Looking Within and Beyond by V. V. B. Rama Rao is certainly a collection of poems that will make the readers look within themselves and beyond the world around them. With the poems presenting a panorama of expressions, one is acutely conscious of the poet’s emotions in response to the world around him and, many a time, his response to himself.
The first poem, Beauty and the Feast, is full of devotion to the Supreme where the
poet concludes, “What is saundarya if it doesn’t bless one with bhakti!” In The Seer’s Eye, where the Seer says that
vultures “with crooked beaks” will be “transformed into white doves”, the poet
is confidently optimistic. The lines “Swishing under walkers’ morning
feet/Searing freezing breeze/Sieved through flannel sleeves” are testimonies to
the poet’s sensitive perception which makes him see the subtlest of the subtle things
around him.
Down-to-Earth is a medley of emotions, but this reader’s mind was filled with a
lingering ache, which might resonate in every reader’s heart, by the lines
thrown so casually amidst the array of emotions:
Many times a day
See I my mother, unexpectedly, tired and wan
In a milling crowd on the street, eyes downcast
Treading slowly, a balancing act: a fall may spell ruin
Reaching the mill in time, a feat, a miracle, everyday
See I my mother, unexpectedly, tired and wan
In a milling crowd on the street, eyes downcast
Treading slowly, a balancing act: a fall may spell ruin
Reaching the mill in time, a feat, a miracle, everyday
Sometimes there is a detached observation
of people as in the poem, Look Within:
A mask is not the face
We see masks, only masks
Not always the faces.
A face can wear many a mask.
....
Some have only masks – no face at all.
We see masks, only masks
Not always the faces.
A face can wear many a mask.
....
Some have only masks – no face at all.
The poem, Morbidity, is full of empathy where the poet talks of the patient
whose “day breaks without dawn” and “night falls without twilight or dusk,” whose
“world shrinks to fourteen by fourteen” and “the window opens when the weather
condescends”.
The poet’s in-depth understanding of the
scriptures is reflected in poems such as Being.
He throws light on how “experience is transient” and “realization everlasting”.
He emphasises the need to reconcile with yourself, “never falling out with
‘that’” and “making peace with yourself”. He is unwavering in his conviction when
he ends the poem with, “I’d be at peace with myself”.
Asking for the moon (figuratively or
otherwise) is the ultimate one could ask for. But the poet surprises you when
he shakes even the moon from its pedestal when he writes, “I don’t ask for the
moon/For, who knows, when mountains move/She might come down!” in the poem Asking for the Moon. And then he makes
you sit up and face ground reality – “The Mahatma has to come again/For another
righteous hungry silence/For a poor man anger is suicidal/In people’s rule, not
all people share the pinch/Not all have the needed punch” in Fighting Back.
“For another righteous hungry silence” –
this is a line that has packed into it not only the great phenomenon, the
Mahatma, but also the essence of a whole era of India’s struggle for
independence. The poet can be quite sarcastic too as he says “Three jeers for
Demonocracy”. In the poem “What I Believe”, the poet is, again, a seeker.
The leela is not that of the instrument
It is the wielder – not always believed
That does it.
Do you know the wielder, I don’t know.
It is the wielder – not always believed
That does it.
Do you know the wielder, I don’t know.
As one reads through the poems in Looking
Within and Beyond, one feels one is slowly but steadily guided from the ‘basic
and material’ to the ‘higher and spiritual’ realms. Hurry up, Please, It’s Time resounds with a kind of calm resignation.
When conscience spews disgust at yourself
When looking back becomes painful
When it dawns that the clock cannot be set back
When no amends are possible
When you want to die and you cannot.
When you don’t wish to live but pulling on is imperative
When you trudge alone, along stormy, murky rank-smelling
paths.
Realize the past cannot be brushed away.
When looking back becomes painful
When it dawns that the clock cannot be set back
When no amends are possible
When you want to die and you cannot.
When you don’t wish to live but pulling on is imperative
When you trudge alone, along stormy, murky rank-smelling
paths.
Realize the past cannot be brushed away.
Bedside seems to be an autobiographical poem. A Sigh and Relief is thought provoking – None has power all
along/Waves that surge retreat too/Living goes on/Nothing remains. Memory seems to be a very casual poem
until it concludes.
It flashes for no reason at all
A whiff of a thing forgotten long ago
From the distant insignificant past
...
A memory may not have any purpose.
A whiff of a thing forgotten long ago
From the distant insignificant past
...
A memory may not have any purpose.
The poet again and again, through his lines,
compels you to think. And to what end?
Acquisition of Jnana is the goal
Think, think, think!
– Till mundane things fade
Then may emanate radiance
Slowly, slowly, steadily.
Think, think, think!
– Till mundane things fade
Then may emanate radiance
Slowly, slowly, steadily.
The above are the lines from the poem Coming of Age. The poet is sometimes
cynical as in Strategic?! (“Hearts
are in great need/But not a seller yet/Strategies can be worked out in a
jiffy/God save the intending seller”) and sometimes sarcastic, or even bitter,
as in In a Dust Haze (“Contented
citizenry make the sky clear and blue/Endure – swallow the bitter – show
sweetness/That’s all we can do and should do – to stay alive.”)
The poet’s command of various languages
is clear in his style of writing. He uses apt phrases in different languages to
add flavour to the subjects his poems deal with. Let me conclude with two of
his poems that reveal the essence of poetry – his poetry. While Kittening and Penning is about the
ecstatic high in the creation of poetry, Poetic
Sensibility is about the sheer experience of enjoying poetry.
Imagination, ever extant and breathing
Needs a spur – call it a spark divine
An inspiration – frenzy too,
Orgasmic feeling of satiety,
The radiance of a rapturous thought. (Kittening and Penning)
Needs a spur – call it a spark divine
An inspiration – frenzy too,
Orgasmic feeling of satiety,
The radiance of a rapturous thought. (Kittening and Penning)
Not just – either sweet or savory
Never for munching, gulping or gobbling
Never is that to be hurried
It’s like a kid’s licking a lozenge to stay long
Nectar on the sweet-heart’s lips (Poetic Sensibility)
Never for munching, gulping or gobbling
Never is that to be hurried
It’s like a kid’s licking a lozenge to stay long
Nectar on the sweet-heart’s lips (Poetic Sensibility)
V. V. B. Rama Rao’s collection of poems is
exactly like that lozenge the kid licks and rolls in his mouth ever reluctant
to swallow, for, one wouldn’t want to hurry through its sweet and savoury
flavours.
[As published in boloji.com]
