Introduction: Life, in essence, is a captivating blend of joy and sorrow, an amalgamation of both delightful moments and profound sufferings. It entails the art and craft of expression, which is born when we exult in success or grieve during despotic times. The means of expression are varied, and sensitive souls in society have discovered art and literature, music and poetry as their channels of outpour. Among these, poetry stands out as a genre that reflects the intimate feelings of a person and conveys various shades of emotions experienced in life. “Harud,” which means autumn, is a source of profound expression for a poet named Brij Nath Pandit Betab. The booklet, spread across 104 pages, encompasses 64 poems that delve into the depths of human emotions.
About the Poet – Brij Nath Pandit Betab: Betab is a renowned broadcaster who has dedicated many years to state-owned TV and radio. Despite being introduced to the audience as a newsreader, his powerful voice has given him a distinct identity. Recently, he has presented two compilations of poetry, titled “Ael’ Nash” in Kashmiri and “Harud” in English. Over the past few years, Betab and I have connected through telephonic conversations, and we have met in person during a seminar sponsored by the Sahitya Academy, where we discussed the acclaimed poet Gulam Nabi Firaq of Kashmir.
Exploring “Harud”: The booklet “Harud” serves as a reflection of the pain, despondency, helplessness, hatred, poignancy, yearning, and loss experienced by the poet. Betab adorns his emotions with beautiful yet simple and lucid language to connect with a wider audience. His pain knows no sectarian or communal borders, as it transcends the barriers of religion and region, embracing the sufferings of all humanity. Despite literature and poetry getting categorized as “Migrant literature” and “Resistance literature” over the years, Betab manages to avoid such labels or partisan colors.
Letus discuss some of his poems in that context first.
The poem News is a reflection of the expressions through the eyes of a tourist and the native of the land .
Honeymoon destination
Kashmir is paradise
I am the tourist
My birthplace
Kashmir is hell
I am the native
This poem is self explanatory and gives a vived detail of the feelings of two different human beings about one entity on the globe.
The blank page is a poem where the poet feels proud of his ancesters like Abhinav and Lall and boasts that one who is a heir to such traditions in poetry and mysticsm can’t acquire blank pages.
What my ancesters wrote
Beautiful and fragrant
Fascinating , pridefull
Please remember
Abhinav and Lall
Are eternal and immortal
My pages shall never be blank.
Since 1990 some words mostly from English language have creeped into Kashmiri jargon and are widely used by even illitrate people living in and around kashmir. Some of these words are ‘crackdown’ ‘down town’, ‘informer’, ‘identification parade’ , The poet has used his craft to include such words and authored a poem titled “black eye”.
Betab does not restrict himself or his pen to politically sensitive issues only but weeps for the dying wetland the Dal lake. In the poem wetland Betab writes as under ;
Yet when the news flashes
The Dal shall dry
And perish soon
My eyes
Certainly offer drops
Drops of tears
I keep memories
Dripping
One of the most poignent poems is titled “hundred and ten”. This poem is enough to prove that a sensitive poet like B.N.Betab does not see things through jaundiced eyes but feels the pain with a human instinct.
….….I thought you will surely do
These innocent children something good
What kind of history are you making
This is a direct question to the ruling dispensation of the time .And towards the end he quotes Mehmood Dervish with his lines
“ death does not pain the dead
Pains it those who are alive”
Autumn is the poem dedictad by Betab to the doyen of modern journalism in Kasmir late Shujaa’t Bukhari. Few lines from this poem are as under;
Oh little flower
In taking you away
The death does not feel proud
The dried flower valleys whisper that
To barren mountain peaks
Snow has melted
But the flower Virkumb refuses to sprout
The Teki Batni has not flourished
The cattle have gone to the heights
But the shepherd has not played the flute
Since you left
Life in God’s home has been silenced.
Conclusion: The poetic collection “Harud” is a valuable addition to the rich literary treasure of Kashmir. Written in English, it transcends language barriers, allowing the emotional depth of the verses to resonate with a broader readership. Brij Nath Pandit Betab’s poems encapsulate the joys and sorrows of life, providing readers with an exquisite tapestry of human emotions woven through the lyrical grace of poetry.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
The reviewer is the General Secretary Fiction Writers’ Guild, Srinagar and can be mailed at wanishafi999@gmail.com
