Adarsh Ajit
Name of the book : Known Meets
The Unknown
Author : Gopi Kishen Muju
Publisher : Voice of Silence
The poetic outflow of Muju is a fusion of philosophy, existential drawbacks, social crisis, reformative advices, relationship, deep emotional outcry, autobiographical display, revolutionary mindset, enlightenment, retrogressive traditions, and creativity. Right from the first poem until the last, the readers get the impression that the poet is completely under the influence of natural beauty. Every theme or plot relating to living is build up in the backdrop of nature. Prof. H L Misri in his introductory note comments that Prof Muju emerges as the very instrument of transference of emotional turbulence from the lower plane of an individual to higher reaches.
Beautifully crafted poem, in fact the poem of the book as per this scribe, The Lotus, is the representative poem of Kashmir’s scenic beauty. The line Yesterday was gone, dead / Present was a reality / Future uncertain/unknown reflects the present scenario of Kashmir also. Tending towards the creation of climax in the ocean of love, life and nature, a newborn lotus is seen in the Dal Lake, which adorns it, looking like a prince of the lake. Embracing it and feeling proud the waves are standing guarding against any mischief or evil. In its second part, a boatman comes and sees the lotus, a prize catch for him. Dal starts trembling. Boatman does not listen to the appeals of the waves. He plucks the flower. Dal becomes lifeless. It moans in grief. It weeps endlessly. Mad violence overtakes the winds creating havoc around causing death and destruction. In the third and last party of the poem, the boatman rowing cautiously tries to save him and the lotus to go to city market to earn a price for his labour. With all the speed possible, the waves and the winds rush towards the boat, embrace the lotus, and return with the lotus, the pride of Dal. The boatman jumps in water to reclaim the lotus but only never to return. The poem refers to the philosophy of life: Strange silence overtook/ The vast expanse of lake/Life and death/Love and death/Known meeting the unknown.
Describing death and life as twins in the poem On Death, the poet terms those persons ignorant who say death keeps no calendar. Muju believes that death lives in silent vibrations like love. Claiming that the death is life in A Prayer, the poet wishes that the death must come silently as a flower opens up its petals to the morning dew without any noise or sound. Standing against the rituals and ceremonies after death the poet conveys that these are born out of fear. Freedom lies in moving:
Who is dead/ Let its own, karmas take care. The poem should have ended here but the poet unnecessarily adds last stanza, which does not beautify the poem.
The Ever Chattering Mind describes the mind like a monkey jumping from branch to branch, ever restless, moving from thought to thought. Muju says that mind has to be emptied like a filled pitcher to hold fresh water. The Miracle is a long narrative poem of a dumb girl-beggar whose pre-adolescent features are quite prominent. The poet asks would she spend her adolescence too on the road begging. On seeing a couple the girl shouts, ‘papady’, mammaty’. Tears are rolling down her dusty cheeks. The couple is dumbfounded. All are sobbing with tears rolling down. The girl turns out to be their own child. Polio had crippled her and she was lost in a fair and kidnapped for begging. There is silence all around. Gods watch the miracle. Evening sets in. The fat man comes to take the beggar girl. But she has been freed.
Strange Are The Ways Of Love is a strangely picked up love story amid the vast -paddy fields. The crops sway to and fro. The nature dances. There is a child, and his parents. They are rustic. Mother beats the child. However, ultimately there is a show of mother-child love.
In the poem Known Meets The Unknown, cow bows her head towards her master to carry his orders. Despite of her bad condition she moves on. Unfortunately the cow dies. As is the tradition to honour the dead and dishonour the living, the corps is covered and decorated with wreath of flowers. The poem reflects about human’s victimisation of the animals:
The known was dead/and what existed was unknown/in the silence of that union/lies creation
Giving the lesson that instead of killing the goat let the persons kill their superstition , false rituals, arrogance and selfishness the poem The Sacrificial Goat shows how the blind faith blinds the conscience and reasoning of the minds and how the pitying hearts work. A goat having a kitten is to be sacrificed for good health, future and long life of an ailing boy. On the sacrificial day, the goat is freed on the boy’s insistence narrating his dream of goat’s plea:
Why do they want/to kill me for your health/and life/See I too am young/ I too am a mother/ I too have/ A young one to feed.
The poetry of Muju is with reference to human existence and merger with Almighty. The bond of love among man, animal and nature is the essence of some poems. In The River, full stream is shown with a unique sight. Separated somewhere in the higher reaches the stream is in search of the mother stream and merges into it losing its own identity. The mother stream joins into vast wide river. The river flows with its own grace. Its journey continues with people offering milk, lamps etc. It finally joins the sea: The river/would open its heart/To offer the sea/Whatever it had/It was an embrace, a union/Of eternal love and peace/between the two lovers.
Denoting present-day relationship between the old and the young becoming mechanical the lines Am I being selfish/Am I seeking / For my own satisfaction/Own happiness are written for a daughter giving description about her childhood to her busy life outside the country.
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