Brian
Mendonca’s A Peace of India: Poems in Transit Manifests him
as a Painter of Word Images!
Book Review by
Professor
Mohammad Aslam
Department of English
Central University of Kashmir
Srinagar
Dr
Brian Mendonca, a personal friend, is a modern poet from Goa who has, over the
years, gained rich experiences of travelling across India observing varied
cultures. His first collection of poems Last Bus to
Vasco: Poems from Goa won him acclaim for its richness of thought and
expression. He is basically a traveler; you may call him Goan Ibni Batuta or
Huan Sang whose keen eyes catch even minute things that shape his landscape of
poetic imagination. His landscape is vast and therefore his images are a
storehouse of rich cultural heritage that India has been known for generations.
He is a very good painter who knows that his image has to provide a background
to the place and people that it belongs to. You are therefore forced to suspend
your disbelief and see through the images, a cross section of people and their
cultures.
Mendonca’s second self-published book
A Peace of India: Poems in Transit manifests him
as a painter of word images that attract your attention on the first look.
During one of his visits to my home, I took him to the Hazratbal shrine where,
in its close vicinity, a wedding was also taking place. I took him around the
wazwan area, explaining all dishes that had been prepared for the guests. Brian
(that is what I call him) was fascinated by the variety of dishes (by the way,
he loves mutton). Those were the days when Kashmir was burning and, at the
University of Kashmir, we were still holding annual seminars. The interior of
the shrine delighted him and the pathetic situation of Kashmir saddened him. To
my surprise, after reaching Delhi (where he was working those days), he sent me
two poems both of whom are included in the collection under review. The two
poems are “Hazratbal” and “Srinagar” (p. 3). See how as a keen observer of
Kashmir, he presents the shrine within the ambit of Kashmiri culture and the situation that was prevailing those days:
Hair of the Prophet
Mynahs in the chinars
Marble from Makrana
Chandeliers from Belgium
Walnut for the sanctum
Moses among the reeds
Wanwun for the bridegroom
BSF at the ready
Yakhni on the carpet
Silence over Pir
Panchal
Kashir kori dich
pooch
Habba Khatun
hinz chaayi manz.
In fact,
Mendonca starts his journey from Delhi and goes “on a thematic vacation/To
expand my /leisure horizons,/To trip out/ ‘Inside India’/To get my links/on a
portal” (p. 1). Mendonca brings with him a rich heritage from Himachal Pradesh
(p. 12), Uttrakhand (p. 16), Rajasthan (p. 21), Uttar Pradesh (p. 27), Bihar,
Assam, Nagaland, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa, Daman and Diu, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala, all spread over more
than thirty pages of the booklet. Ravi in “Hymn to Ravi”( p. 12) fascinates him
for its laughter, wisdom and courage and Chamba (in “Chamba”, p. 14) offers “an
oasis of green to enclasp the soul” (p. 14). Luknow (in “Lucknow”) has immense
pleasure for the poet because of “Mujhra, Chikan and kebab” (p.
29) and Agra provides a “[s]pectacle in marble/Quintessence of grief/Epitaph of
unrest/fro the carnival horde” (p. 28). As a matter of fact, wherever you go,
Mendonca introduces you to the place in such a manner as if he has been living
there for ages. His knowledge of the history and cultural of the different
peoples is enormous.
A
Peace of India
is a food for thought for lovers of poetry and painting alike. A good read,
indeed.
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Picture of Hazratbal shrine, courtesy Imgres/ wikipedia
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Picture of Hazratbal shrine, courtesy Imgres/ wikipedia
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