આપી આપી ને તમે પીંછુ આપો - Poems by Vinod Joshi

    

Hello Friends,

     Today on 1^st January 2017, I am writing my 101^st blog. For a lazy person like me this was a long journey. I have completed a century of blogs and I want to dedicate my first blog of New Year to my favourite Poet and Writer.

      

     Vinod Joshi is one of my favourite poets. His poems easily connect with our heart and express our feelings. His famous works includes, Parantu (1984; collection of poems), Shikhandi (1985; long narrative poem based on Shikhandi), Radio Natak: Swarup ane Siddhant - 1986; Tundil-tundika (1987) and Zalar Vage Zoothadi (1991; collection of poems).

        Vinod Joshi as a poet connects to our heart but as a writer gives flow to our emotions. I am very lucky that I have got a chance to learn ‘Indian Poetics’ under his guidance. He is also the head of Gujarati Department in M. K. Bhavnagar University. I am the student of Department of English which is luckily beside Gujarati Department. I also got a chance to have his guidance in my assignment on “अभिज्ञान शाकुन्तलम्” (Abhigyan shakuntalam). 

 

 

     All poems of Prof. Vinod Joshi is very beautiful and presents feminine sentiments at its best, but today I will deal with his two poems which are my favourite.

 

First poem is...

     From the beginning of the world, Men were the givers and women were takers. In this poem Poet has presented that concept in a different way. Beloved is asking for more love, respect and freedom from his lover. Morpankh is the sign of love but in contemporary world, wings are more important. Krishna has presented a Morpankh to Radha for expressing his love, but here poet is applying post modernism in his poetry.

       

      There is a beautiful imagery with metaphors of moon. No one can squeeze the moon in bowl... but the beautiful imagery presents the delicacy of a woman and her hard efforts to get her love. Here is the imagery of a bride which leaves her everything for her groom and that grooms leads her to the world of fantasy. Bride leaves her world and enters in the world of groom or we can say the world of dream. Groom supports her but actually the heart of woman wants a relation which is stronger than support.

   

      After accepting all these, when woman wants to recall her memories, she can only find less happiness and more sacrifice. What she wanted was a new vision and life from a groom or a lover but she has god tears only.

 

The second poem is...

 

 

       This poem is about pure love, where distance, language, physical existence and expectations do not have any importance. This is the connection of one soul with the other where ‘otherness’ of soul melt in oneness of ‘love’.

    

      Lovers can talk with each other, but language can destroy the meaning and it can harm the sentiments, so alternatively the language of body is not important for the connection soul. For lovers, stay together is not important when they can feel the presence of each other in their heart. There are no demands and no expectation in love. If we expect it becomes more conscious process. Love should be consciously unconscious.

    

     When we like a flower we pluck it, but when we love it we can only touch with feelings. In love ‘touch’ is not necessary because ‘touch’ dies with body, but sense is eternal. 

I have also an English version of this poem...

      I hope you liked the blog, please help me to improve my writing by giving your valuable comments. 

Thank You.

Ode on Solitude - By Alexander Pope

Ode on Solitude

-      By Alexander Pope

     Alexander Pope was an English poet. He is best known for his satirical verse and use of the heroic couplet. Pope has written this poem when he was twelve years old.

Ode on Solitude

Happy the man, whose wish and care

A few paternal acres bound,

Content to breathe his native air,

In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,

Whose flocks supply him with attire,

Whose trees in summer yield him shade,

In winter fire.

Blest, who can unconcernedly find

Hours, days, and years slide soft away,

In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day,

Sound sleep by night; study and ease,

Together mixed; sweet recreation;

And innocence, which most does please,

With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

Thus unlamented let me die;

Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lie.

       ‘Solitude’ is the best stage of life. mostly people connects it with loneliness but it not about being lonely but it is about being happy in the company of our self. In this poem Pope says that the solitude is the blessed thing of life.

     

        The poem talks about the freedom of responsibility to the society and social norms. Pope talks about the joy of a person who is in his native land and not bounded or forced with the rules. The person should not be bounded by the rules of society and to answer the society.

 

     In second stanza poet talks about the rights of the person and presents that how society interferes in the life of individuals. Relatives and society play a role of a barrier in the life of a person. A person should be free and when the person stops thinking about what society think, he is at the stage of solitude. The person should be free to think on his own, s/he does not need to satisfy all the expectation of society. Poet talks about the life of those who lives in a farm, have flocks and trees to shade them.

       By the third stanza, poet found that only those people can stay with happiness and talked about the life with good health and peace. These people do not care about the nagging and judgements of society. Those people do not need a lavish life for their enjoyment.

     The people who are alone they do not need to care about what others think. The person with solitude has only the fear of his/her self only. Poet talks about his leisure life and ‘sound sleep’ with study and ease. He says that desire for knowledge is everything but a study without pleasure and ease is worthless. Society wants everyone to be educated but joy should be connected with it, otherwise it is of no use.

      In the final lines of poem poet wants the life of ‘unseen’ and ‘unknown’. He wants to hide himself from the world which gives pains and expects a lot. Thus the poem reflects the harsh reality of society and condition of an individual.

“and not a stone

Tell where I lie.”

‘The Tiger Smiled’ - by James Edward ‘Jim’ Corbett

‘The Tiger Smiled’

-      By James Edward ‘Jim’ Corbett

        James Edward ‘Jim’ Corbett was a British Indian Hunter and naturalist. He was famous for hunting a large number of men – eating tigers and leopard in India. He is the author of ‘Man-Eaters of Kumaon’ which includes his hunting experiences.

   

     I have studied this story in my graduation. “The Tiger Smiled” is also a part of the adventurous journey of Jim Corbett. As a writer he has described this event beautifully.

      

         This story starts with the description of a beauty of ravine and the narrator (Jim Corbett) narrates his journey from that valley with two other men. He was enjoying his journey but due to water rocks were slippery and he was feeling quite difficult to pass the path. He also found eggs of nightjar and the unusual shape of it was attracted him for a while, but his journey was for killing the men-eater tigress. This shows that in our journey there will be so many things which will attract us and stop us and jungle itself is with many mysteries and attractions. He added those eggs into his collections.

 

      The two men heard the voice of Tigress and informed Jim. Jim Corbett here told an important fact about tigress that,

“Tigers do not betray their presence by growling when looking for their dinner”

     Finally, there was an encounter of Corbett with Tigress. He has taken his position with his rifle. He said that,

“She has selected him for her dinner”

        Jim Corbett has given the description of Tigress and also described it smile, which was like a dog welcoming his master. He shot. The bullet has injured the spine of tigress and she was dead. Jim Corbett come to know that she was “The Chowgarh tigress”. She has killed susty-four humans and now Corbett has killed him. The journey was good but the situation of Corbett after hunting the tigress was very bad, he was not able to stand. To kill a murderer is also not easy. Animals have no humanity but humans kill animals if they harm them. Corbett also did that. There was a time when Corbett looked towards the tigress as she was her pet. The connection he was able to feel and he felt.

The Monkey’s Paw - by W. W. Jacobs

The Monkey’s Paw

-      By W. W. Jacobs

      "The Monkey's Paw" is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs first published in England in 1902. In this story, Jacobs has focused upon the superstition but in a different way. The story is full of suspense and we can feel the thrill while reading it. The story contains the effect of sound and it creates the horrific environment for the reader.

       In the story, the character of Sergeant Morris has the magical thing which is ‘Monkey’s Paw’. Sergeant tells the story of this paw to the white family. The paw is like a curse and one who owns it, it creates disaster for them. This paw was able to fulfill 3 wishes of the person, but in which way, that is the main suspense.

      Herbert was the son of Mr. and Mrs. White and he was quite modern. He didn’t believe the facts told by Morris and took that paw and told his father to wish £200 from paw. On next day Herbert was killed in the machinery accident at his workplace and factory owners paid £200 as the goodwill amount. After few days Mrs. White insisted Mr. White for the second with from paw, and it was get back Herbert. Mr. White did so, and at that time there was a continuous knock on the door, and it was growing louder and louder, Mr. White was aware with the fact that there may be an another disaster… so the used the Paw for last time and wished… read the original story for this.

   

      By this story we can get an idea that what is not natural is simply ‘Unnatural’ and it is not going to be good and perfect as ‘Natural’ one. Nature always gives the things on time but if we want it before time we have to work hard. There is not any shortcut. If we try to get any shortcuts, there will be a disaster only. In this story there are several themes like, theme of death, family, fate and freewill, morals and technology and greed. It also suggests ‘Be careful what you wish for’.