1
I can smell violence in the air
like the lash of coming rain mass hatreds drifting grey
across the moon.
It hovers brooding, poised like a cobra
as I go prodding rat-holes
and sounding caverns
looking for a fang that darts,
a hood that sways
and eyes that squirt a reptile hate.
I watch my wounds but they don’t turn green.
Cross-bones I look for you!
Death I am looking
for that bald bone-head of yours!
But it’s in flesh and flesh-tissue
that my destiny lies
and slowly corruption takes a hold.
Over from the mortuary
comes the corpse-drift.
(Death is so soft, put it ten days in a well
and it turns pulpy.)
Rosewater, incense-sticks, flowers–
the relatives have done their bit.
The drift as it comes to us now
is aroma/stench/nausea
jostling each other!
In the morgue-verandah another queues up,
her nose sliced off, her lung punctured. (It
is a three-word story:
infidelity-irate husband.)
Man is so pliant, adaptable. Bury him
and he is steadfast as the earth.
Burn him and he will ride the flames.
Throw him to the birds and he will
surrender flesh like an ascetic.
Rain comes clamouring down,
a blind sheet of water.
Once the blur lifts
colours deepen, the hedge smiles,
the leaf loses its coat of dust,
the scum spills over from the pool.
I look around for a cleansed feeling,
the kind you experience
walking in a temple
after a river-bath.
I cannot find it.
I have misplaced it somewhere
in the caverns of my past.
Q. Write
a critical analysis of the poem “From-Ruminations” by Keki N. Daruwalla.
Ans. “From Ruminations”
by Keki N. Daruwalla is a poem that vividly captures the author’s thoughts on
violence and death. Through striking imagery and a powerful tone, the poem
conveys a sense of fear and desperation. However, it explores the idea of the
human body’s fragility also.
The poem begins with a sensory description
of violence in the air. He uses the metaphor of rain to represent the impending
danger. The use of the phrase “mass hatreds drifting grey across the
moon” creates an eerie and unsettling atmosphere, setting the stage for the
rest of the poem. The speaker being a police officer then goes on a search for a
fang or a hood, that represents the source of this violence. This search is a
metaphor for the quest to understand the root causes of societal conflicts.
The poem then shifts to a depiction of
death. Death is described as “soft” and “pulpy.” The use of
the word “drift” to describe the corpse adds to the sense of
detachment and decay. The poet also highlights the rituals surrounding death,
such as the use of rosewater and incense sticks, which can be seen as a futile
attempt to mask the inevitability of decay.
The poem ends with a description of rain,
which is used as a symbol of renewal and cleansing. However, the author is
unable to find the same sense of purity and peace that he associates with a
temple and a river-bath. Instead, he has “misplaced it somewhere in the
caverns of [his] past.” This ending suggests a sense of loss and nostalgia,
perhaps for a time when the world was less violent and death was not so
pervasive.
To conclude, “From
Ruminations” is an evocative poem. Like other poems by Daruwalla, it
also explores the themes of violence, death, and renewal. Through its use of
vivid imagery and a strong emotional tone, the poem captures the fragility of
the human body and the desperation that can arise in the face of violence and
decay.
