Abstract
Poetry
has been the expression of human life from times eternal. It is the
contemplation on life and the dialogue with our thoughts. The issues or
problems depicted in our poetry are not different that we find in the writings
of our ancient writers centuries ago. When we talk about contemporary Indian
Poetry, we find that perennial essence of past in it regarding man’s search for
identity and eternal quest for existence and co-existence.Colonialism gave a
new language i.e., English for the expression of the poetry written by the
Indians in English in the last 150 years can be divided into three phases.
These are imitative, assimilative and experimental. The third phase of Indian
English poetry can be denoted as Post Independence Poetry.The characteristics
and nature of the Post-Independence phase of Indian English poetry is the
promulgation of variegated perspectives in their creations.It includes
urbanization, industrialization mobilization, social consciousness, rootlessness,
nostalgia isolation and the international and westernized world.
R.
Parthasarathy is regarded one of those vociferous voices in Indian English
poetry who depicted all those consciousness and sensibility in his creations.
His ‘Rough Passage’ (1977) is the voice of consciousness and identity quest
which tries to awake the modern man who has given his heart to the sordid boon.
Keywords: Contemplation, Consciousness,
Rootlessness, Nostalgia, Isolation, Sensibility, Obscurity, Languish,
Predicament, Limnology.
Introduction
The
last fifty decades of Indian English poetry have witnessed a remarkable growth
in this genre. They have not only created a rich tradition of writing but also
an immense variety and complexity.The prominent critic, William Walsh, rightly
remarks that the highest achievement of Indian English writing is in in the
oeuvres of Mulk Raj Anand, R K Narayan and Raja Rao, but the future, the
promise, lies in poetry in the creations of Nissim Ezekiel, A. K. Ramanujan and
R.Parthasarathy. These three poets have been mentioned by Walsh but there are
many notable literary giants who deserve to join their rank. Prominent Indian
poetry in English written before independence belonged to the Romantic
tradition and showed the tendency towards idealism and escapism.
Poets
like A.K. Ramanujan R. Parthasarathy preoccupied with ‘the problem of roots’
and their search for self and society is profound and staggering. Of these
poets, Parthsarathy conjurers up early familial memories and childhood
Impressions and associations with a wonderful success. Social consciousness and
sensibility is the resonance of Pathasarathy's poetry. He is regarded one of
the major voices in Indian English poetry from South India. He has had
multifarious career ranging from teaching to editing. Ambience of his poetic
world has also been varied as he moved from place to place.‘Rough Passage’ is
his magnum opus. This poem represents the clash between two different
cultures.It comprises three parts. First one is ‘Exile’ which underlines and
examines the British rule and its shocking effects on Indian society.The second
part ‘Trial’ disseminates the idea of eternal love and the third section is
‘Home Coming’ which elaborates the feelings of man after returning to his home.
As
he has great admiration for his Tamil Heritage.In repentant mood he says in his
poetic autobiography ‘Rough Passage’ (1977), as follows:
My
tongue in English chains, I return, after the generation, to you./I am at the
end /Of my Dravidic tether, /Hunger for you unassuaged./I falter, stumble.
Discussion
Parthasarathy,
in his first part of ‘Rough Passage’ ‘Exile’ underlines the complexities of
living in a foreign land, the impact of history and cultural identity. It
reflects the theme of displacement, longing and the struggle to find the sense
of belonging in an othering environment. He talks about linguistic instability
or inability. He accepts his tongue has been tied by English and not well in
speaking Tamil.He feels guilty of losing his family tradition. As he laments:
You
learn roots are deep.
The
language is a tree, loses colour, under another sky.
Standing
on Westminster Bridge it seemed things had clogged the Chariot Wheels Boadicea
turned in to stone. Here, he evokes a sense of history and passing time
moreover, it explores the theme of displacement and the complexity of
Identity.As he is feeling like an uncanny and outsider in a foreign land. In
this poem, he has used vivid symbols and imagery to add profound idea to the
poem. Opening lines have the tone and mood of frustration suggesting a sense of
isolation and obscurity. The speaker’s conversation with youth reflects the
sense of longing and seeking for belonging. It emphasizes upon one’s roots in
the term of language, culture and tradition which is the core element of one’s
identity.It also represents poet’s nostalgic feeling of his hometown.So, he
feels here the noise of day life and the tranquility of the night. Parthasarathy
uses the word ‘coloured’in his poem that highlights the challenges faced by
marginalized communities in a foreign land.
Parthasarathy
in ‘Trial’, the second section of ‘Rough Passage’ underlines the endeavors of
the poet to celebrate love as a reality at present social milieu. In ‘Trial’,
poet is continuously haunted by his inadequacy in his inability in Tamil
language and feels dejected and alienated. ‘Trial’ focuses on which is an
integral part of his life that is love; which shapes man’s character and has an
intensity to recover man from his adverse condition. But it doesn’t happen in
his life as it has been manifested by him in his poetry. He remains more or
less, the same person as he was in ‘Exile’; a lonely and detached. Thus, the
poet’s effort in ‘Trial’ to celebrate love ends up as a more intensified
personal crisis, with revelation, to the poet’s agony, that love cannot be everlasting.
This accounts for the melancholic tone and the sense of darkness, despair and
endless gloom that pervades through the entire section of ‘Trial’.
The
third section ‘Homecoming’ derives its sustenance from grafting itself on to
whatever he finds usable in the Tamil tradition.In this section his gloomy mood
is reflected as he find himself alien in his own homeland as he felt in foreign
land and had the sense of utility and loneliness. A sense ofdisappointment
overwhelms him and finally it goes to questioning. As hereminiscences:
“What
have I care far from a thousand miles?The sky is no different. Beggars are the
same, everywhere the clubs. Are there complete with bar and goal-links.” [2]
Here,
the poet feels a kind of loss; a loss of his motherland, a loss of his love, compassion,
and brotherhood towards the people live in India.It is also manifested when he
states the affair with the English language which has been prolonged and tempestuous.
“It’s over now and I have as the phrase goes, settle down with Tamil.”
After
getting disillusioned with the English language and the country England he
returned home. It is considered that the cultural gap between the east and the
west are remarkably impossible to be bridged. ‘Exile’ section reflects this
idea.The word exile itself gives the sense of displacement, alienation,
rootlessness and loss of Identity. The word exile has been a metaphor and a
core theme for postcolonial or third world writers. So, Parthasarathy has
divided Rough Passage in to three sections from ‘Exile’ to ‘Homecoming’ and has
put the section trial between the two, to promulgate the idea relating our
postcolonial perspective of rootlessness, feeling of nostalgia and the
displacement from homeland to hostland. The hard bitterness of being an exiled
on foreign land germinates the craving of returning to one’s native land.The
poet has great realization of his disconnectedness from his roots.His heart is
maimed to see the people adhering the western culture and the ethical values
are being languished as he expresses his return to his land is heartbreaking
and shocking.It shows the predicament of modern man. In ‘Homecoming’ he laments
that no one has any attachment for ‘Waigai’ river.
The
third part of ‘Homecoming’ is very poignant for providing assimilating ground
for the past and the present. There is a reminiscence of vital past. The
remarkable lines “I crashed, a glass house hit by the stone” and “expresses his
father’s death”. Here, end connotes the end is only the part of this perennial
cycle. He reveals “And after me my unborn son”. [3]
The
poet’s nostalgic feeling can be underlined when he remembers that in his
childhood when his grandfather used to narrate to him the celebrated poem
‘NalayiraDivyaPradhanam’before going to bed. The poet’s grandfather would profoundly
recite the poem and used to mark about paying attention. His grandfather was
very conscious about teaching the rich literary and cultural values to the poet
through his exposition of the classic.
After
grandfather’s death, he remembers the rituals and rites which were performed as
being the part of tradition and the gathering of all relatives. He also recalls
how they were served food sparingly: rice and pickle in the evening.
The
poet then recollects his memories of a tall woman and her three children. He recognizes
his childhood friend Sundari an agile girl who would climb the tamarind
trees.She is now aged women of forty years old. In case of that the poet feels
lack of emotions towards her.They can remember each other but no longer willing
to communicate with each other as time has turned everything over the years.Simultaneously,
he lost an affinity with his mother tongue. In the section 12 of the poem
‘Homecoming’, the poet admires the prominence and relevance of the poet .The
poet objectively asserts: “I see him now sitting at his desk”.
He
expresses his anguishes in the initial part of the poem that his tongue is
chained and opted for the wrong gods as he feels that he had gone for the wrong
kind of inspiration. His course of decision was an in appropriate one right
from the beginning when he set off to England for English education. Then he
laments over all those things that happened to him. In the section, ‘Trial’
even he seems to be discontent and mourning over his predicament.
In
‘Exile’, the poet opposes the culture of Europe when he compares it with
India.He also underlines the consequences of the imposition of British culture
on the Indians.His experience, a loss of identity within his own culture and
therefore needs to trace his roots, suggests the incidence where he feels
himself like an alien in his home land because of being unable to speak his
mother tongue.
Conclusion
So,
here we find a kind of clash culturalism and cultural conflict as it is the focal
point of R.Parthasarathy’s poem. In this regard, we can find several diasporic
elements in his poetry. We can see his disillusionment in following English
culture, being infatuated with England and English language. He has presented
himself to be stuck in a cultural dilemma. The agony of homecoming can be seen
in this section. Though, this poem may sound personal anguishes of the poet
but, it is one of the pathetic conditions of the modern man where he faces
numerous challenges to establish himself in his home land coming from his host
land.
In
the section ‘Homecoming’, some images like ‘bull’ and ‘horns’ are very
striking. These are associated to the language as the poet is not well familiar
with it so the language cannot provide
the poet with the tradition he is seeking. Nammalvar was a famous Tamil Vaishnavaite
poet, a devotional limnologist of the eight century A. D. His
verses are admired in Tamil Nadu. As the poem is:
‘There
is one language, for instance;
The
bull, Nammalavar took by the horns, is today an
Unrecognizable
carcass, quick with the sleeves of Kodambakkam homecoming fleas’ [4]
The
connotation of bull with its horns has been presented here to the Tamil
language which Nammalavar handled with ease. It denotes that this saint poet
has been the pioneer and patron of Tamil language. Consequently, the poet,
through this poem made a scathing attack over the poets of present generation
as they do not look for the richness of the past literature for their inspiration.
So, this expression absolutely shows his revelation of his own truth which has
an association to his own identity. Ultimately, the poet has realized himself
as a person and poet.
References
- Parthasarathy, R. “Rough
Passage”. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1980.
- ibid. p 22-23.
- ibid. p 50
- ibid. Homecoming
Sec. Il
- Sahane, Vasant. “The
Poetry of R. Parthasarathy, Indian Poetry in English-speaking- A Critical Assessment”,
New Delhi, Macmillan, 1987
- Walsh, William. “Small
Observation on a Large Subject: Aspects of Indian writing in English”, ed.M.K.
Naik, Madras: Macmillan, 1979.
- Bhatnagar, O. P. “R.
Parthasarathy: A Re-evaluation evaluation”Perspectives on Indian English poetry: criticism. ed.
Bijay Kumar Das. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 1993.
- “Elements of Exile
and Alienation in R. Parthasarathy’s poem ‘Trial’” 2018.
- “Ten Twentieth
Century Indian Poets” (1976) ed. by R. Parthasarathy and published by Oxford
University Press, New Delhi
