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Book Review
Poetry collection
POEMS OF INTROSPECTION: K. Ramachandra: Pub. by the author, 104, Vepery High Road, Chennai-600007. Rs. 150.
THESE POEMS, numbering 53, in the form of prose, are the passionate outpourings of a distinguished octogenarian physician who has retired from government service. The poet's recollections move over a wide range of subjects — mystics, the state of Tamil Nadu, culture, life, and meditation upon God, gender discrimination including the predicament of being a woman, old age, and religious practices.
The author's introspection results in a violent critique of corruption in all walks of life (with his ire directed at politicians and corrupt bureaucrats in particular) interspersed with tranquil meditations on positive thoughts like a mystic awareness of God.
The poet's phrases have the force of aphorism in statements like
Bureaucrats ethical
Are the servants of
monarchs political
Man is an animal full
of greed
Swallows up other's needs
Today, might is right,
right is not might.
Politicians have a
nexus with sanyasins
Who are a mixture of sins
In the title of a poem "Talent and success are far apart," he gives thumbnail sketches like that of an opportunist:
Friends who work hard
Are made to feel sad
That he has taken the credit
Achieved by his friends
with merit.
In the quaintly titled "Artful crower" (the poet has literally translated the original Tamil expression meaning a toady) two lines sum up the man:
To be an errand boy not for long
Till the goal is achieved, ere long.
Though the versification and metre could do with revision and polishing, the merit of the volume lies in the overwhelming passion that uncoils from each line; one is made aware of the intensely felt emotions that are not always recollected in tranquillity. Obviously each poem can be annotated with the real-life experiences of the author.
Many readers would agree with the poet's observations. An Alexander Pope he is not in terms of prosody but in terms of acute observation Dr. Ramachandra is in line with the great satirist.
ANAND KUMAR RAJU
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