Shail Gulhati
Kiran Kanchan’s compilation of poetry ” Boond Boond Shahad” is truly a beautiful work of the heart , soul, and human experience.
As the flagship poem ‘Boonde kayee ‘ says wistfully, not all dew drops reach their destination , which is to enter humanity’s heart as messages from God and wash it of its accumulated dross of materialism. The subtle allegorical hint, shows the prowess of the poetess in the very first go.
Just like when we concentrate the Sun’s rays by a magnifying glass onto a sheet of paper, Kiran , living up to her name, is like the ray that concentrates with great awareness on the little details of life objectively, and then can flare up the idea into a raging fire of thought and philosophy. All this is done with a great economy of words. Succinct titles , in many cases single word headings, show her sterling quality. The poems also have a very recitable character to them, they would be perfect in a gathering of serious poets, or even Ghazal singers. Consider these lines from the poem Vakt aur halaat:
The book also has the great quality of deep psychological analysis and summation of emotions, relationships and character. But the dreamy poetic reach does not confine itself to just the human species, rather Kiran takes us into flighty animation realms where even the Sun shivers, at first with the blunt of winter’s effect; In ‘Suraj bhi kampkapaya’, but later realizes His power, and duty, and sets off to work – sending his warmth to make our day. So the inter -relatedness is very clear in the mind of the poetess as she attempts to share the same vision with her readers.
The angst of undermining women in the poem ‘Aurat ‘ is so succinctly yet powerfully penned that in exactly twenty five words, it hits you in the bulls eye. A must read for all men and women, to salute our Divine feminine.
Equally powerful is her take on the important issue of social media divesting us of quality time from our ‘real time life’. In the poem ‘ Whatsapp’, Kiran poignantly points out, how over the years we have gotten into a virtual corner by our own inventions, and lost out on the great Prakriti that God intended us to enjoy. A sweet surprise poem is the one called ‘ Doordarshan’, which is a tribute to the Indian Tv. The poetess reminds us in her beautiful way of how Doordarshan entered the lives of people of its early generation to enrich them with facets of life itself, right up to the clarion call of Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Even terse poems like ‘ Kudrat ka kehar’ are thought provoking and deeply invocative of the one power that is God. Kiran continually reminds us to be in sync with that one God and enjoy a fuller view of Nature and life. Almost as a complete validation of Lord Shiva, the very next poem
‘ Main kyon sehta hun’, ponders on why God drinks all the venom spitted out by His own denizens, especially humans, since He is the guiding and binding principle of the Universe, of life itself. This is a powerful poem, which in turn validates Kiran’s own bhakti bhava. We continue to see this love with God, and an intimate bhakt- like questioning in poems like
‘ Kyon dhoonde tujhe’.
In ‘ Na chaha kabhi’ , on the human emotion side, the simple yet determined declarations of storms as metaphors, suitably transports mortal relationships to the wuthering heights of an innate trust and bonding that withstands all through time.
In ‘ Aaana jaana’ , the poetess sings eloquently like a timeless and lovelorn bard, in a wistful sigh about the Natural order of highs and lows, comes and go’s, about the inevitability of life, despite which we all have to live and perform.
‘ Shor’ , as the title suggests, is another powerful poem about the effect that the ‘noise ‘ of idle talk, gossip, wilful criticism and other things that society relishes, rather than being creative, constructive and supportive of others.
In a change of mood, she then takes us to a very interesting poem called ‘ Sadkein’ , which is ostensibly about roads and paths leading to destinations and connections, but actually talks about Yojanas and plans of those in power. The poem ‘ Ghumti rahoon ‘ shows her keen awareness of the basic function of motion in all life, including the life of planets, which have to keep moving in order to maintain their cyclical existence , so too Kiran aspires and inspires to keep moving on in existence. But the very next poem brings us back to ground reality from this dreamy flight, citing the clutch of day to day sorrows and duties, ‘ Jakad rahe hain’ is a very important and universal understanding of the human dilemma. ‘ Door thikana hai’, a beautiful poem that speaks of carrying on our journey despite the wonders and temptations of the world reminds us of the great poet Robert frost, who famously wrote, ‘ The woods are lovely dark and deep, but I have miles to go before I sleep’. Such synchronicity of thoughts indeed shows us the mettle of poetess Kiran.
‘Bazaar sara karobaar’, elucidates further on the glitter of the material world, so the poetess is firmly entrenched in her thought about not forgetting the real journey, the real purpose, which is to meet the maker of this whole carnival, instead of merely being enchanted by it!
The end of the book sees ten to fifteen short but powerful poems as if , now the Samundra manthan- churning of the ocean is nearing completion and Kiran wants to hand out the nectar of her central message. And I think the message is in the poem ‘Zindagi ‘
‘Boond Boond Shahad ‘ is actually a nectar of philosophical human thought, which like honey, will have an everlasting life.
(The author is a Shaivite author and Mystic life coach)
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