Canceled -- today's poetry reading at Lamakaan

Hello people, just a quick shout out to let you all know that today's poetry reading (the fourth one in the series of Shri Jayanta Mahapatra's readings) stands canceled as he is tired and unwell after three consecutive days of readings.

If you had planned to attend this, hard luck.

I was lucky enough to manage to get away for the UoH reading. As usual felt blessed and touched by the aura of the great man. More on him and his poetry soon.

bomb blast?

oh
it’s only a train i missed
missed to get a foothold before it left in a hurry
it doesn’t matter that i slipped
or fell
on the platform
and my purse is with me
my mobile
my glasses
my umbrella.

thank god
i didn’t slip through the gap
on to the rails
like so many others
that’s their problem
or their folks
if they get to know about it
i'll just get the next train
dust my back
5rs sada 7rs cream polish my shoes
and get to work
that’s what i’m here for
that's what
we are all here for
while you
the rest of india
the generals in pakistan
the so called don
pax america
saudi ayatollah
non state players
spitting around the spittoon civil society
imagine that a pawn has moved
in the great game

-- By M.S. Gopal

Shri Jayanta Mahapatra in Hyderabad -- 25-28th July, 2011

I am hoping I can be there on all four days and I am hoping I can meet and greet him too. In all probability I will be spending a lot of time taking in the proceedings through the viewfinder of my camera.

Or I will be listening to him through my eyes.

Anyway, because of what he is to me (inspirationally and by virtue of my Oriya "roots") and because of the high esteem I hold him in (both as an old school gentleman and a great, wise poet) I am more than a bit excited about the four readings at which Shri Jayanta Mahapatra's poetic oeuvre will be on display -- in his voice.

Details about the readings are as below --

Monday 25th July 1pm-4pm: University of Hyderabad, Department of English.

Readings by -- Jayanta Mahapatra, Rabindra K. Swain, Hoshang Merchant, Subhashini Kaligotla, Sridala Swami.

Tuesday, 26th July, 3pm-5pm: OUCIP, Osmania University

Readings by -- Jayanta Mahapatra, Rabindra K. Swain, Hoshang Merchant, Subhashini Kaligotla, Sridala Swami.

Wednesday, 27th July 6pm (please check the time & location, if you're a member of the Poetry Society of Hyderabad): Poetry Society of Hyderabad

Readings by -- Jayanta Mahapatra.

Thursday, 28th July, 6.30pm-8.30pm: Lamakaan, Off Road No. 1, Banjara Hills

Readings by -- Jayanta Mahapatra, Rabindra K. Swain, Hoshang Merchant, Subhashini Kaligotla, Sridala Swami.

"Oeuvre" isn't exactly the right word to use for his work as of yet, he's still writing and winning awards (the last one being the Allen Tate Poet Prize for 2009) but he is 80 plus and a honorary grandfather to many poets :-)

So if you love poetry and want to experience the surreal magic of a poetry reading by a poet widely acknowledged for the melody and musicality of his work, do mark these dates and don't miss these readings.

P.S. -- I am in no way associated with organizing these readings, I am just getting the word out here on my blog as a fellow poet. And someone who is pretty kicked about Sri Jayanta Mahapatra coming to Hyderabad.

It's a joint !

It has been a bit over a month (a negligible time lag for updating this chronicle-of-sorts of mine called a blog) since my Doctor took a long look at the X-ray of my right shoulder and collarbone and pronounced the bone injury (a fracture in fact) to be sufficiently healed by using the words "it's a joint".

There's still a bit of a bump where the bone has joined but seems that the bone will hold up for most of the activities and monkeying I have in mind for the coming days of post summer lushness...

I broke the bone in January and it was pronounced to have healed in June. That's five months of more or less hampered and "samhal ke" kind of living, during which I could do just a piddling amount of cycling, had to be careful about lifting the DSLR and was more or less off the motorcycle (apart from the "can't be avoided, there is no other way to commute" times).

And I must also confess that for almost all of May I was convinced that I have a malunion because I used to get twinges of pain reminiscent of the earliest days of the fracture. But then, as my Doctor (who is very much the boss in this case) has already certified the bone has joined well and I don't need surgery.

So there, woot and woot and woot again!

That's not all in fact. To celebrate (and make up for lost time) I even bought a Schwinn Sporterra Bicycle and as of now we are already firm companions with some decent roads runs already behind us and (hopefully) a lot of kilometres and open roads in front.

Coming back to the matter of the joint of the bone, I must say the clavicle is a bitch of a bone to break. Almost every movement one undergoes sends a twinge to the bone and even simple things like sitting down in a chair (and getting up from it) can be potential bone breakers. And yes it is "disabling" in a number of ways. And yes, people are kind and will even make way for you (at least they did for me) and be helpful in otherwise competitive urban spaces like vegetable markets and buses.

At another level the initial days of the fracture were like a second childhood with my mother feeding me (I am not ambidextrous and not very good at spooning up rice using my left hand) and father bathing me. Call me a sucker for "humility" and "reverence" if you will, but I will say I did feel humbled (and I still do) by the tenderness, care and ministrations of my parents.

This blog post (about the healing of the bone) took a long time. And I really don't know if I am writing this because I have blogged (a bit) about my fracture here and thus this post is but a natural progression. Or is it that I am attempting closure? To what has been an intensely painful (and incapacitating) three months followed by another two months of wait and watch (which is equally incapacitating and worrying) and nightmares of malunions and whatnot...

Either way -- it does seem medical science has limited (if at all) efficacy where my "disabilities" are concerned. For all their so-called "nano-technology" edge and "extreme power" capability my new hearing aids can't really do much (unless I am in a perfectly noise-free environment). Okay, so there are reasons why the hearing aids are what they are but then those reasons don't make being "ear incapacitated" any easier. More or less in the same vein, when I broke the bone, medical science couldn't do much but ask me to take rest, drink a lot of water and eat a (calcium) tablet a day.

Rx stoicism and "even this will pass away" bloody mindedness any day, I say.

On that note, hold my bike (its a very light bicycle in fact) while I exult once again -- It's a joint! Woot, woot, woot!!!

धीरे धीरे सुबह हुई

धीरे धीरे सुबह हुई
जाग उठी ज़िन्दगी

धीरे धीरे सुबह हुई
जाग उठी ज़िन्दगी

पंछी चले अम्बर को अम्बर को अम्बर को

माझी चले सागर को सागर को सागर को

पयार का नाम जीवन है
मंजिल है प्रीतम की गली

डूब के सूरज फिर निकला
सारे जहां को नूर मिला

दिल के द्वारे तुमको पुकारे
एक नयी ज़िंदगी

प्यार का नाम जीवन है
मंजिल है प्रीतम की गली...

किरणों से दामन भर लो
प्रीत से तुम तन मन भर लो

जिस में जीतनी प्यास जगी
उतनी ही प्रीत मिली

प्यार का नाम जीवन है
मंजिल है प्रीतम की गली...

कहीं दूर जब दिन ढल जाये

कहीं दूर जब दिन ढल जाये /
साँझ की दुल्हन बदन चुराए /
चुपके से आये /
मेरे ख्यालों के आँगन में /
कोई सपनों के दीप जलाए...

कभी यूँ ही जब हुई बोझल साँसें /
भर आई बैठे बैठे जब यूँ ही आँखें /
कभी मचल के, प्यार से चल के /

छुए कोई मुझे पर, नज़र न आये /
नज़र न आये...


कहीं दूर जब दिन ढल जाये /
साँझ की दुल्हन बदन चुराए /
चुपके से आये /
मेरे ख्यालों के आँगन में /
कोई सपनों के दीप जलाए...

कहीं तो यह दिल कभी मिल नहीं पाते /

कहीं पे निकल आये जन्मों के नाते /
थमी थी उलझन बैरी अपना मन /
अपना ही होके सहे दर्द पराये /

कहीं दूर जब दिन ढल जाये /
साँझ की दुल्हन बदन चुराए /
चुपके से आये /

मेरे ख्यालों के आँगन में /
कोई सपनों के दीप जलाए...