Nasaribaloga Patkhila

The poetry of solitude

Name of the book: Nasaribaloga Patkhila

Writer: Debaprasad Talukdar

Publisher: Chandra Prakash

Pages: 39

Price: Rs 50

A poet is a philosopher. His is the voice of silence, the world and the man. He sees the essentials of life and living. So when he describes the world, nature, man and society, he tries to pass that intimacy on to the individual within the reader.

All poets of the world share affinities and they seem to breathe in the same air with the same intensity and fervour.

I read Deba Prasad Talukdar’s anthology of poems first in a hurry and then at leisure. But with each reading, he seemed to speak of the candid, simple and honest human heart — its songs, pathos and delights.

What is unnerving and striking about Talukdar’s poetry is that the poet has ungrudgingly learned to accept and accommodate the opposites and the irreconcilable paradoxes of life. The diffident soul of the poet, hesitatingly, as it were, unearthed the marvellous states of nature, including the magnanimity of the seeking and questing in life.

The profundity of time and realisation of life as perceived in the mundane becomes striking metaphors in Talukdar’s poetry.

The cycle of time is simply manifested in the change of seasons, the sensuous poet’s sense of taste and other perceptions as condensed metaphors in the poem Andharot Tomar Mukh.

Another significant poem is Dupariya, which evokes the solitude of the noon, both literally and metaphorically. A unique suggestion of the lonesome heart is symbolised by a trembling rod on which a crow is perched.

The theme of identity and formation of ego is subtly dealt with in Shadow. The advancing years became elongated in time, framed on a surrealistic level — Lahe lahe belito dupar hai mor sitanor pora dholi parise (gradually, very gently, the night has turned into noon and has melted into the feet of my bed). Symbolic suggestions in simple language describe religious and mystical connotations in poems like Eeswar, Ghat and Path. Spontaneity gives way to technical formality when the poet refers to the oft-used metaphor of the play and the stage as analogous to life and living. In the poem Natak Ekhan Chali Thakote (while the play is on), the candour of life gets entangled in art and art replenishes life or living. The voice of the poet works in the solitude, in clear correspondence with the sea and horizon.

The extended suggestion of the metaphor of the mother touches and enriches Debaprasad’s poetry at the spiritual level. The mother is presented as the epitome of boundless patience and tender protection.

The sensitive poet’s heart is overflowing with exuberant mirth at the changes perceptible in the exterior, the natural landscapes. The cycle of nature in an analogous manner suggests trends and episodes of life. Autumn and winter for age and time tend to signify stereotyped versions of similes used, but in this poet’s delineation, a fresh sensuousness is immediately felt. This admission of the poet’s obsession with nature does not, of course, negate in any way his affiliation towards man and community. The poet admits the sacred role of the poet for mankind in the poems like Sei Rode Bichara Manuhjan and Pratibesir Saat.

The book is a must read for those who wants to get a feel of the different hues and sensations associated with life.

GARIMA KALITA

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111014/jsp/northeast/story_14574242.jsp