MINOR THEMES VIS-A-VIS TIME IN PRONAB KUMAR MAJUMDER'S POETRY

MINOR THEMES VIS-A-VIS TIME IN PRONAB KUMAR MAJUMDER'S POETRY

 

By

 

Swagata Ray, M. Phil;

R. K. Singh, Professor;

M. Mojibur Rahman, Associate Professor;

Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad

 

 

Pronab Kumar Majumder's poetry is unique for his distinct theme, approach and philosophy. In fact he shares some of his themes and philosophy with a few other contemporary poets such as Bibhu Padhi, Niranjan Mohanty,  A. K. Ramanujan and R. Parthasarathy. But his reflective style, as he demonstrates  in dealing with  subjects like Time, Life, Philosophy, Nature, War and Peace, offers a different perspective which entails self-introspection against certain personal issues and social understanding.

 

Majumder  has  been  concerned  with    subjects of violence, interpersonal relationships, natural calamities etc  almost  like  a  philosopher  to  understand  practical  challenges  and  their  attributes.  He   explores these   "with  a  consciousness  which  recognizes  the  physical  experiences  ‘with  mediating  ease'  and  tells  of  the  memories  that  are  ‘more  outspoken/ than  human  tongue  and  temperament."1

 

The poet wears a mask to unravel the "eternal ringings/of the bell that keeps tolling" though he hardly reflects on meaningless death or purposeless life. In fact as a poet of Time, he exposes his philosophic vision against personal self experiences, against  "the mortal world time."

 

TIME

 

The  theme  of  Time  has  been  an  important  theme  with  all  the  poets  of  all  ages.  Shakespeare,  through  Jaques,  says  that  it  was  nine  one  hour  before  and  it  will  be  eleven  one  hour  after.  So  we  ripe  every  hour  and  get  rotten,  and  like  ripe  fruits  we  fall  down.  Andrew  Marvell  also  presents  the  fact  that  in  front  of  Time,  human  life  and  love  is  ephemeral:

 

But at my back, I always hear

Time's winged chariot hurrying near

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.2

 

 

William Wordsworth and T. S. Eliot have written poems on Time.  Rabindranath Tagore has also written poems on Time. As he says:

 

Have you not heard his silent steps? He comes, comes, ever comes.

Every moment and every age, every day and every night he comes,

comes, ever comes, …3

 

Several  new millennium poets, such as  Krishna Srinivas,  Maha  Nand  Sharma,  S.  L.  Peeran, and Rabindranath Menon have also written poems on Time.  R.  K.  Singh has defined Time in his own way:

 

I can't understand

their mystic heaven or thrills

housed in awareness

 

time's intricacies

or sources of plastic mist

through mythical depths

…

I stand on the edge

Of earth's physicality4

 

Pronab Kumar Majumder , too, conscious about Time as omnipotent , discovers:

 

The cosmic world is dictated by Time

Every bit of it is Time relative.5

 

In his reasoning, whatever belongs to Time – life, mind, thought, nature, various quotidian experiences, whatever—is fragmentary. It is not whole. Rather, it is the result of various causes and results. One needs to understand all these to be holistic, that is, life which is full of love, affection, and care; mind which is attentive and not lost in the pursuit of pleasure; and thought which is not controlled by materialist movement. The poet's search for the ‘whole' can be articulated with an understanding of the ‘parts'.

 

All his thinking – his thoughts—are enclosed by Time. He might try here and there to soar above or beyond (Time), but essentially he remains confined to the quotidian time and mechanical, rather than spiritual, which is Timeless. His consciousness is wrapped in hundreds of remembrances and recognitions that are simply egoistic and self-centred.

 

The poet's observation of himself appears superficial, as Time, life, nature etc are part of the "cumulative memory" which does not allow anything deeper to set in. Nothing extraordinary seems to enlighten or experience. Majumder may appear to seek something permanent or everlasting in the sense of Time, but the verses reveal that everything he mentions –events, situations, issues, or even reflections—is in transient , in a flux. He fails to offer something beyond the measure of time, or the known, or which does not operate through thought or the response of memory.  Time engages him to explore the world around him and it breeds dissatisfaction. It doesn't move beyond the superficial wrangles of the mind. He fails to experience the quietude of the mind, so essential for any spiritual experience.

 

 

LIFE

 

In  almost  all  of  his  collections, Majumder  tries  to  define  Life in consonance  with  Time.  He says Life is not merely passing days.  Life has its own image, its own identity:

 

Life not some passing days

Life has an image

Life is an entity

Having some identity … 6

 

The  struggle  and  pain  of  Life  reminds us  that  we  are  living  our  life.  To quote him:

 

While walking along

The rugged ascent

Of a mountain path

Pricking pains reminded me

For living a life 7

He seems to explore himself in experiences and relationships that lead him to a sort of ‘conditioning' vis-à-vis environmental influences and beliefs that obstruct the understanding of reality. He seems to suffer fear of what is, and seeks comfort in Time, exposing ideas, reflections, experiences, knowledge, and concerns that indicate his own inner insufficiency. That is why he  realizes  that  it is more  tough  to  live    than  to  die:

 

Every moment I am struggling to live

For I know quite well, well enough

It is more difficult to live than to die 8

 

What is known through the mind , which functions within the domain of time, -- pain, trouble, disappointment, ambition, failure, achievement, fulfillment, frustration, or simply, facts of daily life—is, truly speaking, the result of Time.

 

The poet also seeks to  highlight that Time is beyond human reach.  On the one hand, it creates everything, and on the other, it destroys.  If  one  utilizes  it,  one gets  reward  from  it  and  if  one  misses  the  opportunity,  it  never  returns  to  give one another  chance.  Time is omnipotent and life has to follow its path.   Human  beings  are  trapped within Time  and  with  the  passage  of  Time,  one  has  to  decay.

 

 

Though  Majumder tries to define  Life and its experiences with  respect to Death, sometimes he  sounds  hopeful of  a  better  life. Then,  he uses  Death  as a metaphor: the  death  of  ignorance,  old  and  worn-out  thoughts, leading to a  new  birth, a  better  and  prosperous  Life.

 

 

LOVE

 

Apart from the themes of Time and Life, Majumder's poetry includes some other themes such as Love, Mind, Ecology, Society, Personal  experiences , and  others. But he views these within Time, that is, these operate in time, physically as well as psychologically. It is immaterial that he may sometimes echo  higher values or a different way of life.

 

Love, for example, is treated at personal level as an  emotional  feeling  which   has                          overwhelming  effect  on  individuals.  The  eyes  of  the    beloved  inspire  him  to  write  poetry.  When words struggle  for  proper  position, or when  paper  and  pen  lose  their  contact,  the poet  finds  the  whole  poem  in  the  eyes  of  his  beloved:

 

When the empty page before me

Does not pull the light of the pen

I am persuaded to feel then

In your eyes the poem I seek do I see. 9

 

The  fascinating  touch  of  the  fingers  of  his  beloved  makes  him    feel  as  if  he  is  a  ‘stranger'.  He  feels  that  time  has  stopped  when  he  looks  at  her:

 

My body I feel a stranger in your arms

How bewitching is your touching finger's charm

On yours when I fix my searching eyes

Time seems to have stopped flowing tides. 10

 

The  poet  says  that  if  one  wants  to  show  too  much  possession  over  Love,  then  Love sickens  and  will  lose  its  lustre  and  warmth:

 

I want to possess by keeping the possession away

I want to dream possession with pleasure everyday 11

 

 

She  is  pretty  and  adorable  as  if  she  is  an  epitome  of the ‘goddess  of  beauty':

 

You are incarnation of goddess beauty

A being of wonder a cuty 12

 

The  intensity  and  truth  of  his  love  can  be  seen  in  his  eyes:

 

 

My words may not reach you

In mirror of mind you may view 13

 

It is the  eyes  which  express  each  and  everything  hidden  in  the  mind  and  heart.  He presents the view that where words fail, eyes succeed:

 

Eyes do hold

All words untold 14

 

He sounds sensuous as   he  feels  to  swim  in  the  eyes  of  his  beloved  because  her  dark  eyelashes  are  his  ‘sheltering  petals'.  Her  brown  nipples  awake  all  his  sensations  and  cuts him off from  all  around:

 

Your brown nipples

Stirred my blood my neighbourhood 15

 

 

He is baffled and asks  why  with  the  music  of  violin  love  grows  in  him,  why  the  sensation  arises  with  the  touch  of  someone.  But he can philosophise:

 

Love needs no seed for culmination

It is a feel born of imagination. 16

 

Majumder says  that  the  place  between  the  lips  of  his  beloved  is  the  most  secured  place  where  he  can  stay:

 

Between your lips is the place

I land, I live in safety … 17

 

To him,   a  lover  is  a  person  who  sacrifices  everything  for  the  sake  of  love.  He never needs any crown.  Instead, he  feels  free  in  love  with  his  beloved, who  is  simple  and  sober:

…

He feels free in love with

Flowers, fountains, bird and breeze

And surely with his loveable woman

Who is placid and without pomp. 18

 

 

One  can  find  a  ‘silken  touch'  in  the  love  poems  of  Majumder. Here he evinces a romantic sensibility, just as he understands that mind too is not free of time. Recalling (or imagining) love, he is engaged in a self-centred movement of thought within the domain of time and resultantly, he is caught in the web of fears, anxiety, likes and dislikes, and what is and what is not.

 

MIND:  Fear, Confusion, Dream, Memory, Loneliness

 

Krishnamurthy  says  that  fear,  confusion,  desire,  memory  all  are  the  products  of the mind. Mind is not without past, present or future. The mind is crowded with worries and concerns of everyday life, ambitions, fears, anxieties, pettiness etc. It is so full that it is far from what is timeless. There  is so much disturbance that it is not quiet or peaceful. It suffers blockages and hindrances, seeking to discover something ‘new', or truth, reality, or freedom. It creates confusion through the process of thinking.

 

In  a  poem  ‘Change of Planet',  the  poet  tries  to  identify  his  present  position  with  what  he  had  once.  He   says  that  when  he  turns  towards  his  home  he finds  nothing  familiar.  Everything appears to have changed. He cannot recognize the planet or the place where everything has become unfamiliar to him:

…

I remember yet having a home

Sometime somewhere on this planet,

…

I come across only grey land

Have I changed the planet? 19

 

He is caught in his own thoughts. He can't break away from memory or time to find something new. Possibly because his mind is not quiet? Or, he cannot feel the spirit, or the eternal?

 

Memory:

 

In ‘Where Is The Cradle?', Majumder  reminisces about his  childhood  days  and  says:

 

Where is the cradle?

In which I slept I wept once? 20

 

The  same  feeling  of  the  poet  can  be  noticed  in  other  poems  like  ‘Lost Childhood' and  ‘Courtyard'.  The poet's reminiscence of his childhood days makes him nostalgic:

 

Presently my busyness keeps me engrossed

The courtyard died under weight of high-rise

countenance graying days are embossed

What might be a childhood I wonder I surmise. 21

 

The  poet  says  that  a  letter  from  distant  relative  shakes  the  memory  which  is  hidden  in  the  unconscious  mind.  He says: "A letter we expect always to sustain furthermore." 22

 

In  another  poem  ‘Light and Shade' in Life  and  Eternity,  the  poet  describes a  room which  was  once replete with  people.  But today there lives no one.  He  finds  only  stale  footprints,  rubber  slippers  and  few  other  things  which  were  once  in  use.  In  another  poem  ‘Yesternight', the  poet  reminisces  and calculates  what  he  has  lost  in  these  years.

 

In  another  poem  ‘Photograph', the  poet's  eyes are struck  on  a  photograph  which stirs his memory personally and touchingly:

…

I poured all my kisses

I stored thru my life

Upon the cheeks of

The hundred years old

Young and fresh girl. 23

 

Confusion:

The Mind  is not free from the past, nor can it see the truth; it cannot unburden the known, the ego, the self, or the beliefs, rituals, values, and norms. It is filled  with  everyday   challenges,  tensions  etc,  and stays  confused.  In  a  poem  ‘Confusion' in  Dialogue  With  Time,  the  poet  reveals  his state   of  confusion.  The  fear  in  his  mind  makes him  unable  to  find  a  way  out  from  a  closed  room.  In  another  poem  ‘Echoes', he says  that  his  confusion  is  darkening  his  days,  making  him  unable  to  return  to  his  home,  and  due  to  this  he  is  wandering  aimlessly:

 

Confusion darkens the day

Mist enshrouds my way home

Should I be wandering

On the paths of the earth

Aimlessly, reaching nowhere?

Hearing echoes only in the void. 24

His attempts in various poems arouse memories of actual experiences that are not devoid of confusion and conflicts of daily life. Obviously, at times he is not likely to be clear or precise.

 

Fear:

 

Confusion leads to ‘fear'.  The greatest of human being's fear  is ‘Death'. As  the poet says:

 

Fear is fear losing them we endear of

Another selfish fear is fear of losing mortal body sheer 25

 

A  fear  of  rejection  in  the  poet's  heart  is  presented  in  the  poem  ‘Hand'.  The  poet  says  that  he  has  ‘singed'  his  hand  in    the  Sun,  purified  it  by  dipping  it  into  the  river.  Till  he  has  a  fear  whether  his  earnest  effort  will  be  successful  or  he  will  be  rejected:

…

All this I did in quiet earnest

All, I thought best

But do you still need a hand now?

Do I need yet to be faithful? 26

 

The fear of safety, security, loss of everything etc.  can  be  seen  in  his  other  poems  also.

 

Loneliness:

 

Just as  the  confusion  leads  to  fear, fear  leads  to  the  development  of  the  feeling  of  loneliness  in  the  poet.  The  poet  says,  nothing  of  this  world  is  ours,  be  it  a  river,  tree  or  anything.  The place where we live in is not ours.  This  feeling  of  possession  of  nothing  makes  him    feel  alone  in  this  world.  In a crowd also the poet feels lonely. He says that with the passage of time everything is disappearing:

 

Slowly but surely

A crematorium is growing

Enshrouding all my senses

And I hear the silence

Of nightfall in the solitary crematorium. 27

 

Dream:

Majumder says that only dreaming will not bring success.  It is the will to do something that fulfills the dream:

 

What you can dream

You can mostly do

It all depends upon

The will to do the same … 28

 

His  desire  of  doing  good  for  the  society, and making  life  comfortable  and  secure is  projected  through  poems  of  dreams.

 

Ecology or Landscape

 

The  poet portrays  a  picture  of  evening  landscape  by  using  human  images  to  describe  it.  In  the  following  two  poems  the  poet describes  an  evening  scenario  by  using  human  imagery:

Evening dresses like a smiling damsel

Sun dips in depth like a burnt old man

Skies splash crimson red as vomited blood

As though ancient earth dying purple pale 29

 

and,

 

Sometimes an evening becomes audible

It's different from usual Wan face

Of an olden woman vomiting

Stale blood continually

Before vanishing in the abyss.30

 

 

In poems  like  ‘Kanyakumari'  and  ‘Sagar Mela',  Majumder  describes  the  whole  landscape  very  artistically.  In Time Never Returns To Console and Other Poems, the poet's keen observations of natural environment and landscape can be seen.

 

Personal Poems

 

The personal poems of Majumder are generally introspective in nature.  The  time  he  has  spent  as  a  bureaucrat  is  full  of  such  incidents  which  has  left  a  great  impact  on  his  personal  as  well as poetic  life.  He always introspects.  He  always  tries  to  find  out  the answer to such questions as why  he  is  here,  why  he  is  doing  these  things  and  such  other  questions.  He  is  always  in  confusion  what  to  do  and  what  not  to  do.  And in this situation no one hears his yearnings.  In a poem ‘My Yearning'.31

 

 

Society

 

Majumder's concern for society is also visible in his poems.  In  a  poem  ‘Non descript women',  the  poet  describes those  women  who  are  engaged  in the   profession  of  prostitution. It disturbs the poet to note that they  come  into  the  streets in  darkness,  waiting  for  their  customers  in  a  row.  There  is  no  one  to  hear  their  woes,  no  one  comes  forward  to  raise  voice  for  their  better  lives:

 

The oldest human profession is yet aglow with busyness

The animal in man never shuns him despite wisdom resources. 32

 

In  another  poem  ‘Call  Centre  Woman',  the  poet  highlights  the  general  condition  of  women  working  in the Call  Centres.  In ‘A Societal Crime', the   poet describes the   cause of   abandoning an infant anywhere.  The same theme has been dealt by I. K. Sharma. Majumder is upset to read in newspapers or watch on television the reports of "abandoned infants".  He  says  that  two  adolescents  when  come  in  contact  with  each  other,  the  momentary  pleasure  leads  to  birth  of  a  baby  and  to  hide  it,  they  leave  infant  anywhere.  He writes:

 

Conjugation for a fun brought her a child

A societal crime most viled

I leaps of shame in her piled

In a bush the abandoned child isled 33

 

Majumder is also   aware of   the contemporary   social changes.  In  Time  Never  Returns  To  Console,the  poet, for example, writes  about  wedding,  in  the  poem  ‘Wedding':

 

It is supposed to be a relationship of mutual trust

Love and surrender to each other for which a thrust

Of inner bond and binding and feeling essential

Thus an equation of "made for each other" becomes substantial 34

 

 

Poetry

The  poet's  love  for  Poetry  is  clearly  visible  in  the  poems  written  on  poetry  itself.  He  says  that  when  his  suffering  is  ‘worded  away',  his  loneliness  speaks. He is fascinated by beauty. When morning blossoms in smiles, it constitutes poetry for him.  He says that poetry has neither introduction nor any conclusion.  In  ‘The Poet And His Pen'35,  the  poet  says  that  a  poet  has  storm  in  his  pen  and  when  he  starts  writing  or  composing,  all  might  of  the  pen  settle  in  the  mother's  lap  like  a  baby.

 

 

Miscellaneous

 

Majumder   has  written  many  other  poems too. His poems  on  Science  and  Technology,  Religion,  Humanity highlight his anxiety  about the changing moral ethics.  In poems like ‘Whom Should I Go To?'  and  ‘What  Cuts  Both  Ways',  the  poet  talks  about  the  change  in  human  nature.  Everywhere corruption  has  spread  its  hands  to  grab  human  values. Majumder says  that  the sword  cuts  everything  but  it  can  never  cut  itself; sin  can  blemish but  it  can  never  blemish  itself;  fire  can  burn  everything  but  it  can  never  burn  itself. To quote him:

 

But a man is not invincible anyway

For, a man only, is the killer and the killed.

He beautified his dreams and deeds

And it is he who ravished beauty wholly.36

 

The  poet  says  that  with  the  advancement  of  technology  people  become  more  brutal  and  cruel.  New  technologies  should  be  used  for  developmental  work  and  not  for  the  purpose  of  destruction.

 

A  clear  influence  of  Time  can  be  noticed  in  the  poems centred round  Love,  Mind and  Society. With the passage of time, love loses its lustre and warmth.  Living life  in  a  limited  span  of  time fills the mind  with tension and worries which lead  to  confusion,  fear,  loneliness  etc. Losing their moral values people move towards anarchy.

Conclusion

 

To sum up, Majumder's poetry has a lot of variety.  The  poet demonstrates his proficiency  in  handling  each  and  every  aspect  of  present-day life and society even as he is excessively preoccupied with Time which is not without excluding mind, life, nature, love or memory. But, he seems to confuse his individual time, which is experiential, with universal and local time, and as a result, he exhibits inner restlessness, even as he may succeed in expressing flashes of self-knowledge or his own being. His meditative wandering may reflect his watchfulness in worldly affairs and relationships, yet it demonstrates his restive spirit rather than stillness of the mind.

He explores his own state of being, as well as the state of the world without, gets attached to it, and keeps repeating it, be it time, mind, life, or nature.

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

1. Singh, R. K. "The Poet- Editor- Administrator: Mr. Pronab Kumar Majumder." Metverse Muse, 11, Jan- June 2001, p. 105.
2. Marvell, Andrew. "To His Coy Mistress." The Winged Word: An Anthology of Poems for Degree Course. Ed. David Green. Chennai: Macmillan, 2001.
3. Tagore, Rabindranath. "Silent Steps." Ed. A Board of Editors. An Anthology of Indian English Poetry. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2001, p. 10.
4. Singh, R. K. "Eyeless Jagannath". Eds. P. Raja and Rita Nath Keshari. Busy Bee Book of Contemporary Indian English Poetry. Pondicherry: Busy Bee Book, 2007, p. 338.
5. Majumder, Pronab Kumar. "Me A Slave of Time." Time Never Returns To Console and Other Poems. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2007, p. 16.
6. ______. "Time." ONTime UNTime. Kolkata: Bridge- In- Making, 2007, p. 7.
7. ______. "Hyphen." Life And Eternity. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1997, p. 10.
8. Ibid, p. 27.
9. Majumder, Pronab Kumar. "Poem In Eyes." Time Never Returns To Console and Other Poems. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2007, p.95.
10. ______. "Secure Arms." Time Never Returns To Console and Other Poems. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2007, p. 96.
11. Majumder, Pronab Kumar. Loc. Cit.
12. ______. "Love." ONTime UNTime. Kolkata: Bridge- In- Making, 2007, p. 33.
13. Ibid. p. 34.
14. Ibid. p. 35.
15. Majumder,  Pronab Kumar. "Spring." Dialogue With Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1993, p. 20.
16. ______. "Birth of Love." Where Time Is Dead. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2005, p. 49.
17. ______. "For A Hapless." Replies of Time. Aligarh: Skylark Publication, 1996, p.     49.
18. ______. " A Lover." Dialogue With Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1993, p. 69.
19. ______. "Change of Planet." Replies of Time. Aligarh: Skylark Publication, 1996, p. 7.
20. ______. "Where Is The Cradle?". Ibid. p. 29.
21. ______. "Courtyard." In The Ruins of Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2000, p. 72.
22. ______. "A Letter." Dialogue With Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1993, p. 26.
23. ______. "Photograph." In The Ruins of Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2000, p. 65.
24. ______. "Confusion." Dialogue With Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1993, p. 9.
25. ______. "Fear." Where Time Is Dead. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2005, p. 69.
26. ______. "Hand." Dialogue With Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1993, p. 14.
27. ______. "Crematorium." Life and Eternity. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1997, p. 55.
28. ______. "Dreams." Creating Killing Cosmic Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2002, p. 27.
29. ______. "Evening Landscape." Time Never Returns To Console and Other Poems. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2007, p. 81.
30. ______. "Audible Evening." Replies of Time. Aligarh: Skylark Publication, 1996, p. 54.
31. ______."My Yearning." Dialogue With Time. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1993, p. 45.
32. ______. "Non-descript women." Where Time Is Dead. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2005, p. 29.
33. ______. "A Societal Crime." Time Never Returns To Console. Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 2007, p. 92.
34. ______. "Wedding." Ibid. p. 89.
35. ______. "The Poet And His Pen." Replies of Time. Aligarh: Skylark Publication, 1996, p. 31.
36. ______. "What Cuts Both Ways." Ibid., p. 27.

 

About the Author

Dr R.K.Singh teaches English language skills to UG and PG students of earth and mineral sciences besides practising poetry, especially haiku and tanka. He has published 35 books, including 14 collections of poetry.

Footprints in the sand poem

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