Pronab Kumar Majumder Speaks on his Poetry with Special Reference to Time & Life with Rajni Singh

What does poetry mean to you?
I consider Poetry as versified thoughts motioned by emotions passions, compassions, imaginations and experiences of life. Poetry is mirror sometimes of present events around, sometimes of rewinding the past, sometimes projecting the future and sometimes imagining something yet unknown, like the cosmic world. A poet may capture flash of a moment and create a poem. Suppose one is standing eastward in a vast meadow at dawn break when a round and purple fireball is leaping up the horizon. The Sun is rising. It is an ecstatic beauty, heavenly bliss. Immediately a poem is born in the consciousness of that one who may be a poet. Poetry need not be a narration or description of events. It may be realisation and perspiration of poets unloaded on receptacles of lines of poems which are really works of wordsmith.
What inspires you to write poetry?
Since poetry is emotional, passionate, compassionate response to any and every phenomenon of life, those phenomena are my inspirations of writing poetry. Those phenomena may be individualistic and societal, nature and ecology, time and life, violence and peace. Whenever any event moves me, I cannot but capture it in words of poetry. I cannot ignore the circumstances I am in, circumstances once obtained and circumstances I anticipate. The imagination that one child was waiting on the door for her parents who were lost in the battleground of Baghdad prompted me to write the poem "The Waiting Child." While passing by a lane, I noticed a group of whores waiting in dim light at the entry point of by-lanes expecting possible clients. A compassion moved me. The same night I composed a poem, "Non-descript Women." Waiting near my dead mother I noticed eternal stillness on her face. Nothing earthly stirred her closed eyes. For her Time was stilled and dead. That night I composed, "Where Time is Dead" which is title poem of one of my collections. When the great poetess, Amrita Pritam, who contributed poems to my journal, Bridge-in-Making, for a long time, passed away, immediately I composed a tribute poem, "Flew Away the Bard", which was included as the last poem in my anthology Time Never Returns To Console & Other Poems. I am inspired to write poetry. I am inspired to write poetry as above and in many other ways which I can realize but can't express in words.
Would you tell us something about your literary and cultural background and how did you stat writing?
I migrated as a refugee from erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in 1957 at the age of 16. I put up in my uncle's house which had a book-store of back issues of two reputed Bengali periodicals: Masik (Monthly) Basumati and Desh (Weekly) which contained writings of all eminent Bengali novelists and poets. I studied almost all which left a deep impression on my mind of early age. Here my life took a turn of journey. I got interested and involved in literary endeavour. Literature of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was deeply educative for me, especially his marvellous poems, some contemporary, some classical. Simultaneously poems of a poet of another genre, rebel poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam, inspired me, evoked my emotion. In his poems, he rose in a revolt against colonial rule of British and protested against all social injustice, oppressions and discriminations. He was largely a poet of contemporary time, a time server with effective messages for common people though his almost all of about 2500 songs are of great value for the time and time beyond. This cross-section of literature stimulated me to write poems in Bengali. Initially quite naturally I followed Kazi Nazrul Islam as Tagore was too deep and serious for my age. In course of time through studies I realized something of Tagore which influenced my future writings. I joined Civil Service in 1964 at the age of 23. I had to work in several districts, subdivisions in course of mufassil stints when I came across many people engaged in literature. I interacted with them regularly and my being in bureaucracy was no problem for me. I was easily available and made them accessible for me for my literary pursuits. My poems as well as short stories in Bengali got published in many periodicals of districts. Here I should mention that my literary endeavour was affected vey much because of my having a refugee family of 9 including me whom I had to support with my meager earnings at the initial stage of my service. But time passes, seasons change and opportunities arrive. My first collection of Bengali poems Pratham Diner Surya (Sun of the First Day) was published in 1973 followed by 6 other collections of poems in Bengali. Herefrom started regular literary works and Bengali was my medium of writings till mid-eighties when I took to regular writing of poems in English which, of course, was preceded by writing English poems at pleasure; passion was yet to be born. My first collection of English poems, Dialogue with Time, was published in 1993 by Writers Workshop, Kolkata. I started being published in various English journals from all corners of the country. There was no looking back. My 9th collection of poems, Sparkles of Time, was published in 2007. Two more collections are upcoming. I also authored a short biographical novel, A Bureaucrat's Journey, which was serially published in Bridge-in-Making, not in book form yet.
How do you feel when something is created on the paper?
It is a delight of having a new child on earth. In my case a poem is created in mind by churning thoughts and emotions before it is produced on paper. It is an agony for me when I cannot compose a poem of my choice by churning words and thoughts. It is like something is brewing inside but not getting a form and shape. Sometimes it happens I strike brows through the whole day for just an appropriate word. It is a labour of creation and creation is an ecstatic joy. For creating a poem of my satisfaction I may forsake much, but satisfaction of creation is a hope and that hope stays unreachable.
As a writer which particular book/authors have influenced you most? Is there any influence of Tagore on Your poetry?
While writing in Bengali definitely Tagore influenced me. No writer in Bengali can, perhaps, escape/avoid the influence of Tagore who is a huge banyan tree spreading many branches. Tagore's works deal with Time and Timeless and that influenced me immensely. Tagore's vision, philosophy awareness and wisdom transcend time to influence generations upcoming. Another mystic poet, Jibanananda Das, also influenced me. His philosophy is futility, mortality of all living ones against the backdrop of ever-beautiful natural phenomena. Sakti Chattopadhyay is also a powerful poet of nineteen fifties. Though he is influenced by Jibanananda Das in a large measure, yet he is particularly known for his philosophy of life. His poems are well-metered, well-rhymed with necessary rhythms.
While editing my journal, Bridge-in-Making, since 1991, I came across poems of many eminent poets like Jayanta Mahapatra, Shiv K. Kumar, P. Lal, Keki N. Daruwala, Sitakant Mahapatra, Amrita Pritam, O.P. Bhatnagar, Nissim Ezekiel, Srinivasa Rangaswami, R.S. Tiwary, I. K. Sharma, R. K. Singh, and many others of later time who contributed their works to my jounal for long years. An editor is the best reader of poems edited by hi. Thus I got acquainted with and influenced byu many of them. Shiv K. Kumar, Amrita Pritam, Jayanta Mahapatra, P. Lal, O.P. Bhatnagar, Srinivasa Rangaswami and I. K. Sharma influenced me in particular.
Why is 'Time' so important an element in your poetry? Please define 'Life' and 'Time' and such other terms that you use in your poetry?
'Time' I use as metaphorical personification. The whole cosmic world is 'Time-Bound'. Our great Sun will some day be reduced to ashes. Black holes (the dead Stars) will no more be there then in positions someday. Nothing in the universe, living or non-living, can escape or avoid the bliss and bane of 'Time'. So all pervading is the influence of 'Time' which regulates human lives. 'Time' is carriage and human lives are carried passengers. Time never carries the dead and drops in its timeless journey. 'Time' is dead in a dead person, i.e. a dead one is beyond the influence of 'Time'. Time is active in something alive. Every event of our life is time-bound and activity of Time stops when one is dead. Length of life is not the length of 'Time. A person may live outside life though alive. 'Time' may not touch him. Thus 'Time' and 'Life' are correlated. We are under the impact and influence of 'Time', so are all cosmic phenomena. Poetry is reflection of mind, soul, and consciousness all of which absorb everything of lived life and everything in which we live. I consider Poetry as the Soul of Time. Whether 'Time' was ever birthed and will end somewhere was enigma. Modern great scientist Stephen W. Hawking evolved the theory that Time was born with Big Bang which ushered in the universe and 'Time' may end with the possible Big crunch which may destroy the universe.
I used other terms like 'Nature', 'Ecology', 'Environment', 'Violence', 'Peace, 'Humanity' and of course 'Love' I tried to treat those topics that came across my thoughts and imagination in the perspective of both modern time and universality. These topics are self explanatory and their use may be found in my different books. Treatment of 'Time' and 'Life' may be located in my books - In the Ruins of Time, Creating Killing Cosmic Time, Where Time Never Returns To Console, OnTime UnTime and Sparkles of Time. These books deal not only with 'Time' and 'Life' but also other topics as mentioned above. I considered other topics as within the bounds of 'Time' & 'Life'.
What is your philosophy which influences your creativity?
Philosophy of 'Time' and 'Life' influenced largely both my poetry and prose and to an extent my letters. Associates are 'Humanity' and 'Nature' whose preservation and protection are my main concern. Naturally come Ecology and Environment, 'Violence' and 'Peace and 'Love' for 'Humanity' and 'Nature'. Precisely my philosophy is to live peacefully, meaningfully, beautifully and with unrelenting efforts to achieve higher goals both, materially and spiritually. Likewise my philosophy is to let others live the same way for same purposes in mutual cooperation, co-existence and trust.
Is their any influence of other contemporary poets evident in your poetry, English or Bangla?
First, I would request to recall my answers to question 6; para 2: wherein I mentioned names of Indian English poets who influenced me in particular. I used free verse until my book In the Ruins of Time, wherein also I included rhymed verse. My later collections: Creating Killing Cosmic time, Where Time is Dead, Time Never Returns To Console & Other Poems, OnTime UnTime, Sparkles of Time, include mostly rhymed verses of traditional structures. I composed around 150 sonnet-like 14 liners. I say Sonnet-like because forms of Sonnet have not always been maintained in those verses.
Nobel Laureate Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore influenced me immensely. Concept of 'Time' and 'Timeless' came to me from his poems. His poems deal with many facets of 'Life' and 'Beyond'. Hardly anything of life and everything within and surrounding life escaped his attention. Those influences worked largely as Back-ups while crating my English poems.
Do you think man's higher aspirations are frustrated by his physical basis of life?
Not really. I believe, 'Our Sweetest Songs are those that tell us of saddest thought'. There are ample examples where man achieved his higher aspirations despite ordeals and challenges of life. This is true to all fields of life. Many of the best literatures were created while the writers were in the thick and deep of grief, sorrow, hardships, aloneness, miseries. Bad seasons of life never deterred creations Bengali poet Michael Madhusudan Dutt composed his best poems despite battered life of grief and pecuniary hardship. Our great poet Rabindranath Tagore had to bear many personal losses and grief of life which rather helped him create many transcendental literatures.
'The Old order changeth yielding place to new'. Change is inevitable. But in your poetry change is projected in a derogatory sense-be it in the field of Science and Technology or human behaviour. Could you, please, throw some light on it?
No, not the least. I welcome changes for the better and condemn and discard changes for the worse. Our India gained mountain of changes in the last 60 years not only in the field of Science and Technology but also in other fields which attracted global attention. India is now considered a major world power. I consider them great achievements to give our nation very high status. I take pride in them.
In the interest of ecological balance I was against wanton felling of trees and forestry. Agriculture, I know, has to give space for industry for growth and development of a country. I also know industry cannot substitute agriculture but can supplement it. Our Nobel laureate economist, Prof. Amartya Sen, reminded that Bristol was built only by replacing agriculture. Both of them are, therefore, essential for growth as well as healthy living. It cannot be ignored that realtors are grabbing arable lands in their commercial interest i.e. profit. Again much of arid lands are not unsuitable for industrial projects. This has also to be taken into consideration. Farmers are traditionally and emotionally tied to their agricultural lands. They are scared about unsure future when they have to part with their land even against compensations. I wanted to focus this also. I am fully aware that only a meager share of the whole agricultural land is necessary for industrial projects. This has to be spared for industrialization and growth. For this concerned people have to be appropriately addressed and motivated.
Indeed Technological advancements have taken India to a new high. I am one to share its glory and pride. At the same time these advancements have created different culture and ambience which are disturbing social and moral balance in some cases. My concern lies there. It is not condemnation but caution which I projected in my writings.
Your worries about a nation like India bring two facts into light: its intellectual existence everywhere and nowhere. What is your opinion about its future existence?
I believe no writer can afford to overlook own nation/country while creating something, may be poetry, novel or other medium of writing. My concern for India may be noticed in my writings rather covertly. Mostly I have taken a global look, be it Time and Life or Ecology and Environment, Violence and Peace and Love or some other themes. Particular reference to India at many places may be traced. India is a country having very long and old legacy and heritage of intellectual culture coming down through corridor of time. Those suffered many setbacks and wraths of Time indeed but those sustained to arrive at out door, even today and future existence is likely to be evermore glorious. I join former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who envisioned glorious India of 2020 not only in the field of Science and Technology but also in Culture and Education.
My latest book, My India: Through Corridor of Time, deals with many facets of my nation including culture obtaining in the past present and likely to be continued in furthermore glory in future. Some of the themes of my this book are: 1. My India: Through Corridor of Time, 2. My Nation, 3. Sovereignty, 4. History, 5. Geography: Today's yesterdays, 6. Territorial Identity, Integrity, 7. Religion: Essence, Cohesion, Clashes, 8. Language, 9. Literature, Myths and Epics, 10. National Flag, 11. National Anthem, 12. Literacy, 13. India: Post-modernity, 14. India: Science and Technology, 15. India in Global Attention, 16. Festivals of India, 17. India and Mathematics, 18. Poetics and Aesthetics of India, 19. India's Message, and 20. India's Dreams.
The book amply explains my opinions about future existence of India's culture and such other wealth of India. My opinions are highly positive.
What do you think of the contemporary Indian English Poetry scene?
Contemporary Indian English Poetry scene is thick with many poets indeed. But many of them did not upgrade despite being in the scene for quite a long time. Even then at least ten poets of contemporary time are likely to go in the records of Indian English Poetry of future. I do not want to mention their names but they are very much active. Influence of predecessor poets, a few of them are still living but not active, persists immensely. That is welcome, but practicing poets have also evolved new genre of writings. I think it will flourish evermore.
The presence of Pronab Kumar Majumder, the bureaucrat can be felt in your poetry. Do you agree with it?
Not really. Somewhere I might have been present with my pathos, pains, agonies. But I never appeared with my profession as far as I recall. That is deviation from my philosophy, if anywhere it happened I feel sorry for it. In my opinion if poetry has universal appeal it is a success. In poetry protagonist, if any, is expected to be a social individual, universal human with sensitivity, emotion, passion and compassion.
Do you agree that your poetry is didactic in mature? Do you think poetry has a greater role to play in the present time?
Somewhere but not everywhere. Usually I am direct and straight speaking in my poetry which may sound as perceptive. Since normally I do not follow circuitous way of expressing myself, it may seem didactic sometimes, not every time. But there are plenty of my poems where the poet is not present at all or where the poet is only venting his reactions to situations or narrating his own realisations and experiences. Where the poems are didactic, the poet is the voice of one who wants to speak his own experiences, realisations, education, philosophy, empathy and concern only to share with his readers.
Violence-ridden contemporary time needs support for peace and solace. The world at present is in the thick of miracles of hi-tech progress and developments indeed. But this most wanted go-ahead brings with it changes in social behaviour and individual mindscape also. Humankind needs respite and delight of mind as boost up. Poetry is the ambassador of peace, of soul searching, of cleansing conscience and of envisioning humanity for better and happier life. Poetry played a great role in the past, poetry has definitely its share of uplifting the conscience of modern man to a greater high.
What are you writing on these days? Is there more poetry in the offing?
I am preparing scripts of my 10th and 11th books at the moment. I also find time to compose new poems and to edit my journal, Bridge-in-Making. I have in mind to bring out an anthology of contemporary Indian English Poetry. Expectations are high. But the Financial Capability of a retired bureaucrat is limited. Poetry is my love. I am prepared to pay price of love despite my constraints. I will be happy to get support of encouragement from younger generation.