Pravat Kumar Padhy. The Rhyming
Rainbow: A Tanka Collection. New Delhi: Authorspress, 2019. Pp.58. Rs.
295/-. ISBN: 978-93-89110-09-8
Reviewed
by Abnish Singh Chauhan
Creation
and Criticism, Issue 14-15, 2019
Contemporary Indian poet Pravat Kumar Padhy, who
witnesses “the colours of hope and a world of joy of living in the temple of
poetry” (15) in the preface of his tanka collection— The Rhyming Rainbow, efficiently writes poems of poetic
science, music, memories, animals, birds, butterflies, flowers, trees, gardens,
fields, forest, deserts, hills, valleys, rivers, ocean, sea, sky, stars, moon,
sun, fire, rain, water, wind, winter, summer, autumn, spring, agony, tears,
ignorance, darkness, beauty, love, light and happiness that always give him
poetic insight, delight and encouragement. It seems as if he regularly
sits under the Boddhi tree where he contemplates and composes his
colourful poems on the grave issues of life and meditates on how to turn within
to discover “reflection of sound and light” (34).
The poems of The Rhyming Rainbow are not
about some imaginary world. They
are the poems from the real world that emanates natural-beauty, natural-wonders
and natural-colours of life— “Gentle wind muses/ songs of springs to the far
off fields/ angel of beauty/ visits the land of rainbow/ birds clap flapping
their wings” (19). This music of wind with clapping sound portrays the
paintings of smile, love and laughter. The gentle touch of the breeze and
colourful landscapes drain “all agonies” (21) of the suffering mankind and fill
its life with fragrance and friendship. The poet again delivers emotions,
thoughts and imagination springing from his beautiful heart that live and
sustain them in his own lucid manner: “Her smile/ blossoms in the garden of
life/ the moist breeze/ swings on the wings of butterflies/ unveiling the early
morning dream” (28).
The collection offers an account of
his long journey “through twilight shade” to simultaneously experience darkness
and light of his “inner thought” (44). These experiences become a great gift to
him in visualizing the imprints of “tiny footings” made in the life-journey of
so many active and hard-working people of the society, which “remain as the
image of joy” (44) in the memory of the soft-hearted and strong-willed poet.
But, this is not an easy task as it requires a lot of effort at physical and
intellectual levels to understand, love and appreciate others: “A flow of
music/ in the rhythm of rain/ the flute/ recounts its memories/ under the
bamboo tree” (28).
The rainbow of memories does not allow
the poet to take rest as it continuously reflects in his mind. Subsequently,
the poet finds anomalies around him, observes unpleasant things and hears
fuming voice in today’s communication— “I adjust to live” (20), “I listen to my
loneliness” (27), “The wrath of fire/ burns everything”, “He talks/ with angry
voice” (29) and “Argument after argument” (54). Such experiences do not let him
down as he is always ready to “burn the garbage/ as snow covers the night”
(54). He silently keeps his faith, gently broods over the problems and nicely
composes kindhearted messages for the masses of modern society— “the words/ I
rearrange to compose/ a kindhearted poem” (29). This is just a process to get
started, to take the steps, to unite the threads, to weave the thoughts, to
alleviate the pain and to forgive and forget the things in the life-journey:
“Sprinkles of memories/ essay the rainbow of union/ the tender lips/ urge the
swollen eyes/ earnestly for your forgiving” (29).
The multihued poems of this book
are marked by Padhy’s longings for optimistic perspective, healthy development
and humanistic approach— “Tomorrow man may/ fly to Mars and beyond/ I wish all
to settle/ and flourish as human alone-/ no caste, no religion” (52). His poems
are tender like flowers, vibrant like sparrows, warm like sunrays, animated
like waves, firm like stones and resilient like Nataraja. They are deep, effective, progressive and sublime in
contents: “Early dawn/ with tender sunrays/I wish/ light to reach the huts/ of
the slum-dwellers” (30). Consequently, the rainbow of love, compassion, wish
and hope, as created in these poems, are signatures of his art and his
creativity and erudition can be enjoyed through his socio-cultural, natural and
rational journeys in the world of poetry.
The Reviewer:
Dr Abnish Singh Chauhan (1979), the editor of two online
journals– Creation and Criticism and IJHER and a Hindi magazine– Poorvabhas, is presently serving as a
Professor and Principal, BIU College of Humanities & Journalism, Bareilly
International University, Bareilly. He has authored a number of books including
Swami Vivekananda: Select Speeches, Speeches of Swami Vivekananda and
Subhash Chandra Bose: A Comparative Study, The Fictional World of Arun Joshi:
Paradigm Shift in Values and Tukda Kagaz Ka (A
collection of Hindi Lyrics). He can be contacted at abnishsinghchauhan@gmail.com.
Pravat's desert journey haiku is highly cinematic and reads well as a poetic rendering of the establishing shot of a Hollywood desert movie.