Poet Ashwani Kumar deconstructs the stereotypes, mythologies and the metaphors associated with the city of Varanasi in his latest book Banaras and the Other
Kabir’s city of the dead and that of poet Kedarnath Singh held up by ash, light, fire, water, smoke, fragrance and uplifted human hands is how author and professor Ashwani Kumar’s book of poetry Banaras and the other portrays the holy city, according to noted poet K Satchidanandan.
“When I think of Ashwani, two poets come to my mind, Arvind Krishna Mehtrotra and Shakti Chattopadhyay,” said noted artist Jatin Das when introducing the new poet at a reading from Kumar’s book Banaras and the other at the India International Centre on June 5.
For Das, Kumar is still a naughty and mischievous boy with a great sense of humor whom he met years ago. The painter delivered a self-written poem for Kumar during the evening, which also included critical comments from other noted poets, and the release of the Malayalam and Odiya translations of the book, originally written in English.
Kumar, who has made a buzz in the poetry circles, recited from his book and said that he used the term ‘Banaras’ in a different manner than the other eminent poets who have written about Banaras. The poet’s words, woven together like a river, transported those sitting in the calm space to the ghats of Varanasi.
For Satchidanandan, Kumar’s poetry has six rasas, hasya, bhayanaka, raudra, adbhuta, little of sringara and veera.
Former secretary, Sahitya Akademi, Sukrita Paul Kumar, began by commenting on the word ‘Banaras’ and the stereotypical imagery the place evokes. She said that the poet deconstructed each and every stereotype.
“This book is all about contradictions, all about paradoxes; on one hand you have a kind of linearity because there are solid references to history, you get a feel of the past,” she said. “There is a timelessness that he has captured from the history and have been poured into the present,” she said.
Manglesh Darbal, poet, editor and translator said that there was simplicity in the way Kumar used mythological events as metaphors for present-day prospects. “The poems are very anarchic and multi-layered poems,” he said.