Poverty-to-Power of Poetry

Last week I enjoyed reading a review¹ on poetry culture.

The reviewer's declaration, about he being a rare-reader of poems, reminded me myself as a poor-reader of poems. That was years ago as a school-boy. 

Impression that I carried the way poetry used to be taught was that it had necessarily to be grammatically correct, full of flowery verses and stuffed with rich words, etc. etc. Foolishly I used to think that more it is incomprehensible, like some typical paintings of well-known artists that only a chosen few professors or research scholars are capable of, richer it is.

In fact, I was one among the best-poors at being unable to read as well as being unable to understand them. That in no way means I read them a lot now. 

But now often, although in the form of broken poems, I do try to express poetically. Believe me, it gives a lot of happiness and satisfaction out of such creations and sharing them if you get an audience. It is rare specie though.

Now that I got one in you, here is an impromptu expression on 'Power-of-Poetry' that the review¹ motivated me to pen down.

'Pover-ty'-to-'Power' of Poetry

आदीच पडलो आमी माटापेक्षा माट
त्यामंदी दीलायसा टकूरयाला तू कवितेचा शाट
आरं दोस्त हाय तर कायबाय ते सरळ सांगकी
हीतं गुरूजीसंगं सारं काडू राहीलं आमची लायकी

पूर्वी लय वाटूलाय, कवीचा इत्का का दरबारी थाट
समध्या भाषा-तासास्नी लावाया आमची पूरती वाट
आता गेलो लिहाया थोडंबी कायमाय-की
समजू येई गड्या मले तर टायमंच न्हायकी

येळ न्हाय म्हनीत सोडलं लेखांचं डराफ्टावर डराफ्ट
समजंना कोनालाबी व्हावलेच जर लाईनींचे सहस्त्रोव पाट
आरं येड्या, चारोळी कवितेची थोरवी न्हाईरं थोडीथोडकी
समजून घेकी तीज्यासमोर तूजीच जराबी न्हाई लायकी

The English version is as follows. 

'Pover-ty'-to-'Power' of Poetry

Already I was a Damn-Dum..m..mBest-Fool
Then how do I decode your poetry-in-school
Can't you befriend-n-prosaic simply-cool
Else they call me a useless Bigger-Fool

Today although I prose many pages-full
That even a Prosaist can't decode with big push-n-pull
Not even after a lot of time and her effortful
Says ²KISS.....s....s..s..sS, You-Damn-Fool

Now I know why poetry is Easy-Fast-n-Vast to mull
Rhyming-n-versing make it even more beau..uu..tiful

Actually both, the theme¹ in the poetry that was reviewed¹ in Loksatta as well as the way it was reviewed, reinforced my thoughts about 'Power-of-Poems'. 

In fact, poetry has power to conquer ( overcome 'poverty' of) mind also. If one takes them as tips, poetry is truly very 'Powerful', 'Easy-Fast-n-Vast' both to  express as well as to understand. 

Just as a picture has power to contain and explain so many words and thoughts, a short poem like it's modern counterpart a Tweet or like a Japanese Haiku can easily convey meanings of so many thoughts otherwise in-expressible even in terms of vast number of proses. It can speedily and easily communicate a vast subject or experience. Maiku is my version of the Haiku. 

It also gives flexibility and liberty to use  dual-meaning rants using slang-language. To that extent, it makes it easy and powerfullly creative for one to express. Rhyming and versing make it  beautiful and easy to digest.

Unlike a speech that activates 15 to 20% of brain cells, it's a fact that a writing exercise activates 85 to 90% of brain cells. Imagine the power of writing a poem then. 

Footnote-1: Review or you may say views of Sanjay-ji Pawar in Loksatta Marathi Daily about Aa-Sanskriti (असंस्कृती: the lack of culture) authored by Abhinaya Ramesh Kamble.

Footnote-2: KISS: Keep-It-Short-n-Sweet! In fact, poetry according to me is a KISS-language! Knowledge-In-Short-n-Sweet-language, I mean!!

The-Day-of-Music: When is it not?

Today is the Day-of-Music!

Couple of months ago, in response to one of the worst draughts of the decade this year there was a cry for playing "Dry-Holi" to save water. Fearing that the movement may not last beyond the Holi-day,  soon  resuming wasteful Wet-Days rest of the days of the year, I published a blogpost titled "Don't Save Water on Holi-day".

Actually saving water is not a day's affair. It's a daily-cause. It's not a local or a national affair but a global-cause.

One doesn't have any right to waste anything. At least no right to waste what s/he can't produce. That doesn't mean that s/he grants herself license to waste what s/he can produce. It's about the value system more than arresting and preventing wastage itself. 

Like Save-Water-Days, there is a western-fashion of celebrating many 'Days': Father's-Day, Mother's-Day, Earth-Day, and so on, for-a-day and then forget the 'Days' as well as the cause behind it for rest part of the year.

I hope to dig into whether there are Watchman-Day, Servant-Day, Lift-Day, Door-Day, Window-Day, Man-Day, Day's-Day, and so on. If intention behind celebrating such days is good, why are we far from performing those intentions as daily-habits, as daily-actions?

That's perhaps because the dictionary 'says', celebrations are celebrations: formal performances by the proponents and celebrities rather than they themselves living those values. 'Naturally' celebrations do not last beyond the day of such 'causes'. For the followers of the celebrities, it's a precedence of not imbibing those values in their daily lives. The 'day' then goes on record as nothing but an entertainment day.
  
What's the actionable then?

Let the good intention of celebrating such Days stay in it's place. The Days do provide focus to those who get inadvertently de-focussed rest of the days.

Others on these Days get an opportunity to reinforce their sincere efforts to live the values behind the days daily. So let's act and then spread the message to our near-dear ones. Here is my 'poor'-poem that gives me happiness in lighting a little candle in doing so as a trail for the Day-of-Music:

For All, it's the Day-of-Music
For Some, the Way-of-Life is-Music
Wherever they go they breathe Music
Like for Birds, Chirping-Daily-is-Music
For poets, rhyming lines is Music
For an artist, producing art is Music
For a mathematician, numbers is Music
And for Sun-God, Shining-Daily-is-Music
The Universe... The Universe...
tired in rhythmic beats is Music
God-Bless-All to sing ||..OMmm..||
Thy-Language-That's-Sound-of-Music

I hope to leave trails for other such 'Days' too without the fear of whether the poor-poems turn into poor-jokes: P-PJ: Poor-Poem-Jokes!

Also read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:

Poverty-to-Power of Poetry
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully 
Do You Celebrate Mean-or-Green
Functional-Aesthetics
How To Make A Difference
Big-Be Or Bug-Be !
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Ridiculous Poison-culture versus Maverick Kaizen-culture
Strategise To Achieve Targets Daily
Wish To Be Planet-Friendly?: Save! 
Waste-to-eat Sea-to-drink
Don't Save Water on Holi-day
Be Shame-less Or Water-less
Prevention: The Best Cure! ... Is it really so?
Treat Root-causes, Not Symptoms !
You seem Reasonable if you appear Un-reasonable
When Safety Becomes Sorry
How Many Times Do You Wash Hands

Do you exercise your choice meaningfully

'Exercise your choice' they say. Remembering it, sometimes conveniently I 'choose' to read emails in part. 

Actually 'choices in life' are infinite if one 'chooses' to think so. Some 'exercise choice meaningfully'. Some do so 'meanly'.

A choice is 'meaningful' if intention behind the action is to add value to or to satisfy needs (not greeds) of the self or others. For instance, choice to stay clear of negative  emotions such as fear, anger or tension, etc. is meaningful. Because it grants us a moment of awareness, a moment to dwell upon it's damaging effects. Thereby it prevents emotional reactions, if any.

Adding value means helping generate more and more positive energy at the expense of lesser and lesser energy input. A choice is 'more-meaningful' if it's done to add value to or to satisfy needs of others (and to ecology in general) as the saints do.

Choice is exercised 'meanly' if it's done to satisfy greed. Because not only it depreciates ecology and planet but also one's ownself physically-mentally-spiritually. People who smoke for instance exercise choice 'meanly' because smoking is a want. It's a desire. It's not a need to survive. It's mean because it wastes (rather sucks) energy. It produces negative energy and reduces positive energy.

Anyway, I drifted a little by design. A couple of months ago when I received an email request to write a few lines on our feelings of being associated with a musical group "Swar-Sampada" on it's completion of a decade, I 'chose to be meaningful'. SS, as we fondly abbreviate it, bonds well-established professionals together by a glue of their shared interest in singing.

Selfish me 'chose' to add value to myself by trying to have 2-(birds)-in-1(shot): One, that of expressing my feelings'; Two, expressing that in the form of a poem. Creation of poem was the additional benefit aimed at. Of course the value may reduce if the so-called poem turns out to be a boring prose.

I mailed my feelings in poetry format to my SS-niece-in-law Chaitasi. The poem in Hindi language (see picture) revolves around 'Music as a way of life' and 'Life as a beautiful-melodious song'.

I 'chose' to read favourable part of her reply so that I feel 'Great' as a 'Poet': "Dear Aunty & Uncle, I must say that the poetry is beautiful indeed". Soon her subtler-slappish request "to send a shorter version" followed. She wanted to display it during individual singing performances. She went on to say, "4-5 short lines" would be "great". 

So, saying "Kabhi-kabhi mere manmein poetry bhi aatee hai, Par aab ki baar sirf satire hee bhatee hai", the poor-great poet conveniently 'chose' to settle on a satire of a Hindi song to express about SS in brief:

"Itna to yaad hai mujhe
Woh din jab (hame) geet (hi) na sujhe
Aab yari-yarana (aur) thoda-hi sahi
SS ke pyar bhare daar se Gana to saje"

Don't you find 'exercising a choice' to 'Make Lemonade when you get a Lemon' as Reiki Masters say is a great tool. You can become Great, Poor, Poet, or Happiest, Sad, Naughtiest fellow at the 'click' of your choice provided you don't allow others to control switch of your Life-as-a-Lift.

Actually by this time the 'keen' you might have noticed the 'mean' in me. I chose to do another 2-in-1: pushing so-called poetic myself under the disguise of writing this blogpost. But the 'keen' in you also knows how to keep switch of your Lift in your choicest control: not to read the poem. 

By the way, unlike the complicated me, Sanjivani my wife expressed about music and her SS connection in simple terms saying: "I never really dared to see myself singing on stage until joining SS. However, the encouragement and the 100-times listening mantra of Dr Singh brought me to where I am today in singing."

Jokes apart, it's really a great choice to immerse oneself in music as a great source of unblended and unblemished happiness. And it's really-really great to be able to 'exercise' various other 'choices in life more-meaningfully'.

Choice, not chance, determines your destiny.. Aristotle. 

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