Poetic classics from India
While reading the latest anthology of poems 'Mother India' by Arbind Kumar Choudhary, an eminent Indian poet writing in English, it will not be fallacious to state that William Wordsworth sounds absolutely correct when he remarks in the 'Preface to Lyrical Ballads' that poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, recollected in peace and tranquility. These observations are fully justified as we come across the element of remarkable spontaneity and refined sublimity that define this heart touching collecting of poetic pieces. 'Mother India' which is the eleventh poetry collection in English by Arbind Kumar Choudhary popularly called the Phrasal King in the popular psyche of the creative milieu in and outside India brings to light not only various burning issues but also guides the course of the human beings for the better future with the passage of time. The book that is an artistic cluster of ninety nine Indianised Version of Sonnets reflects on the emotional outburst of the poet in which cultural heraldry of India has been quite elegantly highlighted to enrich the poetic beauty of English poetry in general and Indian English poetry in particular to its utmost degrees.
These mythical messiahs-Savitri, Shakuntala, Sabri Harishchandra, Yudhisthir, Kunti, Karna, Vibhishan, Vidur, Elf, Mary and many others that fragrant the poetic canvas with the passage of time pertinently justify the mythical monarchy of Indian English poetry with great might and mane. The blending of Indian, Greek and Roman mythical messiahs that perfume the poetic pieces from first to last page speaks volumes about the deft skill of the poet over the alluvial mythical world. As we are dwelling in a world where we have to witness several gory and ghastly episodes of heart rending bloodshed, a society which we reside in contains a macabre spectacle of multiple massacres and brutal carnages, the peaceful messages of Satyagraha, non-violence, justice, humanism, morality and universal brotherhood that are scattered here and there offer us a glimmer of great hope. Here, the poet must be applauded for he emerges as a harbinger of peace, the noble virtue for which he attains the global repute of an excellent literary genius without dispute.
The lyrical luminosity, the proverbial pigments, racy style of versification, Indianised Version of Arbindonean Sonnets, the cultural culmination, lucid expression, selection of apt words and ,above all, the skillful usage of various scintillating figures of speech make him fully conspicuous and stand apart as an out and out Indian English writer of The Aurobindonean School of Poetry rather than The Ezekielean School of Poetry in Indian writing in English. This phrasal couplet that contains the junction of four phrasal words—emotional creature, dream for better future and human nature—speaks volumes about the phrasal aroma to its utmost degrees.
Man is an emotional creature/Who dreams for the better future of human nature?(Mother India,Page.22)
What that strikes the verse-suitors most is the cluster of the phrasal passages scattered here, there and everywhere? The phrasal charms of Mother India spread in the every nook and cranny in the corridors of Indian English literature shed immense light on the phrasal monarchy of the poet to a greater degree and with profound intensity from India, the cultural capital of the world to which now most of poets from the west look up to. The burning problems of corruption, exploitation, dynasty rulers, casteism, lawlessness, immemorality, brutality, religious fanaticism, revenge and a number of other social scourges add additional flavour to his poetry that make him better than ever in English Poetry in general and Indian English Poetry in particular.