Eternal Time, Hours and Moments is an English translation of Vanita's Sahitya Akademi award winning collection of Punjabi poems Kaal Pehar Gharian which has changed the idiom of feminine articulation in contemporary Punjabi literature. But her poetry is not limited to feminism and also embraces many of the pressing concerns of living in the post-modern world. The poems leave a strong impression on the reader and one can notice that her artistry has deepened and the depth of her humanity has found a compelling new voice.
Vanita (b. 1954) is an eminent Punjabi poet. Before retiring as Associate Professor, she was fully a sensitive poet and sober critic. As a poet, she has ten books to her credit. Seven of them are available in one volume, with Kavita de Naal Naalalong with poetry). Their poetic quality has graced her with so many awards, honers and visits to foreign countries. Her other books are in prose comprising her reflections on contemporaries, particularly of her gender. Feminism is her leitmotif. Rather than take it as an issue of female suffering, she recreates it as generative experience This distinguishes her from her predecessors who focused more on suffering. She is also an ardent votary of music, particularly of Gurmat Sangeet that not only elevates her poetic sensibility but also deepens her understanding of the dilemmas of life. Union of the two excellently augurs to enrich her poetic sensibility and critical faculty. Surely her creative and critical output will keep flourishing in the future.
I asked award-winning poet Vanita how and when she took to writing poetry. She sent me two poems she had written at the age of fourteen and said that to her utter surprise, Preetlari, then a celebrated literary journal, published them. Vanita had read the poems aloud to guests at home without expecting to see them in print but these became her first public appearance as a writer. In the first poem, a young girl with tearful eyes talks to herself while standing before a mirror. Though her eyes watch her own physicality, her lips remain silent. The second poem depicts a young woman in an art gallery and she observes many visitors gazing at the objectified female bodies. Implicitly, such poems critique the male gaze, and call for the breaking of silence by women under patriarchy. This strand of subtle feminism, poetically expressed, stays discernible in Vanita's corpus of writing.
Vanita's upbringing, education and life experiences shaped her into a sophisticated, renowned poet. Born into an affluent family, Vanita finished her school education at the age of fourteen. In college, her interests were in cultural activities, singing, dancing and debating. After graduation, her mother wished her to be married as was the custom, but Vanita laid down the condition that she would marry only if she were allowed to choose her partner. This bold declaration was respected by her family; Vanita married and had two sons. After fifteen years of domestic life, Vanita resumed her college studies and her creative writing. Completing her Masters and PhD degrees in quick succession, she joined academics and finally retired as Professor in the Punjabi Department of the University of Delhi. As a popular and successful writer, she received the Sahitya Akademi Award for Punjabi in 2010 for her collection of poems Kaal, Pehar, Gharian. Vanita remains a mentor to younger writers even as she continues with a busy professional life.
Kaal Pahar Ghariyaan is my sixth published collection of poetry. In my previous collections I have never spoken about my poetry, allowing the poetry to speak for itself. In reviews and critiques I have written a lot about poetry in general, but rarely about my own poetry in particular, though at poetic gatherings, talks and interviews I have discussed my poetry at length. Perhaps in my collections I choose not to write introductions, because through my poems I express my feelings and thoughts about poetry, what poetry means to me and how it matters.
Since my first poetry book, Tracks of my Dreams (1984) I have been devoted to poetry. Maybe that is the reason that in my books of critical analysis, my subject of interest was always poetry. Even in my subconscious mind, the poetic rhythm exists and spontaneously directs me. In my teaching career too, I would be on the lookout for poetic thoughts. Going through my household chores, tending to the plants and flowers in my garden, watching birds, admiring nature, talking with friends and in social gatherings, some sights leave an imprint on my subconscious mind. I realized it when they formed an imagery on the pages of my diary. Relationships, conversations, acquired knowledge or ideology simply begin to reflect in my poetry. I don't have to consciously add these thoughts to my lines, they intermingle and are enmeshed in the process naturally. I dislike loud voices or sounds around me, as also harsh notes in poetry, though one does live in the midst of clamor. Thus my verses flow in soft gentle words written in a lyrical rhythm, I even happen to space the lines in my poetry according to that rhythm, in fact the spacing creates on the page the images of my mind. The rhythm follows a musical pattern in my mind and the words construct the poem to the same tune.
That is the reason I avoid the expression of highly emotional content, and choose carefully the emotions I wish to express. I observe and perceive deeply and avoid verbosity, presenting the fine layers in concise phrases. I also make an effort to avoid repetition to make a point, that is why even when I use satire in my poetry, it is subtle and delicate, not shrill and piercing.
I feel it is enough for a poet to know the poetry well, to know the poet's internal voice and its sublimation, otherwise the world knows all about poetry, there is nothing to be told. It is important for the poet to know that poetry is not necessarily traditional; one has to learn and imbibe newer and more modern styles and be versatile. This is exactly what I feel about the poems in this collection, Kaal Pahar Ghariyaan.
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