‘Let’s meet, chat and depart’
The poet is in love with many thoughtful
questions exhibiting her poetic maturity
BOOK
REVIEW By ADARSH AJIT
Name of the book: Chaman Barg Raze
Poetess: Dr. Darakhshan
Andrabi
Year of publication:
2012
Price: Rs 350/
Darakhshan Andrabi’s ghazals and poems show complexity of thought, depth,
philosophical touch and sublime sensibility. She presents Kashmir in a veiled
yet universal way. Unlike other poets, who urge to meet the beloved in a happy
ending, she wants to meet someone, have a chat and depart again:
goda yaar samov, darbaar karov, pata raavav
tim khaab panane lotipathe sarov, pata raavav
Let’s meet, have a chat and depart
Let us realize our dreams and then disperse
The poet is in love with many thoughtful
questions which exhibit her poetic
maturity. Many new poetic inventions, unknown and unexpressed in the Kashmiri
literature, have been expressed in the book. The poet knows how to liberate from the mundane. She covers the distance between the celestial and the
existential worlds on a well-designed
platform in her own characteristic way. Potentially rich she sums up her flight
of thoughts:
yad mashraavav aslaafan heund khaab pagah,
ase kati chaarav sehraavan manz aab pagah
baari amaanat laash panane chem shaanan peth
dafnaavan kath jaayi cha vantam khaab pagah
If we forget the dreams of our ancestors,
how shall we find the water in the deserts.
The dead body on my shoulders is a burden
where shall I bury the dream tomorrow?
The title Nazam Chaman Barg
Raze is striking for it depicts the turbulent valley. The words describing
nature have been poetically woven together to present desolation. In the
cluster of quatrains the fourth line of each quatrain ends with a question, which is in contrast to the content of the first three lines. This experiment
is unique in it-self and enriches the
Kashmiri literature. She is waiting for someone to read unwritten pages of her
existence and calls someone to leave the fear psychosis and have the courage to
see the light of the day:
ani gati hendi mousama ki khofa asethakh che taapa lanjan peth kenh bath
adlek travmate
adleken batan dichmai zev ta karim poora
gevmaten batan hinzi layi zale vaaryah changge
cha kyazi gaashas khochaan?
Darkness made you leave the songs
incomplete on the sunny branches.
I gave language to the incomplete songs and completed them.
The rhythm of the songs gave birth to the burning candles.
Why are you afraid of the light?
Natural beauty attracts
the poet often. She is an expert in using the natural richness of the murmuring streams, mountains and the free air.
She wants to merge in nature and asks her own symbols to recognize their being
with respect to the vibes of nature:
kota zaroori chu zi
poshan aasan panponpares
baalthongen obr lang…….
ta kotah zaroori chu zi
mann rati timan naalmati
ta mathi tim pannis vajoodas
How important is that flowers have butterflies
and mountains have clouds!
And how necessary that soul embraces them!
Six stanza-poem “ada tulizi
qadam yath basti manz” talks about a person who is
conscious about paths, the dangers and
the ways to reach the destination and asks the other to proceed with extreme
care. Giving the background for this journey the poet informs:
yati kaakad chee kooten mare mare
parbat daari chu curfew naal walith
yali lookh taten nani waana saman
ada tulzi kadam yath basti manz
Every window is sealed curfew.
Paper is pasted on the poles here.
When people will assemble, all visible, then take a step in this habitat.’
Romantic influence is evidently visible in most of the couplets of
Darakhshan. In this dark-age when the
relations have declined, love is gone and hypocrisy rules the romantic essence
of the poet gives hope.
Darakhshaan tests doha-form also. In one of her dohas she writes:
deewaaras lekith, rat navith tehreer
shure gai aangan buze, yee sapdus tafseer
Inscriptions on the walls are in blood.
Children disappeared. This was the upshot.
Drakhshan Andrabi’s content is rich on the
philosophical level. Occasionally she succumbs to her heart. The pain, misery, difficulties, travails and loss of
the dearest ones have broken her heart.
The poet is shattered. Her wounds bleed. But she develops new skills for living
and for the outflow of her emotions:
timan baapath
yaman asnukh chu haavas
timan baapath
yaman yachnuk chu taakath
kanaan chas dag
heyiv maa?’
I sell my pain for those who want to laugh
and have desires.
Will you buy?