Humanism, in the lyrical mode
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From poetry to politics — some interesting reads in Kannada
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Ondu Jilebi by Jayanth Kaikini
Ankitha Pustaka, Rs. 50
J ayanth Kaikini has been writing poetry for the last four decades and “Ondu Jilebi” is his fifth anthology. Jayanth — who has also engaged very seriously with the short story and essay form — is basically a poet and his prose writings are but an extension of his poetry. Jayanth, an anchor and a much sought after lyricist, has managed to safeguard his ‘moola dharma' of poetry. You find him a picture of restraint: still speaking in undertones, whispers, soliloquies and at times silence as well. He has not allowed his poetry to degenerate into cheap lyricism or politically correct rhetoric.
As a poet Jayanth does not go after themes but allows his senses to register the colour, sound and the smell around his immediate environment. His poetry is rooted in the concrete details of everyday life. The quotidian is magically transformed into a rich tapestry and in this process the seemingly dull and the ordinary get illuminated. The housewives, prostitutes, labourers, truck drivers, children, young men and women with their everyday problems, anxieties and challenges are made more familiar and in this new familiarity the readers begin to understand them humanely and compassionately. This is also true of the diction that Jayanth employs in his poems. It is neither high flown nor ornamental. The rhythm of the ordinary speech is slightly altered into the poetic rhythm of free verse.
In the poem “Roopaanthara” the poet wonders how our ordinary day to day actions, gestures and speech make a complex design once they are perceived in their inter-relationships. The poem suggests that if we are sensitive and responsive, life around us unfolds itself in all its hues. Poetry is one such sensitising agent according to Jayanth.
The poem “Kone Shabda” closely examines how the same, familiar, ordinary words begin to shine and mean with purpose and effect in the body of the poem. Hence, one of the guiding principles of Jayanth's poetry is to render familiar things unfamiliar and vice versa.
Compassion and understanding are the two foremost things that Jayanth attempts to foreground in his poetry. The poem “Ondu Jilebi” is in the form of a mother's advice to her teenaged son regarding the intricacies of human relationships.
However, the poem is neither didactic nor sentimental. “Anchu” asks if it is the lack of warmth and empathy that drive people into loneliness and insanity. At the same time, the poem “Walkman” disparages the man walking with his ears plugged and making an island of himself; he couldn't care for the world around him.
Jayanth strongly suggests that only intense human interactions can restore sanity and order to our disturbed lives.
T.P. Ashoka
Rajakeeyada Badatana by Dr. Chandra Poojari
Siddhartha Prakashana, Rs.160
“R ajakeeyayada Badatana” which translates to Poverty of Politics is a rare work in Kannada, written with political economy perspectiveby Dr. Chandra Poojari. The title is inspired by “Poverty of Philosophy” — a path breaking by Karl Marx. Karl Marx's work led to a paradigm shift in understanding poverty and philosophy, but Poojari's work does not intend to do so. It introduces many concepts to the Kannada reader in understanding poverty and broadly applies a Marxist framework of analysis to contemporary politics.
The book comprises of seven main chapters which are also independent articles written for different purposes. The main theme of the book deals with the status of poverty and poor in Karnataka and explores the logic of polity which has led to the present predicament. The book questions the wisdom of understanding the poverty as inadequate possession economic resources.
Dr. Poojari challenges this myopic theory of poverty and argues that it is the product of unequal political, economic, social and cultural systems and argues that the state of poverty is perpetuated because none of the state policies have attempted to address this systemic cause. This socio-economic inequality also scuttles the freedom of the poor which further strangulates their economic opportunities.
According to the author, communalism is a well-planned tactic of the upper class and upper caste forces to thwart the attempts of neo-elite shudra class and dalits, from usurping the state power. This analysis, though not very new, brings in a new dimension to our understanding of the ongoing communal polarisation in Karnataka.
Dr. Poojari questions the very premise of the Nanjundappa commission on regional disparity which, according to him, adopts only economic analysis of backwardness and offers capital infusion as the only solution to overcome the same. According to the author, any number of development boards or corporations does not solve the problem because none of them address the socio-economic or systemic causes of backwardness in a comprehensive way. Hence, the present policies of the Government to develop backward areas end up in only helping the elite sections of the area, perpetuating backwardness. However, he hopes that the readers of his book will comprise the middle class, who can play a significant role in overcoming the poverty of politics.
But few of the generalizations made by the author are not convincing and sometimes look contradictory. The author also seems to place extra premium on the Kerala and W. Bengal models of local governance. But this model has failed to protect the people from the onslaught of global market forces and has produced its own ruling classes, since the parliamentary left parties did not consider democratisation as a continuous process. Singur and Nandigram are testimony.
SHIVASUNDAR
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