THE WORLD BEYOND POETRY BY JERNAIL S ANAND

SINDH COURIER

Poetry is a private passion. Keep it to yourself. Write poetry. Get your books published yourself. And live in the pipedream of giving a direction to society. Society is a river of polluted waters

Dr. Jernail S. Anand

Points to Ponder

*There is a trust deficit between the two. What the man in the street considers of utmost importance for survival, wealth, the poet raises his eye brows and looks down upon those who are after material possessions.

* A poetic sensibility is considered a big liability.

*A sound mind in a sound body. Fine, what about a sensitive mind in a sensitive body? Any takers?

* We have seen golden bricks recovered from the residence of an IAS officer. Imagination swoons and senses stop working when we just imagine … how much gold is lying stacked, and if put to count, figures will commit suicide putting the hawala wealth together.

*A message in the mobile: There is a poetic virus. Don’t click the link.

Poets are given to dreaming, and they glorify their task of poeticizing things beyond measure. What they think of poetry does not hurt anyone. Actually what hurts the normal time-brigade is what they, the poets, expect from them. In normal world, what finally works is not imagination as it does in poetry, but a ground sense of the reality. Poetry rises like glistening dust from the ground, but it pulls a curtain before the eyes of the beholder. Poetry itself is a dry and hard drink for ordinary people. And, what adds to its problems is, the poet fails to get along with the reality of the earth, and the people fail to understand what he wants. There is a trust deficit between the two. What the man in the street considers of utmost importance for survival, – wealth, the poet raises his eye brows and looks down upon those who are after material possessions.

Never was the poet so misunderstood as he is nowadays, when the medium [education] has been strangled with iron hands, and a poetic sensibility is a considered a big liability. I remember a time some fifty years back, when even commerce lecturers had on their shelves History of English Literature. Science teachers knew about favourite poems of Keats and Shelley. But now, even those who are to teach literature read nothing beyond the syllabus. So, there is a dislike, if not entirely distrust, for the poet, brewing among our educational ranks.

Then, which state can tolerate a person always raising an accusing finger at anything it does? Will even an ordinary man  like a ‘miserable’ poet, who lacks money enough to keep the wolf away, attack his living style and his ‘hard processed’ prosperity?

• A Sensitive Mind in a Sensitive Body

No surprise, poetry is not at all on the national agenda. I have seen CM’s always announcing great prizes to promote sports. Sportsmen, when given lakhs of rupees in prizes, remain loyal to the state. Even if the government is not performing well, they remember the laurels and the huge amounts paid to them, in prize money. Moreover sportspersons are not expected to comment on the polity and you won’t hear any such instances either. Add to it, the invisible dictum,  I don’t know who dictates it from above, people have to be taken care of physically only. Therefore, in the colleges and schools, hundred percent is given to sports.

Comparably, when we look at newspapers, they are a happy home for sports. Two pages in a newspaper, and at least one in regional papers, which shows the official emphasis on body development of the masses. The catch here is an escape route from mental and spiritual development. It is enough to say: a sound mind in a sound body. But not for the poet who bats for a different innings. He wants a sensitive mind in a sensitive body. Who cares?

The Space goes to Sports, Business, Politics and Crime

If we look at other pages, the greatest number of pages is devoted to Business. You cannot survive if you do not earn something. And for this you need a job. And then, a home, followed by a family unit. There are news how people grow rich overnight and also, how they turn paupers. How banks are defrauded and blue-eyed boys leave the country for greener pastures. This is our world and I have no feud with it. Poet! Are you listening?

Read: POETS AND PROPHETS IN THE COURT OF TIME

I forgot to talk about Politics. Change of royalties and change of loyalties. These are the real masters of Space. Space? How come? Poet, don’t get agitated. I am talking of space in newspaper columns. Please. Crime hogs the headlines on page 1. Politicians page 2. Business page 3. Noncommittal articles on editorial page and oped. 4 for business. 5 and 6 for sports and back pages for world news. So, poet are you irrelevant to this world? They have no space for you. Yes, if you want space, go ahead. Contact their business executives. Take an entire page.

The Academic Time

30% on Culture

30% on Sports

20% on Business affairs/stocks/tours

20% on hard-core studies.

50% on mobiles.

Culture: A Retrograde Passion

The third most important issue which eats into the state budget is culture. Every University has a Cultural Chair. Every school spends at least 30 percent of its time on cultural activities. Why am I mentioning this? Do I NOT believe in culture?  I have only one issue. Students come to the colleges to study. Instead of studies, we are treating them to sports and culture. Studies get hardly 20 percent of their time. The result is before us. We have a poor record in all fields. National sports are less than average. Yes, Indians are best at business, may be at the top in the world in several segments, because, we have securely buried our deadwood called honesty, goodness and morality under the debris of politiciated religion and religiocinated politics.

Culture is a retrograde passion. Instead of teaching the students to go forward, we are bullying them backwards. Culture should be 5% of the curriculum, and only for those who are interested. Sports too should be 5% of the academic time. And 90% should go to studies, so that our students could create new ideas and give shape to imaginative possibilities.