Jayanta Mahapatra An October Morning

The significance of personal and immediate, the relationship of the self with the external world are some of the concerns in modern Indian poetry. In the poetry of Mahapatra one finds a constant brooding over perceptions, an exploration of his relation to his feelings and his environment and a perusal of the various links between reality, self and poetry. The basic problem haunting Mahapatras poetry is the relationship of the self to the other, the distance felt by the consciousness between being aware and what one is aware of. Mahapatra questions the existence of self; the other often takes the form of local society, and especially Hindu culture, ritual and spirituality, symbols and the past from which he has been alienated by his grandfathers conversion to Christianity and his own English language education. In this poetry everything is problematic, put into doubt, as Mahapatra observes his environment and listens quietly, sensitively to his inner feelings, the sources of his poetry, bringing momentary perceptions of relationships and fleeting images of contrast. It is difficult, often obscure poetry of meditation, recording reality as a unknowable flux. It is poetry of inner spaces, of psychology, of contradiction and renewed feelings of depression, guilt desire, lust and attention. Many poems are sealed against interpretation. Others begin with meditation and make sudden leaps into unexpected areas of feelings and hopes. While the process of the poem seems more significant than what is finally said, and the narrative often fragmentary and oblique, the poems are carefully crafted in their tight dovetailing of sounds and images to create, often an incantatory (like a spell or charm) mood. The poems treat of loneliness, the impossibility of expressing the meaningful, the difficulty of people understanding each other, moments of sexual desire, the pregnancy of silence, the minds imaginings, the contrast between the private and public world, Indian myth and ritual, dreams and identity. Certain images recur throughout Mahapatras poem- the sky, crows, trees, seasons, temple bells, distance are some of them. The primary concerns in Mahapatras poetry are private moments of illuminati on, despair, guilt , desire and other momentary fluctuations of feeling and insight arising within the mind, presented as a result of speculation on external stimuli, particularly the landscape and environment of Cuttack (Orissa) where Mahapatra was raised and lives. Mahapatra uses symbols from his environment to articulate inner spaces of feelings. The external world, especially the Indian landscape and seasons, becomes the starting place of imagination, as exemplified in the poem October Morning. Its a poem of solitude, expressions of the nuances of feeling which arise during isolation, loneliness, silence. It is suggestive as it reveals areas of mind unstructured by rational concepts and logic. There are contradictions, oppositions, contrasts and unexpected revelations. The poem creates a space separating the poem from the external world. There are consequently two realities, that which is the external source of poem and those immediate personal feelings which are revealed or discovered. Few poems affirm. Most end in uncertainty or defeat. The poem October Morning begins with a striking opening which tends to disorient the reader, Dawn edges its way through a crowd of huddled trees Then follows a description of an Indian early morning in which the scene seem distant to the poet yet charged with detail which suggest undefined possible significances. The dawn here becomes a

springboard that calls to mind images of transience, decay, death and sin. Though dawn is a sign of a new beginning, a new day, for Mahapatra its exactly the opposite- dawn brings to light the stoically silent sunken river; decaying timber, woman who hurries to hide her nakedness, man preying upon his own kind, passive tradition (temple too can send its sleepy bells fluttering), women shouting at each other. It seems to signify loss, sin, emptiness of life and mind. Pay attention to the number of times he uses words like lose, cry, decay in the poem. The disjointed, absurd, random scenes of morning echo the disjointed state of mind/ soul which tries to make sense of the chaos around it. The last lines of the poem is indicative of this, we know we arent ready for the answers of the hearts cries. The use of the word distance is significant as it show the yawning gap between the urban man and his environment and surroundings. The disjointed images takes us back to the earlier question of being aware of and what one is aware of. The poem is an instance of a spiritual decay in the heart of urban landscape/ man signifying its/his nonplussed existence.