Dear Gowri
Prelude : I mentally wrote this on Jan 1st itself but some how it escaped my priority and got further postponed due to my move to new location at office. We (three of us) are sharing a computer kept in a meeting room as the construction activity is not yet over (meaning the interiors); It was dust all over until last week end and only from today we are blessed with A/C as dust free environment is guaranteed by the Architect from now on....Like all good times, difficult times too has to come to an end, right ?? So, here I put in black and white on my serious thoughts about my recent discovery of poem writing skills....here you go....!!
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The power of WHY ?
There are six basic words in English that are interrogative....WHAT, WHO, WHY, HOW, WHEN & WHERE. No doubt What and Who are the first questions to be asked to seek any clarity....but they are particularly relevant in physical realm. When we step into abstract subjects and things that are bit deeper and complex, then WHY becomes an important interrogation lest our search may become directionless. It is a golden question that seeks to clarify the purpose of any thing that we think and we do....and it establishes a deep connection with reality and our true craving on the subject. Relatively speaking, HOW is a lighter interrogation as it is more about details or the procedure to seek the answer to WHY. Let us leave out WHEN and WHERE which are essentially descriptive interrogations that sets the basic physical premises for our search or longing.
Let us get back to WHY now !! Yes, all great persons in various walk of life had vision about themselves and the things that they want to create....and history proves us that they eventually created thier vision...bringing their abstract thoughts to practical reality. Most of the visionaries, particularly in the modern world corporate context, meticulously frame a mission statement putting their abstract vision into language. Mission statement is a road map for one's vision and essentially answers the WHY question for any human initative. It is critically important to determine the WHY clearly because while it gives the testimony that any initiative is close to one's heart and pursued out of passion & not out of any external pressure, it also clearly lays down the premises of the initiative....giving us a clear DOs and DONTs in order to be more effective and conserve our energies.
Having taken up writing POEMS approx 2 years back (I vividly remember my first poem which was penned on Madhoo's 6th birthday...she had her 8th birthday celebrated last month), it was more fun and excitement until I penned my 50th poem. Having started observing the consistency and the frequency of my writing (which is on an average at least one a month) and also seeing a pattern in the poem writing process (Midnight urges !!) and more importantly the themes of most of the poems, I am feel convinced that I determine my WHY question on poem writing clearly so that it takes the most appropriate shape and reaches its peak - to the extend it is destined so......!! This will also help me as a process of self introspection which is going to improve the quality of my future writings even more.....
Well, I am essentially a frog well and infact bit averse to knowledge about the external world..Very few of my age will have the guts to state openly that they do not care to read the news papers - leave alone, not having interest to keep updated on share market, cricket, politics....and happenings at their own profession. I dont recommend my way to the younger generation and definitely will not encourage my own daughter to become like me...as I doubt if she will be enough lucky to still hang around in the world earning a salary that can take care of her and her family in the future!! Though I try to consciously learn things here and there (For eg, I read through the letter of the Satyam's erstwhile chairman (?) about the financial anomolies that happened .......again and again quite sincerely), still updating and being fit is not becoming a sort of natural process for me......!!
Now, this long self description justifies why my poems do not have wide range of subjects (I remember making a factual mistake in a hycoo about Benazir Bhutto...that she was a president and not a PM......). I keep writing about little things just because I dont know any thing bigger to write about.....!! conversely, these little things keep me enough engaged that I do not have time or interest for so called big things that others around me seem to be interested.....
With my strong urge to express and share my thoughts and feelings get clubbed with my ability to enjoy little things and simple practical experiences, they get formed as poems....Perhaps, I am convinced that most of the poems were just waiting to be written by me....You can freely (!!) get reminded about your filled up bladder on a particular unfortunate day when you hunted for a place to urinate.....and relieved yourself....!! This is the best analogy that I can give when I think of the circumstances I wrote Agandam, thithikkude, MRTS and thurmaranam......!!
Well, WHY poems ? think this question got answered to some extend in the earlier para. To add up further, I can clearly see that poem is the best form of expression conserving the energy and time......particularly for a poor soul like me who is full of verbalization.....!! I have experienced a meditation like peace after writing poems which never happens if I talk a lot with people around me. I am able to identify my thirst for brevity lot more these days particularly my latest poem ...Paravai....!! I am going to be focussed on this as a goal from 2009 onwards as a steady march towards my fulfilment.....!!
On the areas that I need to be cautious on my poem writing, I note with some concern that all my poems were written in midnights....(midnight devils ??) and invariably I feel bit tired and restless on the subsequent day - not to mention the tantrums of Anoo when she caught me red handed busily writing when she is in her second innings of sleeping !! I only wish if I am able to consciously practise writing & discover some time in day time too.....!! It is going to be quite impossible to make this change completely but it is a challenge that I should take on my shoulders.
Coming to the next area of improvement, most of my poems are subjective and extremely personally referrable !! This is one reason why I have hesitation in sharing my poems with few people who I think can enjoy my writings as it will defeat the whole purpose of my poems...The exact words and few puns in the poems need an elaborate explanation to these people to put them in the rythem....and understand the situation of the poem. So, I am going to ensure maximum objectivity possible in my poems from now on ....In other words, though the KARU of the poem springs from a personal experience, I will ensure to select right words that may be appealing for a stranger and which has the potential to trigger his own personal experience and relate himself to the poem....Tough goal indeed..but I wish to try this from now on...In Paravai, my latest poem, I tried it but it was not appreciated and understood by the two readers (bechaara) as they got mixed it up with my descriptions about swimming though unfortunately the poem got nothing to do with swimming....Perhaps, I am trying to talk too many subjects at the same time...
Last but not the least, I need to read a lot from this year onwards, at least particularly good quality poems to write better. I clearly understand that I am not in the level of realised persons (like Sadhguru) who openly claim that they speak from their own experiences. When I can understand and appreciate "a wednesday", I am sure capable of understanding lot more qualitative creative works....and other art forms....!! Reading more poems and thoughts of others is rather an urgent need before I drain out completely.....!! I am quite confident that I can relate any thing that I read to my own realities and connect them in different spheres to add more value to the book knowledge....
Well, my latest poem "anniyam" is in the offing....it will be released in due course....!! I wish I make use of this powerful tool to elevate myself during the years to come and create a ripple in the mind of people around me.....!!
Krishnaarpanam.....// Suchoo
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