Cultural Bonds Through Literature

'The Rainbow of Eternity' is a joint work of Indo-Australian poetry which showcases the poetry of two great poets: Dr. Bajram Redzepagic from Australia and Dr. Jernail Singh Anand from India. Dr. Bajram Redepagic is known as the Balkan Dostovesky, having authored more than 20 books, including a famous novel "Rebel", also decorated with Commonwealth of Australia Award. Dr. Jernail Singh Anand has authored more than 150 books of English poetry, fiction, non-fiction, philosophy, spirituality and eco-consciousness. His work has been recognized the world over, particularly his 9 epics which includes the famous Mahakaal Triology.

"The Rainow of Eternity" is in the nature of a cultural bridge not only between the poetry of two poets, but between two cultures, and two ways of living and thinking. One thing that brings them closer is their love for the living being, for in case of both the poets, their sweep is cosmic, and both prefer a world order which is egalitarian and equalitarian. In fact, comparisons are illusory and It is not possible to compare two poets, even if they belong to the same country.

Dr. Bajram is a highly conscientious writer, who knows the idea of escape from responsibilities as a human being will haunt him in times to come.

"If I run away from everything,

I've heard and seen,

I'm guilty even more, worry will destroy me."

The poet looks at what is happening with a 'furious' look, something he does not approve, because he believes in a different world:

"As if the wind were tearing down trees,

Carrying roofs, roaring with a terrible roar,

Storm, everything is falling apart, breaking, overturning in the world,

And I watch furiously,

Believing in a different world."

Dr. Bajram is a very sensitive poet, but rebellion runs in his veins. In a very bold language, which if full of passion angst and despair too, at human destiny, he cries:

White tombstones tell, each in their own way, their story about life,

About torment, about song, happiness, …death and love,

The dead seem to payback the living debt

I am convinced that happiness is in change,

A rebellious spirit, a song, a beautiful dream.

Crazy people don't see anything.

While we find in Dr. Bajram a prompt rebel, Dr. Jernail Singh Anand's poetry has a different flavour. He believes in analysing the phenomena and every poem that he writes has a moral edge to it. Spirituality is his forte. In fact, he has carved a niche in world poetry as a great moralist of our times, and a great satirist also, like Daniel Defoe. Dr. Anand's poetry has been compared with Iranian poets also by means of a research project by the English Dept. of Univ. of Neyshabur, Iran. His poem, 'Lines Written Away from a Country Church Yard' bears witness to his sensitivity towards the objects of the University. How the earth reacts to a dead body, like a mother who receives her dead son:

Why you gathered useless toys?

Only I am sorry,

I failed to gift you with mother wit.

Mother earth tells her son, after his return, that the love that the worldly people showed to him was merely an illusion:

Do you know,

All this love was a mere show?

Go back, I give you your body again,

And see what will happen.

Ghost! Ghost!!

They will be flying

All those who are crying and sighing.

Here is a terrible exposure of human love, but the poet does not distrust love as such. For him Love is the cardinal virtue. Love flows as light flows from the sun and rain from the clouds:

Clouds fail to hold the rain drops,

And the sun cannot hold its light.

But, man, the wise,

Always holds his goodness,

And unleashes his evil.

This is how we create hell, opines Dr. Anand, whose poetry sometimes looks pontifical, although it is the aesthetic richness of his work which appeal to the mass mind. Dr. Anand has brought out this slim volume and prior to it, he has published around thirty poets [in a joint venture] from across the world. In this way, this book is a golden link which unites the magical world.