E-Kantipur

Garmentki Gayatri is the third anthology of poems by Hari Adhikary which has recently been published recently by Fineprint. Adhikary is among the very few men of letters who not only represent but also enliven contemporary Nepali poetry. This anthology reflects his maturity in composition that is the result of his four-decade-long literary journey—ever since he first won gold medal in a nationwide poetry competition organised by (then Royal) Nepal Academy in 1970. Adhikary has tried his hand at short stories, humour, literary criticism and journalistic writing. But he indubitably expresses himself the best through poetry. Adhikary has brought out Ramlalko Aakash (a collection of short stories), Samsadma Ek Din, and Hari Adhikari Ka Kabita (both anthologies of poems) before Garmentki Gayatri (where Gayatri is a girl in a garment factory).

Like politics, present day Nepali literary landscape also lacks objectivity in critical evaluation on the quality of creations. The works of poet Adhikary now seem to be buried in a heap of doggerels. Part of the blame also lies with the authors who have failed to understand the importance of ‘branding’ and ‘marketing’ in line with the present-day consumerism. Nonetheless, Adhikary’s poems create a ripple of a sort, like the Garmentki Gayatri, a 116-page anthology, has done this time.

The most unique feature of Adhikary’s poetry is that he tries to see or sense the beauties, banalities and brutalities of the world mostly through the eyes, organs or the images of women. His syntactic jerks, poetic effects and core messages are extremely unconventional—this personification of images is a true departure from the established perceptions about objects and beliefs. For example, in the poem How Dare You Kiss My Eyes!, a commercial sex-worker unexpectedly protests against the customer kissing her eyes. As the stanza explains, she had only sold ‘other parts below the heart’ to protect the chastity of these eyes which had once ‘seen the prince of her dreams.’

Adhikary’s poems have two or three layers of meanings and connotations. His writing draws a lot of criticism for its use of sexually-sensitive body parts, particularly of women, as symbols and metaphors. Yes he does it, rather densely. But it appears obscene only at a superficial level. Dig deeper and we realise that such sensitive body parts are in contrast to the insensitivity of modern ‘humans’. And, in essence, at the third layer, the poetry dispenses the true message of apathy, plight or an alternate reality.

Apart from making women his main medium to convey his messages, Adhikary has employed two more devices—the poet himself as the central character of social anomalies and the eroding moral and political values that now plague our society. The present anthology is divided into three sections— Woman, Society, and Politics—comprising of 17, 23 and 13 poems respectively. In the first section, through poems like A Young Widow; Oh My Love!; Small Desiccated Woman; and, of course, Garmentki Gayatri, Adhikary depicts the shattered dreams, ruined lives, caged hopes, unnoticed exploitations and lost direction of common Nepali women:

Gayatri, like Abhimanyu in cordon,

Carrying a heavy load of definite defeat,

Has entered into that hellish tunnel, and

Has disappeared for forever.

She, stitching buttons on a new dress

Looks pretty,

But, a faint portrait of her own

Button-hole-loosened-life

Is hanging on her eyes. 

In the Social section, he has described the cacophony and struggle for survival in cities, which hardens even softest of hearts, preventing them from feeling the pains of others. The poet also laments at the social apathy shown towards artists and litterateurs. In the Political section, his poems are a blunt attack on irresponsible and shameful power politics, exposing the paradoxes of parliamentary rituals and laying bare the true face of some of the ‘right-based’ movements.

It is surprising however that author has chosen book title from Garmentki Gayatri, despite the fact that there are several other more powerful poems in the collection. Although not are new, the poetic ingredients are finely woven with astute craftsmanship and meticulous aestheticism:

Lips lack even slightest smile

Eyes hardly twinkle with pearls of tears

Snow-blanketed hills also look squalid

Rhododendron without red hue

Shrunken, sick moon;

Incessantly shrill hungry wolf

And, shivering innocent children

On hearing that horrible sound;

All these compositely constitute

A new collage of this country.

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