The poetic veins within Varun Gandhi
by Dilshan Boange
[Part 3]
Continuing from last week, this concluding instalment of the article
will continue the discussion on the poetry of Varun Gandhi who is a
great grandson of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and presently an elected
member of the Indian legislature as a member from the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP).
His poetry can be read on his official website
(http://varungandhi.net.in/), which has been the source for me to make a
selection of poems to be discussed for the readers of the Sunday
Observer’s Montage. Having looked at four of the six selected poems for
discussion, in the two previous installments of this series, I will now
focus in this article on the poems ‘Father to Son’ and ‘The Return of
Introspection’.
‘Father to Son’
Considering a facet of the poet’s own life I wondered if the poem
‘Father to Son’ by its very title was meant to speak of VG’s own
thoughts about a parental dialogue that may reflect his creation of a
possible fictional interaction with his own father the late Sanjay
Gandhi who suffered a premature death and sadly deprived VG the
opportunity to get to know his father.

Varun Gandhi |
However the text of the poem proved to be from my reading of it
something far removed from the premise of a situation creating a father
and son moment linked to the poet himself. This poem proved to be rather
challenging in certain respects to read in terms of its symbolism.
Consider the following lines excerpted from the poem.
I thought, “Picture perfect but dead
like the flowers in my room”
Surface appearance
The words seem to speak of the worth of surface appearances. Façades
that may have no substance or life sustained. The image of a stillborn
child sprang to my mind and what pains that could erupt in the hearts of
the expectant parents. VG directs some attention in the text of the poem
to the word ‘ambivalence’ which speaks of the conflict within.
The clash of opposing forces pulling in different directions. Perhaps
it is to build a symbolic scenario of a how an image (a child) that
ought to personify life can function as an image of death –a corpse that
enters the world as ‘death’.
The poem ends with the line “I need death more than my son.” Perhaps
it is meant that what is desired finally is the means to end pain
–death.
But couldn’t, I wondered, to have the son come alive, also mean an
end to pain? Maybe there is much doubt as to what good will come to a
child born to a world of chaos and misery. The still born child is a
punishment possibly to the one who sired it since no ‘life’ was ever
intended by fate.
The poem ‘Father to Son’ at a symbolical level of metaphor could mean
the death of a dream that was conceived but never birthed. An ideal that
died before being realised.
Perhaps the outcomes of unions between groups that can dilute or
subvert a once noble ideal, vision, goal, may be read out of the text.
‘The return of introspection’
In ‘The return of introspection’ what I found is a voice that speaks
of a spirit that is finding a resurgence of its energies and the will to
rise to the occasion.
Before focusing on lines from the text of the poem I’d like to focus
on how the word ‘of’ denotes how introspection is seen as the ‘moving
force’ as opposed to it being a ‘passive premise’ that the poet arrives
at, in which case the preposition used would have been ‘to’ instead.
Introspection is, therefore, in the context of the poem a force that
allows the energy within that reposes waiting to be rekindled, to surge
through the veins of the poet whose conscience is made to wake on
account of seeing the pathos that is spreading and to which he cannot be
blind.
“There is a whole generation
clawing at the wheels of cars”
Image
In the above lines excerpted from the poem there is a very potent
image that speaks of present day poverty stricken communities that face
much debility in the face of growing mercantilism. ‘Wheels of cars’ as
an image signal the lowest part of what can be treated as a symbol of
affluence – the motorcar. The wheels of the car is what literally
touches the ground. Yet it is also the least ‘graspable’ part when in
motion.
It is very interesting to note how VG has created this image of irony
that can speak metaphorically of how the poor are faced with
opportunities that they may touch briefly but not hold on to and
possess.
One that sprang to my mind instantly was how the ‘hire and fire’
system of employing causal workers may resonate with this metaphoric
scene that could be read as a symbolism about the problems relating to
employment and job security that many are faced with in the world today
and it becomes possibly more pronounced in India today in the wake of a
billion plus population.
Connotations of images
The connotations of an image such as the one discussed are surely
literal and metaphorical in the context of rampant poverty existing side
by side with unbridled luxuriance enjoyed by a few. And it may not be
unfound to say that it is not a fictional sight to see in certain parts
of India how a massive economic disparity between the rich and poor
creates a ‘whole generation’ locked into the vicious cycle of poverty
and being made to survive on “feeding off each others’ screams” as the
poem goes onto narrate.
Surely these are problems that a young statesman in public office as
VG has found troubling his heart and mind which have in turn found an
image in his poetic expression.
A very conscientiously made statement appears to be found in the
following lines in the poem –
“To search for freedom and the search for love
lie on separate paths”
What could the young poet possibly mean through the above lines? Why
have these two paths which involve very positive ideas as ‘love’ and
‘freedom’ have to be on separate paths? Perhaps what the poet is hinting
to the reader through what he has learnt of life and the past is that to
search for ‘freedom’ could mean the meeting of conflicts and struggles
as is the case for any movement that seeks liberation.
Paths and sacrifices
And on that path one must be mindful that is it possible that
‘hatreds’ could very well spring up against whom you define as your foes
and obstructers. The ‘search for love’ on the other hand can be a
struggle that is more individually and subjectively pursued, while a
people that seek to emancipate itself from the clutches that enslave it
must work as a collective.
The poem ends with the following lines, evoking the spirit of a voice
dedicated to fulfil what is believed to be his duty, regardless of what
personal sacrifices may have to be made.
“If there is no new kindness
let me put my bad shoulder to the wheel to return to introspection to
hunt the sky of one mind.”
I feel that the poet speaks very strongly of his resignation to the
fact that true service to the country and people involves readiness to
make sacrifices of personal happiness.
In this sense it could be noted as answering the call of one’s
conscience. And what is interesting to note is that the line before the
last reads as ‘to return to introspection’.
Here the use of the preposition ‘to’ as opposed to the ‘of’ used in
the title indicates that introspection as a force that caused the poet’s
conscience to awaken has now become ‘the premise’ to which the poet will
consciously step towards, possibly to review what has come to pass so
that a path for the future may be better envisioned.
Limits of the discussion
I must stress that this article does not in any way purport to be an
exhaustive study of the merits of VG’s poetry or his style of verse, and
that all that has been commented on the six selected poems are my
conjectures made through analytical commentary of the texts and what I
read into them in the background of what can be said of the poet.
There is no authority in my commentary as having deciphered the exact
intentions and ideas of the poet; as is the case with any critical
commentary made on any work of art or literature.
However, it must be noted that a ‘poet-politician’ is something of a
rarity in these times we live in, one can say, as a reasonable statement
of fact.
And in the light of how Varun Gandhi has shown his mettle through his
poetry that his veins have the pulse of a poet who brings out profound
thoughts and taps the inner voice of the artistic facet within him, one
cannot help but wonder how much of his time will this young statesman
commit in the years to come, to give more life to the artist within him?
Apart from poetry will his hand take to writing fiction, or prose and
essays like his great grandfather?
What will his further contributions be to the realm of writing as he
finds himself faced with decisions to make on what his time should be
devoted to, as various paths emerge before him on his journey? Yes on
these questions too one can conjecture and surmise. The answer however,
of course is not with us, but with ‘time’. |