Poet Adam Zagajewski
A book of translated poetry to this effect like V Charva. These poems of Polish poet Adam Zagajewski were written in Polish. Usually we come there via translations from the English language. Translations are debated but the status quo remains largely unchanged. Alas, now Google is used to convert Gujarati to Hindi, or English to Gujarati, in such a way that one can see a lot of nonsense. At such a time, the joy of getting a direct translation from Polish to Hindi (and that too of a poem) is doubled because both the translators – Monika Browarczyk and Maria Skakuy – are Polish and are teaching pure Hindi. So both languages are natural for them. This book is worth understanding the significance of both 'Parayi Sanatu Mein..' and its poet. Poets and poems are composed in great measure from the foothills to the summit. Like other languages, the crop of Gujarati poetry is fertile. However, sometimes there is a debate that who should be considered a poem, who decides, the poet himself or the reader or the critic? In the midst of such discussions, one sometimes comes across a poet and his poetry, which has something special. Where does this trait originate? In world wars, in famine and famine, in oppression and violence, in exodus and resistance, in the land of destruction. The whole society has to fight in it, strive to the death for culture and civilisation, direct and indirect struggle, use whatever weapons it has, fight, underground fighting, non-cooperation, neglect, laughter, humour, poetry, drama, Song, thought, tradition.. and many more. In the midst of this, in the shadow of the world wars, there was a poet who gave poems of all the political, military, social, economic tribulations without any tumult. It was not easy to give such literature. His homeland is the town of Lvov in present-day Ukraine. He was born on June 21, 1945, and died in his residence in Krakow, Poland in 2021. All of Poland and many countries around the world paid tribute to him as a 'great poet who gave a view of history rather than making it'. In his life he had to migrate frequently, from one town to another, from one country to another, and back to Poland… Such was the fate of a large movement like 'Generation-68', a poetry of protest, its history in 'Two Cities' and its accurate portrayal of public pain. Description Living in Berlin, France was his journey. Poland was then reeling under the shadow of the new authoritarianism. First the Nazi experience, then the extermination of the World Wars and then the shadow of Russian Communism. As the letter known as 'Letter of 59' was released, Lake Walesa and its 'Solidarity' opened a new chapter. At that time our famous writer was in Prague. He described in his article 'Prague Spring' how Russian tanks rolled into the streets of the town. The situation in Poland was similar. It was opposed. Happened in different ways. Street plays, nukkad plays, poetry, underground letters, sit-ins, silent demonstrations… such means were used vigorously. We have faced internal crisis, censorship and detentions in some places, but a section of intellectuals has been at the fore in supporting the measures of the rulers. Alas, immediate results also began to appear in Poland. Not only that, but all of Zagajewski's works were also banned. It is worth noting that ten of his 28 books were collections of poetry, but nowhere was there any apparent outrage and impetuosity, alas, not even excessive eloquence in any of the poems. Furthermore, one critic has noted that his poetry was apparently about 'nights, dreams, the history of the present, silence and death'. In this way, each of his poems shaped the beauty of the pain of the present through the path of the past. There is a deep pain of abandonment, but with it he brings every moment to the fore, asking, 'Is wholeness experienced only in the absence of presence?' A poem 'Rakhdu' depicts the observation and familiarity of a railway station waiting room. 'I am in the waiting room, very embarrassed. I have a book in my pocket, of someone's poems. Two vagrants and a drunkard on the bench. At the other end of the waist is an elderly graceful couple looking up somewhere, at the sky and Italy. We have been divided forever. Human race, nation, waiting room. I stop for a moment and think where to adopt the suffering? In between I sit down and start reading. I have no one with me, but where am I a traveler? A mountain of breaths, a suffocating gorge. Well, the division will continue. The titles of these poems form a shape in themselves, and if you read the poem, you gradually get to the inner person, the country, the society, the division, the depression, the resistance. A letter, A song in the name of multitude, A trip to Lviv, Chitrafalak, Agnigarbha, Trishna, Antennae, Invisible hand, poems are scattered in these sections. Why should this poet and his poems be remembered today? Now and before, small nations have faced war and oppression and welcomed Puratan. What Poland did, Ukrainian society is doing today, fighting to save culture. Understanding these countries through their means is also an important task.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
