'. In South Africa, brutal deaths used to happen so often as to benumb you of its horror," Narayanan says, after reading some his poems, that find place in an anthology titled "Reasons For Belonging", published by Penguin India and edited by Ranjit Hoskote. The anthology features 14 contemporary Indian poets. The poetry reading session was organised by the Prakriti Foundation at Sundar Mahal, Gopalapuram. Vivek Narayanan, who did most of his schooling in South Africa, draws a parallel between South Africa and Nazi Germany. Those herded into the concentration camps became casehardened after a few weeks of inhumane treatment from the Capos and the Gestapo officials. The very hopelessness of their situation was absolutely liberating. They felt a weight lift off their minds and they could laugh at their own parlous state. Some of his poems assume a mock-heroic tone. In one of which "MGR meets God in person". In another poem, there is unmistakable reference to another Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He writes "elegies to Silk Smitha". In another, he says social lives of expatriate Tamils in South Africa is but a "facsimile" of the mores and customs prevalent in Tamil Nadu. He enacted more than read one of his poems â "The Train Song Mumbai" (1992) â a la Dylan Thomas. One could hear the train chugging long after the reading was over. In alien lands, is he haunted by the question of identity? "Other people make me think of it." The first poetry he was introduced to was Indian and Black poetry. He started to pen poetry when he was in his sixth grade and eight years old. And when he was 17, he wanted to destroy all his poems. "When I told a teacher who was a poet too, that it was inexplicable why I wanted to destroy my poems, he said matter-of-factly that that was how one would sometimes feel and that it was alright." He succeeded in destroying but half of the creations as, subconsciously, he wanted to preserve them. "Ian Hamilton was a poet who averaged just two poems a year and there was Frank O' Hara who would come back from lunch and write a poem. The ideal is to write like Frank O' Hara. It makes sense to write all the time, because when the right poem comes along, you are there for it." He feels Indian poets work themselves into a corner and their art is weighed down by a number of factors, the colonial mind-set being one of them; and they should find themselves "a space of comfort". He has a word of praise for Rukhmini Bhaya Nair's "The Ayodhya Cantos" where "Hindi words rhyme with English words". It's a spoof that is serious, he adds. Vivek Narayanan is a Tamilian, who grew up in Lusaka. He has a Master's degree in cultural anthropology from Stanford. In 1992-93, a Watson Fellowship enabled him to travel in India, South Africa and Trinidad, writing poetry, fiction and personal history revolving round the project, "Story-telling, Ethnic Conflict and State Ideology". In 1998-99, he taught at the University of Natal lecturing on the South Asian Diaspora. He was the British Council poet-in-residence at the University of Kent in 2001. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/rkgkPB/UOnJAA/Zx0JAA/yqIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> «¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥««¤»¥«¤»§«¤» Did you get this mail as a forward? Subscribe by sending a blank mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR, if you have a Yahoo! 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