The Poetry of T.V. Reddy E-Book

• Herausgeber: Modern History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 620

Beschreibung

Join us on a poetic journey to the soul of India.
The Poetry of T.V. Reddy is grounded in human struggles and unrest, social as well as psychological and depicts the varied shades of restlessness that is the order of modern times. He protests against the social ills and evils in a gripping way in his absorbing poetry. He paints his experiences in a characteristic choice diction and the different images that he has carved out of human life and nature make a deep impression on the minds of the readers and linger there. The poet takes the readers into the soul of India, the villages and rural life which are the backbone of the country--that speaks volumes of his commitment to rural element and makes people come alive in his poetry. Natural rhyme and rhythm of the poems creates the pleasing melody. Clarity of thought and lucidity of expression, splendid imagery and marvelous melody are the hallmarks of his poetry.
-- Dr. P.V. Laxmiprasad, Editor
T.V. Reddy is not only a poet of highly perceptive temperament but also an accomplished critic and novelist. His awesome ingenious insight into the purpose and meaning of life in a perceptive and intuitive way leads the reader to the invisible force meticulously driving the point that the spiritual region lying within a man offers solace, harmony and consolation par excellence. For Reddy often finds strong affinity in Indian soil and here, rural backdrop inspires him to cultivate niceties of life where rural-oriented background turns out religious for him.
-- P.C.K. Prem, Authoritative critic on Indian English Poetry from Himachal Paradesh, India
T.V. Reddy's poems have the earthly smear of sweat and blood. Images crystallized, come alive in subtle but strong words gaining a permanent place in the hearts of the readers. His pen moves carving lasting images in a simple and straight form without any pompous gimmicks in the name of modern craft. His art of highlighting even tiny specks into gigantic monuments and the quality of lyrical writing gives a sense of exhilaration bringing the varied themes alive before our eyes elevating the soul to a higher consciousness. T.V. Reddy is a poet in the true sense, who gives us the best of the poetry in Indian English.
-- D.H. Kabadi, from his review of Melting Melodies in Poetcrit
T.V. Reddy is a skilled poet who handles thoughts that compel recognition. He deals with wide ranging themes that are sensitively sketched. While many poems capture common human tendencies and susceptibilities, vanities and vagaries with a sharp realist eye, there are some that move on to the dramatization of a grander perspective of eternity intruding into time to seek to redeem it of its ravages.
-- Prof. C.R.Visveswar Rao, Former Vice Chancellor, Vikrama Simhapuri University, Nellore, A.P., India; and currently the Chairman, Indian Society for Commonwealth Studies (ISCS) , New Delhi
From Modern History Press

Leseprobe

The Poetry of T.V. Reddy:

A Critical Study of Humanistic Concerns

Edited by Dr. P.V. Laxmiprasad

Modern History Press

Ann Arbor Michigan – USA

The Poetry of T.V. Reddy: A Critical Study of Humanistic Concerns

Edited by Dr .P.V. Laxmiprasad

Copyright © 2018 by P.V. Laxmiprasad All Rights Reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Laxmi Prasad, P. V., Editor

Title: The poetry of T. V. Reddy: A Critical Study of Humanistic Concerns / edited by Dr. P. V. Laxmiprasad

Description: Ann Arbor : Modern History Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index

Identifiers: LCCN 2017053452 (print) | LCCN 2017056544 (ebook) | ISBN 9781615993734 (ePub, PDF, Kindle) | ISBN 9781615993710 (pbk.: alk. paper) | ISBN 9781615993727 (hardcover: alk. paper)

Classification: LCC PL4780.9.N39585 (ebook) | LCC PL4780.9.N39585 Z83 2017 (Print) | DDC 894.8/2717109--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017053452

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Contents

Preface

1 – Angst of an Aging Heart: Surveillance of Subjectivity in the Select Poems of T.V. Reddy’s Golden Veilby Sheeba S. Nair

2 – Wails of Grief and Waves of Peace in T.V. Reddy’s Quest for Peaceby D. Gnanasekaran

3 – T. Vasudeva Reddy, the Poet in his Poetry: A Study of Golden Veilby DC Chambial

4 – Speaking through Images: A critical Study of T. V. Reddy’s Poetryby Abida Farooqui

5 – Chronicles of Life and Times: Exploring T.V. Reddy’s Poetryby C.A. Assif

6 – A Critical Exploration of the Pastoral Panorama of T. V. Reddy’s Poetryby K. Padmaja

7 – Rainbow or Mirage? Life beyond and behind Golden Veilby Santosh Ajit Singh

8 – Exploring the ‘Ultimate Truth’: A Study of Golden Veil by T.V. Reddyby Vijaya Babu, Koganti

9 – Poetry as Social Commentary: A Thematic Study of T. Vasudeva Reddy’s Quest for Peaceby Arabati Pradeep Kumar

10 – Portrayal of Nature in T.V. Reddy’s Melting Melodies: A Studyby Palakurthy Dinakar

11 – Poet as Man Speaking to Men: An Appreciation of T. V. Reddy’s Melting Melodiesby S. Karthik Kumar

12 – T.V. Reddy: A Study of his Poem “Life is a Desert”by D.C. Chambial

13 – A Critical Study of T.V. Reddy’s Thousand Haiku Pearlsby G. Srilatha

14 – A Collage of Random Images: The Abysmal, the Angst and the Social Responsibility in T.V. Reddy’s Poemsby Anju S Nair

15 – Rapturous Notes of Melancholy in T. V. Reddy’s When Grief Rainsby S. Malathy

16 – T.V. Reddy’s Gliding Ripples –An Overviewby Lily Arul Sharmila

17 – Social Consciousness in the Poetry of T.V. Reddy’s Golden Veilby V. Suganthi

18 – Nature, a Healing Heaven: An Ecological Reading of T.V. Reddy’s Golden Veilby R. Janatha Kumari

19 – Ecological Concerns in T.V. Reddy’s collection of poems The Broken Rhythmsby Sr. Candy D Cunha

20 – Echoes of Native Ethos: A Study of Indian Sensibility in T. V. Reddy’s Echoesby Gobinda Sahoo

21 – Manifestations of a Fractured Soul in T. V. Reddy’s Pensive Memoriesby J.S. Divya Sree

22 – T.V. Reddy’s Quest for Peace and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land: A Comparative Studyby Poonam Dwivedi

23 – Nature: “Fairest Eve in Eden” in T.V. Reddy’s Thousand Haiku Pearlsby K. Rajamouly

24 – Social Consciousness in T.V. Reddy’s poem Quest for Peaceby Neelam K. Sharma

25 – India Seen through the Eyes of T.V. Reddy: A Study of The Broken Rhythmsby Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

26 – Poetic Iridescence of T.V. Reddyby A.K. Choudhary

27 – The Vicissitudes of Life: A Critical Analysis of Fleeting Bubblesby Prasaja VP

28 – Exploring Paradoxes and Contradictions of Postmodern Life in Echoesby Arti Chandel

29 – Angst and Despair: Existential Concepts in the Poems of T.V. Reddyby Anantha Lakshmi Hemalatha

30 – Echoes of the Sublime in T.V. Reddy’s Sound and Silenceby K. Rajani

About the Contributors

About the Editor

Index

Preface

Poetry is the expression of overall life on the vast canvas of universe. In fact, it is an established art practiced by poets all over the world. India has had a long history of poetry in Sanskrit down the ages. Later, colonialism in India gave a new language, English for the expression of sentiments, sensibilities and reaction of Indians. Poetry in the ancient India was considered to be the language of Gods and Goddesses. Indian English Poetry made its debut in the last one and a half decades and has continued to impress the readers throughout the world. It has been generally divided into three phases - (i) the imitative, (ii) the assimilative and (iii) the experimental.

The period from 1850 to 1900 is the imitative phase when the Indian poets were purely romantic poets whose main inspiration came from the British Romantic poets: Wordsworth, Scott, Shelley, Keats and Byron.The period from 1900 to 1947 is the assimilative period when the Indian poets tried to assimilate the romanticism of the early nineteenth century British poets and ‘the new’ romantics of the decadent period for expressing the consciousness of the Indian renaissance between fervent nationalism and rapid political changes which ultimately paved the way for freedom from the British in 1947.

The first phase of Indian poetry marked the period of literary renaissance in India. Romantic spirit attracted the poets like Henry Derozio, Michael Madhusudhan Dutt, Manmohan Ghose, Kasiprasad Ghosh. Toru Dutt alone emphasized on India and her heritage by putting into verse a large number of Indian legends. The poets of the second phase, still romantic in spirit were Sarojini Naidu, Tagore, Sri Aurobindo Ghose and Harindranath Chattopadhyaya. The poetic output of these poets was prolific. Nationality, spirituality and mysticism were different from English romanticism. Aurobindo with his search for the Divine in man and Tagore with his quest for the Beautiful in man and Nature turned out to be Philosopher-poets. Sarojini Naidu was noted for verbal melody as she was under the influence of the English poetry as well as the Persian and Urdu poetry. As a lyricist, she is best remembered as “the nightingale of India”. The appeal of emotions embedded in nationalistic, philosophical, spiritual or mystical elements reached a wide readership in the country. The poetry of Toru Dutt, Sri Aurobindo, Tagore, and Sarojini Naidu represented the best voice of the contemporary Indian time-spirit.

The ethos of Post-independence phase of Indo-English literature is radically different from the first two phases. Modern age in Indian English Literature began virtually in 1947 with the partition of India, the tensions and emotions of Indian psyche. Thus, the post-independence era of hope and aspiration was soon replaced by an era of questioning. The national identity gave Indian writers a new confidence and spirit to work on the present and the past and of themselves. It can be accessed from the works that while the pre-1947 poets borrowed from the romantics, Victorians and ‘new’ romantics of the decadent period, the post-1947 poets borrowed from the modernist poets like W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and W.H. Auden.

The later phase of Indian English Poetry (IEP) is of two phases: i) Modern ii) Post-modern. The modern poetry is the result of experimentation or the process of modernization which includes urbanization, industrialization, independence, social change and revolution in system, and a mass educational awareness. Modern poetry deals with concrete experiences in free verse. The major post- independence Indian English poets are Nissim Ezekiel, Dom Moraes, AK Ramanujam, P. Lal, R. Parthasarathy, Gieve patel, Arvind Mehrotra, Pritish Nandy, Kamala Das, K.N. Daruwalla, Shiv K Kumar, Jayanta Mahapatra, Dilip Chitre, Eunice De Souza, Meena Alexander, Agha Shahid Ali and Vikram Seth. Contemporary Indian Poets in English are, without doubt, D.H. Kabadi, I.K. Sharma, I.H. Rizvi, T.V. Reddy, DC Chambial, PCK Prem, R.K. Bhushan, R.K. Singh, Manas Bakshi, K.V. Raghupathi, Nalini Sharma, and others.

Two important pre-conditions had to be met before Indians attempted to write poetry in English. First, the English language had to be indianised to express the reality of Indian situation. Secondly, Indians had to be sufficiently Anglicised to use the English language to express themselves. IEP has historical significance from another dimension. In 1835, Viceroy Macaulay laid the foundations of modern educational system to promote European science and literatures among the Indians through the medium of English language. The result was that English as a language settled in India, as later in other British colonies and a privilege of passport and visa to take IEP beyond Indian boundaries. Still, the tension between the alienating language and the Indian sensibility has been as old as Indian Poetry in English itself.

Among the contemporary Indian English Poets, T.Vasudeva Reddy (better known as T.V. Reddy in literary circles) is a prominent poet in English with a large bulk of poetry to his credit. Basically, he is a poet of social criticism besides being a predominantly rural poet. As one who hails from rural area near Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, India, T.V. Reddy has depicted the rural scenes besides the contemporary issues in his own style mostly by metre and rhyme, and by using imagery, satire and irony as his poetic tools. Writing about common scenes and people in countryside is a rare phenomenon in Indian English Poetry. Not many poets have depicted rural life in their poetry. Only a few poets like I.K.Sharma, DC Chambial, PCK Prem, and P. Raja have written several poems about rural life. Of these, T. V. Reddy occupies a permanent place as a rural poet. He is deeply committed to his village. Poems such as “ The Sparrow“, “ Penance for Cow”, “ Thirsty Field“, “ The Wood is Calm”, “The Lake at Night“, deal with common scenes in Indian village. “ Fortune Teller“, “Toiling Ants“, “Naked Tree”, “The Train“, “Travel by Bus“, “Women of the Village“, “The Indian Bride“, “The Housewife”, “ An Old Woman“, “The Kalyani Dam”, “The Fort“, “The Coconut Tree“, “The Tiller”, “A Pair of Sparrows“ are examples of poems under rural element. His rural element reminds the readers of Mahatma Gandhi’s quote that “India lives in the countryside”. In fact, all the collections are known for rural sensibility. Critics estimate him that the poet has had a strong passion for poetry for the last three and a half decades. His interest sustains him even now.

To quote, K.V.Raghupathi, poet and critic, “T.V. Reddy’s poetic growth spanning over three decades is one of involution. Strangely much contrary to what happens in most poets’ career, he has moved from being intensely subjective, contemplative and philosophical in his first collection to social in his later collections. Clarity of thought, lucidity of expression and imagery are the hallmarks of good poetry. In poem after poem, T.V. Reddy’s diction moves like a fluid, yet his is simple and direct endowed with impressive imagery” (The Rural Muse: The Poetry of T.V. Reddy, ed. K.V. Raghupathi,5-7). As such, he articulates human struggles and unrest, social as well as psychological and depicts a sort of restlessness that is the order of modern times. He protests against the social evils and ills. He paints his experiences in words with different images which make them remain in the memories of the readers. Words in his poetry dance to the tune of thoughts and create sounds, but in absolute silence. The natural flow of the lines, the remarkable ease and felicity of expression are striking features of his poetry. The poet takes the readers into the soul of India. People become alive in his poetry. Natural rhymes affect their taste and interest. Though a sense of grief and despair looms large in his earlier collections, a note of optimism marks his later collections.

This critical volume on the poetry of T.V. Reddy consists of thirty well-researched papers by scholars and professors across the country. To begin with, Sheeba S Nair is an eminent critic to work on Golden Veil. Her paper entitled “Angst of an Ageing Heart: Surveillance of Subjectivity in the Select poems of T.V. Reddy’s “GoldenVeil” focuses on subjective touch to poet’s personal experiences, moods and passions. Life’s hardships help the poet achieve consensus with reality and mould him to undergo ageing with tolerance. She concludes that the collection of poems mentally prepare everyone to face the challenges of old age. Gnansekaran is another distinguished critic who has studied Quest for Peace for a brilliant analysis. His paper is entitled “Wails of Grief and Waves of Peace in T.V. Reddy’s Quest for Peace. He remarks that T.V. Reddy is a selfless social critic and has a philosophical bent of mind. He gathers all his strength to anchor himself at a certain vacuum and uses the vacuous space to place himself close to the source of peace. He sums up that avarice; power-mongering, indulgence in sex, social inequality and all kinds of ethical erosion should be replaced by waves of peace. Only then, peace will prevail in the world. DC Chambial is another eminent critic to work on Golden Veil and finds that the poet has emerged as a champion of the poor, a representative of rural India holding human ethics to his heart and a detractor of the present polity. He envisages his original ideas about love for nature and hope. Next, Abida Farooqui, through her scholarly paper entitled “Speaking through Images: A Critical Study of T.V. Reddy’s Poetry” observes that the most striking feature of his poems is the conveyance of sense through images. With a characteristic deftness, he incorporates the ordinary into his poetic fabric. Abida concludes that the poet is cryptic, at times satiric and at others pessimistic and dejected and still, hopeful and optimistic. The poet has this knack to blend the ordinary with the extraordinary.

C.A. Assif is another reputed critic to trace the chronicles of life and times in the poetry of T.V. Reddy. He finds that the poet has post-modern sensibility as dwells in the realm of what we call everyday life. Assif concludes that Reddy has attempted to depict some of the perennial issues of the age and thereby tried to chronicle his life and times. K. Padmaja is another eminent critic to explore the pastoral panorama in the poetry of T.V. Reddy. In fact, rural element is the most dominant theme of his poetry. Almost, all his collections carry poems with rural sensibility, scenery and predominantly form the bulk of his poetry. “A Critical Exploration of the Pastoral Panorama of T.V. Reddy’s Poetry” is the title of her paper. Padmaja concludes that T.V. Reddy depicts idyllic nature, the rustic people and villages as well as the lasting damage done to nature by humans and the destruction of villages and the livelihoods due to urbanization. All these present sweeping panoramic view of the rural life encompassing a huge canvass of poetry.

Santosh Ajit Singh, an eminent critic, evaluated the collection Golden Veil and observes that the collection captures the quintessential spirit of life. Life is a relentless pursuit of the eternal truth that is the driving force behind all existence. T.V. Reddy makes a strong case for re-working notion of life. She concludes that the poet has dwelt upon emotions to pen down his musings on life. “Rainbow or Mirage? Life beyond and behind the Golden Veil” is the title of her paper which throws light on the life in all its hues and myriad forms. K.Vijaya Babu is another distinguished critic who has evaluated the collection Golden Veil for the ultimate truths. He termed the collection as something that projects the poet’s kaleidoscopic view of the colorful feelings and emotions of his heart as a sensitive poet and as a keen observer of the world. The poet conveys a few ultimate truths to realize the loss man has undergone in his sojourn. Further, Vijaya Babu observes that the poet asks us to identify the loss of relationships between man and nature, and man and man, and man and society. Man has to realize that relationships are central to human existence. Next, A. Pradeep Kumar, an established critic, through his paper entitled “Poetry as Social Commentary: A Thematic Study of T.V. Reddy’s Quest for Peace” reveals that T.V. Reddy is a social commentator and predominantly a true Indian nationalist. The collection remains largely distinctive of Indo-English poetry as it contains elements like social satire targeting the social problems like terrorism, corruption, environmental pollution, defective education system, filthy politics, unethical print and electronic media, VIP culture in temples and finally degenerating ethical and moral values. The poet champions the cause of social evils through the collection.

P. Dinakar is a critic who worked on the collection Melting Melodies. “Portrayal of Nature in T.V. Reddy’s Melting Melodies” is a critical study for exploring nature scenes. He observes that the poet very succinctly views nature from different dimensions. Every line of collection is embedded with nature and its gifts. Dinakar finds that T.V. Reddy’s collection provides a serene atmosphere in the minds of the readers. Nature continues to inspire poets even in the Post-modern world where other burning issues hold the nerves. It has profound impact on the poet and his surroundings made their presence in the collection. S. Karthik Kumar, another distinguished critic, takes up the collection Melting Melodies for a critical appreciation. He finds that the poet has become the representative voice of the millions of people and in a way; he is the ambassador of their concerns through creative faculty. Universal anxieties affect his poetry and the poet speaks to men as the speaker or the spokesperson. Karthik finds that the collection is replete with themes ranging from love to politics. Society is the main focus through which the poet examines all sorts of relationships. His poetic sensibility, according to Karthik, is so keen that anything he comes across in everyday life becomes a source of poetry. The ordinary becomes extra-ordinary in his hand.

DC Chambial in his brilliant second paper titled “T. V. Reddy: A Critical Study of his Poem “Life is a Desert“ writes that life seems to have taught him so many lessons coupled with struggle to express and establish himself in his academic as well as social life. He sums up that the poet used iambic pentameter but does not delve on rhymes. Alliteration has been effectively employed in the poem. G. Sri Latha is another eminent critic to evaluate T.V. Reddy’s Thousand Haiku Pearls. She writes that the poet criticizes the present social conditions as chaotic due to never-ending crime rates. The focus of the collection is more on education, politics and society. Her observation is more pertinent in the context of modern day education where it has shifted from holistic education to materialistic life. Total reforms in the modern life are the only way to purify the maladies of world and thereby envisage a life of peace and inner calm. Arti Chandel is another eminent critic to explore paradoxes and contradictions in the collection Echoes. The poet, as she observes, uses paradox, contradictions, and oxymoron as effective tools to expose, ridicule and satirize contemporary man and his actions. His aim is nothing but correction. Arti cites certain poems which reveal universal truths through a series of contradictions and inherent paradoxes. Attachment in detachment and detachment in attachment are the two sides of the same coin.

Random images get their due share in the poetry of T.V. Reddy. Anju S Nair traces out certain random images from the collection Fleeting Bubbles. “A Collage of Random Images: The Abysmal, The Angst, and The Social Responsibility in T.V. Reddy’s Poems” is the title of her paper through which she presents invoking ideas of modern man and his plight. It is what she describes material and intellectual life in the barren world. A man loses his senses when he is caught in a state of forlornness. The isolated, secluded, and pitiable condition of man who yearns for solace depicts the state of helplessness. S. Malathy is another distinguished critic to work on the collection When Grief Rains. Her paper entitled “Rapturous Notes of Melancholy in T.V. Reddy’s When Grief Rains” presents the warp and woof of human dilemma and complexity. It not only depicts the amount of grief by the poet but also the pain of the people around him. Malathy sums up that the collection shows T.V. Reddy as the poet of his fellow living-beings. It is an exhilaration that his readers enjoy as the poet excels in his art of highlighting even tiny specks of life.

Lily Arul Sharmila has taken up the collection Gliding Ripples for an overview. She writes that the poet has unified ideas, promulgated truths and universalized his long-cherished ideals. This is where T.V. Reddy is successful as a poet of universal concerns. Anantha Lakshmi Hemalatha is another critic who has studied T.V. Reddy’s collections for existential concepts like angst and despair. She observes that the poet’s art gains everlasting magnitude as it borders on the living conditions of human beings. The mystery of continued existence is permanent and unending.

V. Suganthi has taken up Golden Veil and explored the theme of social consciousness. The righteous world is no more now and it is now replaced by corrupt world where there are no moral values. The poet presents social milieu in the collections and as a poet, voices his concerns towards the better world. He awakens the world against the wrong-doings. Suganthi rightly remarks that the poetry of T.V. Reddy is quite relevant and responsive to the society. Nature continues to dominate the poetry and T.V. Reddy in particular, whose poetry strongly echoes the impact of nature. R. Janatha Kumari through her brilliant paper entitled “Nature, A Healing Heaven: An Ecological Reading of Golden Veil” explores the profound impact of nature on the universe. She observes that the collection is rather a beautiful portrait of colorful, soothing and lovely nature in spicy and elegant verses. It is, according to Janatha Kumari, a lullaby for the readers to lull ourselves in the lap of the Mother Nature. His poems exhibit his ample love and appreciation for nature. Nature is supreme and for T.V. Reddy it is more than a mere worshipping of nature but to go deep into the secrets of universe.

“Ecological Concerns in T.V. Reddy’s The Broken Rhythms” is a brilliant paper by an eminent critic Candy D Cunha who has worked substantially on Eco-literature. The select poems she has studied are about the wounded earth and with which the poet painted them in the form of poetry. The children of the earth have turned against her and have exploited her and further, have stripped off her green garment, making her to feel in absolute shame. Her ecological concerns target the man-machine world and the immoral practices and natural destruction of the beautiful inn that God has created for us.

Gobinda Sahoo is another critic who has critically evaluated the perspectives of Indian ethos in the poetry of T.V. Reddy. He deals with the echoes of native ethos, the reflections of Indianness. India is a land of diversities and the poet’s sensibility gets reflected in the poetry. It is his love and passion for the country that is reflective of typical Indian sensibility. The imagery and idiom, issues and illusions, philosophy and location s of India have received ample expression in the poetry of T. V. Reddy. Gobinda concludes that the poetry of T. V. Reddy bears multiple notes of Indianness with echoes of native ethos which can be called as one of the striking themes of his creation.

J.S. Divya Sree has studied Pensive Memories, a poetry collection by T.V. Reddy and traces out certain manifestations of a fractured soul. Divya writes that almost all the poems in the collection contain that element of suffering of man at physical, emotional and spiritual levels. She concludes that his keen observation of nature, speculation in life, harsh criticism of social institutions and use of alliterative verse makes him stand apart from his contemporary poets. A.K.Choudhary, after a careful analysis of his poetry, expresses that “Like Jayant Mahapatra Reddy makes an earnest attempt in exposing the social and political hypocrisy of the Indian masses that made a treasury of the raw materials for versification in English poetry.”

Prasaja VP is another critic who has examined Fleeting Bubbles with her critical perspective interpreting the vicissitudes of life reflected in the poems. She finds that the collection is a representation of multifarious lives in this mini world. As the title signifies, it is a delineation of the transient and ephemeral nature of life. She concludes that though pain and sufferings permeate his poetry, many of them have a hopeful tone.

Poonam Dwivedi has taken up a comparative study for her critical evaluation. She compares T.V. Reddy’s Quest for Peace with T.S. Eliot‘s The Wasteland. T.V. Reddy’s invocation of the ancient anecdotes to resurrect the dead souls living in the present day world is to be found everywhere in the poem just as there is the focus of T.S. Eliot on the ancient tale of fertility rituals vis-à-vis modern thought and religion in the guise of Fisher King. The mythical aphorism remains the spine of the thematic structure of both the poems of significant length. Both the poets have dealt with Post-modern chaos, despair, disappointment and frustration in the poems. “Peace” in Vedantic term means “Shantih”. The poet voices for a better world to prevail on earth though there are political, social, and regional and religious barriers.

The paper by Poonam Dwivedi has relevance and context in the backdrop of the happenings around the world. K.Rajamouly is another critic to work on Haiku. He writes that nature is so beauteous and bounteous for T.V. Reddy that it attracts his deep attention towards its charms and rhythms, beauty and music. He as a poet and man loves to live and move in nature and become one with nature. His love for nature is not only due to his temperament but also to the background of his native region. He was born and brought up in a village surrounded by green fields and groves, hills and forests, rills and rivers. It is natural that his main focus is on nature and man in nature. One of the nucleus themes of his poetry is nature, “Fairest Eve in Eden”.

Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya has examined the collection and observes that The Broken Rhythms is a significant book of poems on many counts. Firstly it holds out a mirror to life as it is in India. “Thousand pages of Indian economics and Indian sociology cannot teach us the truths about the social and economic predicament in India better than the handful of poems in The Broken Rhythms”. “India Seen through the Eyes of T.V. Reddy” is the title of paper that the critic has found Indian dimensions in his poetry. Neelam Kumar Sharma found Quest for Peace for social consciousness. He concludes that Quest for Peace by T.V Reddy is a great piece of art containing social satire in it. Every satirist is at heart a reformist. Reddy also wants to reform the society by pinpointing the vices and shortcomings in it with the help of his moral responsibility, civic sense and practical wisdom. Undoubtedly he has been very successful in accomplishing his self-imposed mission.

K.Rajani in her perceptive article “Echoes of the Sublime in T.V. Reddy’s Sound and Silence” speaks about the voice of the sublime in T.V. Reddy’s poetry and finds the echoes of the sublime in abundance in Reddy’s sonnets. She remarks “Reddy’s sonnets are a mine of delectable music springing from the constant beat of the rhythm and such expressions are beyond count in his poetry and in fact music is the breath of his poetry. Dr. Reddy’s poetry is a marvelous blend of sound and sense springing from profound silence. In his poems that deal with social or satirical theme, nature or spiritual theme we find an undercurrent of the sublime voice whose echo lingers long in our minds.”

Thus, the poetry of T. V. Reddy is the poetry of life in all aspects and angles. He is not just a poet of nature but also a poet of rural India and at the same time a poet who has experienced the world around him. He is a passionate observer, and these reflections have found a place in the form of verses. A profound philosopher, a poet of rural sensibility, and equally a poet of universal concerns, T. V. Reddy is, I reckon, the representative poet from India whose contributions will be remembered in the world.

Dr. P.V. Laxmiprasad

English Literary Critic and Editor

Karimnagar, Telangana, INDIA

1

Angst of an Aging Heart: Surveillance of Subjectivity in the Select Poems of T.V. Reddy’s Golden Veil

Sheeba S. Nair

Subjectivity is a major philosophical concept which comprises in itself the consciousness and experiences of an individual related to his/her reality and truth based on his state of being. In other words, it can be simplified as an entity’s specific perceptions, experiences, expectations and understanding of a reality which may be biased based on the understanding of a subject. To most of the creative writers, more specifically poets, literature is an expression of their hearts, expectations, plaints, grief, despair, disappointments and so on. To T.V. Reddy, the creative and meritorious poet par excellence, poetry springs out of his personal experiences reflecting and refracting his different moods and passions. They are, in fact, interpreters of his ‘own self’ and soul. This quality of his writing extends a subjective touch to his poetic pieces, making their reading the most endearing experience. Though personal, they do endorse the objective reality through an individual’s identity and experiences and can never be dismissed or overlooked as the idiosyncrasies of an individual.

“Time and tide wait for none” is a well known maxim that reminds the human beings of the transient nature of their life. Still, the general human tendency is to ignore this greatest truth and live as though they are eternal and immortal beings. Especially, the youth gloat over their strength both mental and physical and display interests in wielding power; they live believing that they are the power centre of the universe. But passage of time proclaims how ephemeral human life is, particularly the bloom of youth or the salad days traverse from one’s life at breakneck speed. It is so swift that it would have crossed one’s life before one comes to realize. With passing time, the power structure of human life also undergoes a change. They may experience a state of decentering, a quick jetting from centre to margin which shatters their identity and existence. Hence, from puranic time onwards there is a hunt for amrita, a divine portion that confirms immortality. Research still progresses though human beings who have not yet succeeded in attaining immortality and it makes life desperate. It leads to disappointment, frustration, despair etcetera and these feelings could be evinced in the poems of T.V. Reddy in the collection Golden Veil. Though the collection includes poems on variety of themes, it is extensively about ageing which pours down the spirit of the poet or the narrator. Furthermore, it sheds light on the poet’s personal life and his experiences.

Golden Veil begins with a poem “In the Shell of Solitude“ which undrapes Reddy’s ailing heart. The poem is highly subjective as it records the poet narrator’s reserved nature and preference for solitude. The poet confesses that he is “Unused to Hawkish hues of dash and drive / I prefer to stay in the sober shell of solitude” (9). The personal pronoun employed in the verse extends an authentic touch to the poem, permitting the readers an access to the otherwise reserved heart of the poet which is encircled deliberately by “the stony wall” (9). The poem on the whole is set in a confessional note. The poet admits that “I am from birth shy and timid, / True, I do not know why … I can’t transform my mute cells” (9). Though desperate, he admits that he has to be bold and it could be possible only with the grace of the almighty, “Bereft of it these lives and lines can’t blaze” (9). “In the Shell of Solitude” concludes on a positive note in spite of its gloominess by recording that if a common man shows courage he can turn into a legend and it is in the individual who has to decide whether he “has to live” or “crawl as a lone lizard” (9).

The confidence and the hope that Reddy expressed in the first poem of the collection Golden Veil soon vanishes giving room for frustration and desperation. The strength he displayed even while living a secluded life in his youth deserts him and he feels completely desolate. He experiences loss of identity and that drives him to equate him to that of an insignificant cast-off napkin that is old. The plaintive tone of the poet marks the frustration of the old man who feels, “We old men nowadays are like old napkins / to our fast earning kids and wealthy kith and kin, / trash thrown out as waste and useless tins and pins, / used tissues disposed and dumped in dustbins” (10). Though the above lines are highly subjective in nature, objective representation of the changed social scenario could not be dismissed. Very subtly, Reddy refers to the materialistic nature of the modern youth who pays no attention or reverence to the old who were once looked upon as a source of knowledge and guidance.

“Old Napkins“ is not just a recantation of the poet’s afflicted heart. It is more a didactic poem than a plaintive one. It shows how the young hate the old for remonstrating while they go astray. They are impatient and impertinent. Still, the poet feels that they should be properly guided though they detest. The poet moralizes “If elders fail to advise, children will sink and stink” (10).

A streak of similarity could be evinced in Reddy’s poem with that of Shelley‘s “Ode to the Westwind”. Besides being subjective, both the poems enunciate the troubled life of the poets and the way both conclude on a rhetorical note. While Shelley expresses hope that all his sufferings will come to an end as winter will surely be replaced with spring, Reddy’s closing lines invoke the reader’s mind regarding the inevitability of pruning and weeding the young minds in the proper way. The brilliantly simple and uncomplicated comparison through which Reddy conveys the vital truth or message demands special attention and appreciation: “when cattle graze in another’s rice field / a strong stick does the angry farmer wield; / when leaves and buds are infested by pest, / till pesticides are applied do we simply rest?” (10). The ‘Indianness’ in these lines cannot be dismissed either.

The philosophical nature of Reddy’s poetry evokes comparison with not only Shelley‘s poems but with Robert Frost too. “Choose the Right Path“ reliably alludes to Frost‘s “Road not taken”. Both the poems are subjective and articulate the need to take a decision at a point of time. While Frost implies the decision that one has to make in the youthful days, Reddy insinuates an experienced or grown up man’s struggle to decide on the path to pursue. The line “My travel continues from dawn to noon” (16) marks the time the poet has spent on this earthly abode and “No shade, I walk in severe scorching heat” (16) again refers to the hardships that the poet has undergone in his life, yet he is hopeful though he has not yet reached his destination, “I hope to reach it soon” (16). While Frost writes of

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth; (Frost, “The Road not Taken”)

Reddy presents the same in the Indian scenario: “Beneath the peepal tree I stand, I stare at the split, / The path splits in two, my tired feet stand still” (16). While both Frost and Reddy speak about the difficulty of making choice, Reddy differs in articulating not just about the need to make a choice but also about the troublesome nature of the life that he has lived so far which makes him lament that his “throat dries up, reluctant are my feet” (16). However, both mention the general human tendency to choose the “easy one, the pleasant cozy one” (Reddy 16) as “instant fruits and sweet comforts it dreams to reap” (16). Though the road with “a feast of festive lights teeming with tempting sights” (16) attracts him over the highly dangerous “winding craggy hill”, he like Frost chooses the less travelled difficult path in “Search of Truth, an uphill task, leads to lasting bliss” (16) and the explanation that Reddy provides with for choosing the difficult path as “We are not sheep to graze and relish the ephemeral kiss” (16) also justifies Frost‘s words “And that has made all the difference” (‘Road not Taken’).

Reddy’s “Soon the Sun does Set” is a highly philosophical poem where the poet comes in consensus with the bitter truth that he cannot escape old age. He commences with the acknowledgement that indeed youth is the most attractive phase in one’s life but he advises the readers not to panic before the racing time: “Be brave to turn a new leaf, never be meek / No use in recollecting the youthful days” (17). The metaphor of sun is used by the poet to ram home the strength and radiance of a youth but soon he reminds that sharp and bright sun “would set, retire hurt and gory” (18) for as rightly recalled by the poet “You can’t ride on the crest of the racing tide / Each has his moment and then a jerky slide” (18). Never once does Reddy cast off his philosopher’s robe in this book Golden Veil and that expounds the wealth of his experience, mostly bitter.

The subjective nature of the poem makes the readers deduce that the poet is nearing his old age: “The sun is past the meridian line, rays are slant/ Soon he would set without heat, rage and rant” (18). The poet does not forget to express the conflict between the mind and body which one experiences in the old age: while “your mind thinks you are still young and stronger” (18), your body realizes “you can walk no longer” (18). The concluding lines record the effort the poet takes to convince his mind which is still youthful and looks shuddered at the ageing body. He consoles his own exasperated self: “You are tired, my child, you are grown too old; / No use in groaning and gasping for bad breath” (18). Though he mentions about the awaiting death, he likes to look at it as “The old frame… laid to rest with a formal wreath” and is hopeful that “The sun has set for good with the hope of rest” (18). Despite being melancholic in tone, the poem extends the greatest philosophy of life with utmost sincerity and simplicity and it alludes to the thoughts of the greatest philosopher G.B. Shaw who averred “Do not try to live forever, you will not succeed”.

The troubled life and its problems are recorded faithfully in the poem “No More Tears“. The poet recounts how he has spent almost all his feelings at the far end of his life which has left him with “No more drops of tears to fall / No more words or thoughts to call” (20). He laments that not only tears and thoughts have eluded but love and peace too. The passing years deprive a man of everything jocund and bright and he can dream of “No more light or delight, no more my love” (20). What envelops him is the darkness, “the eerie darkness” and it waits to fill his life “as a dark cloud or a sable shroud” (20). “No More Tears” though accents a happy note, it in fact discloses the passionless life one is compelled to undergo in one’s old age.

The angst of Reddy’s poetic heart is well expressed in the poem “Forget Me Not“ which takes the poem from pathos to anxiety and apprehension. It is addressed to his wife to whom he pleads not to forget him even after his death. A typical fatherly concern marks the rest of the poem: “Children are too tender and young / Many thorny years to be strung” (21). It also reminds the readers about the difficulty of this mundane life yet, it is very dear to all especially one who has a beloved. He confesses his lady that “The moment you hold my feeble hand / I feel I am still safe on this fluid land” (21). The fleeting nature of time is insinuated once again here and the poet cautions “you can’t arrest this moment” (21).

The rest of the poem portrays the poet to be a typical Indian who is not swayed or shattered by the fact that he is approaching his end. Though he expresses his anxiety of being forgotten in the course of time, what ails him the most is the anxiety he feels for his wife and children. Hence, he extracts promises from his wife that “Now or later you should not lament / Look after the kids and see them fly /…./ Let not your heart yield to tears or fears” (21). The concluding lines inform us that the poet has come to accept his fate and confesses that “At the call I would fly to the unknown sphere / from where none can come back alive here” (21). Nevertheless, he takes solace that though he dies and the world may forget his existence, still he leaves his beloved “who remembers me waits with loving eyes” (21) and that it is the greatest achievement he has accomplished in this earthly abode.

Though at the end of rumination, the poet tries to arrive at a poised state, he is often troubled by the annihilated identity he experienced in his old age. Being a poet, Reddy pours out his troubled conscience as and how he feels. The poems in the collection Golden Veil bear testimony to it. His sincere attempt to accept the reality often deserts him and he laments aloud pensively and helplessly, “I am vexed … / Aggrieved with the age, with the stage/ I am a retired man, an old decrepit man” (24). His grief leads him to empathize with himself: “What more can I do? Where would I be acceptable” (24) conveys his helpless state. The irony of life also gets verbalized in the midst of the poem. When the young people look forward to the holidays to enjoy, the poet at the old age complains about the unending holidays he has and he is perplexed not knowing how to celebrate it; he feels unwanted everywhere except “in parks and on less trodden pavements / and near the temples and less known ashrams” (24). He continues contrasting his purposeless old age with the highly active and meaningful life he led once when he “served with feet on wheels/ till wheels fell victims of wear and tear” (24). It dawns on him that he is incapable of resuming that active life or ‘take another novel route” (24). So he decides to condescend before the supreme creator, “Before the journey ends with lust and rust” (24) because He alone can “make this piece of life real” (24) and meaningful. The transient nature of life and the way to salvation can never be better expressed than this.

There are several poems in the collection Golden Veil, like “Pyres and Fires“, and “End of Arch“ which spell out the listlessness and anguish one experiences in old age. Nevertheless, the poet tries to maintain equilibrium in each of the poems by realizing that “Truth is a bitter pill – when we long to live long / we know without peace we die all along” (“End of Arch”, 50). He reminds us often how foolish it is to pine about old age and its problems; still, anxiety does not leave the poet. He confesses -

I know I am reasonably old

Truth is no one likes to become old

But it is a thing that can’t be avoided;

Like everyone else I too wish to be young,

Young in mind, young in bone and tone; (54)

However, the passing years leave his body and mind wearied and dull. Loneliness becomes his only companion and hence he bemoans “How long should I bear this enforced estrangement / …/ Past has deluded while the future seems to elude” (55). His mind tries to recoup through “memories of erased images of the past” (55). Still, he frequently rationalizes that past has no relevance and “What matters now is the now and this moment” (55). Though lonely and deserted, the poet hopes to “stand firmly” with the understanding that whatever he has achieved so far “bursts as bubbles” and he assuages that he does not care to live or worry if whatever he has achieved “fails to recharge and illuminate the crux of the now;” (55). He gives vent to his frustration by saying if all his younger days and its achievements are not going to help him in spending the old age happily and peacefully, “Then let this fragile unremarkable perishable body / dissolve in the unsolved mystery of five elements” (55). The above lines proclaim the shattered spirit of the poet at his old age.

The symbol of the sun has been employed throughout the book Golden Veil. The title itself refers to the golden rays of the sun which is the source of energy to all living being including humans. The rising sun is used by the poet to refer to his sunny youthful days when he too looked so full of energy and spirit like the planet sun. However, the poet being old and his poems being very personal and subjective often refer to the image of the setting sun which alludes to his physical weakness and his disappointment and vague acceptance of the approaching death which seems imminent. Similar is the theme that one could trace in the poem “To Rest in Peace“. The initial lines articulate the sunset period of his life when he experiences weakness which he pens as follows: “The setting sun looks weak and yellow bent too low/ He shines before he sinks in his last glow to fade” (48). Death that awaits one is compared to that of darkness that “waits as a quiet prowling wolf to invade” (48).

The great philosophy that death is a great leveler is suggested by Reddy who expounds the truth that the darkness of death falls on every living being: “All the power of mind or scepter can’t revive the breath / From the fatal moment there is no escape, no defense. / At the final call none can resist the clasp of cold death”. (48). The Shakespearean philosophy of the world as a stage and its human beings as its actors is also presented with a little acclimatization. Reddy calls the humans as “toys, players in a masquerade” (48). The ever approaching or watchful time is something that is indispensable about which he writes as: When time tolls none can cross the line of barricade / From the unseen book of life, torn is the last pitiful page” (48).

As usual with his poems, the poet tries to accept the reality and concludes the poem “To Rest in Peace“ with a philosophical observation: “Life is a race, rough and tough; let us move with grace / Let us dream and die, die and dream to rest in peace” (48). The concluding lines do reflect the listlessness or the disappointments that one encounters in his old age. The life which appeared very much in his grip while young, slips away from him as he grows old and it is something frustrating and hard to be reconciled with. Yet, it is a bitter reality which Reddy has brilliantly articulated in the poem “To Rest in Peace”.

The poems like “Let Me Stand Erect“ and “Grow Old We Must“ explicate a stance that a human in his/her senescence should take. The poem “Let Me Stand Erect” as usual begins with the issues especially loneliness and negligence that trouble old people. The aged become so unwanted in the youthful circles. The loss of roots that the poet experiences, makes him lament: “Neighbours wish to see me fall and fade / In fact in their hearts they kick me out” (37). The choice of words conveys the degree of negligence that the society displays towards the old who make their existence very hard and he writes that through “troubled waters I wade” (37). Yet, he recuperates all his energy to prolong his life and challenges those who disregard and disrespect him: “The more they ignore the stronger is my will” and when they “wait on pins to hurl me in academic gloom/ .... / When they wish my doom, by God’s will I bloom / When they long to see my quill and will broken/ I move and march with an unruffled mind unbroken”(37). Soon he explains that he has no intention to ignore or pass over them; all he wishes is to remain “cool and calm, simple and fire-proof” (37). The path as Reddy confesses is very trying and tiring and the tale of hardships he faced during his early days or after his marriage probably from the neighbours of his village is expressed as follows:

From patches of thatch quietly I march to stand

Stormy winds of stress and strain I withstand

From pensive past rooted in pain and penury

I march through varied shades and scars of injury;

From the clouds of rage and envy I emerge like a star (38)

The poet confesses candidly that it is his writing skills that help him to resurrect from his worries and sufferings. Whenever he is dejected or disappointed, he pours them down on a piece of paper which eases his soul and body and helps him soar “above the clouds of regrets and total neglect” (38). It saves him from being doomed and strengthens him to face the inevitable death with the courage and hope that he has succeeded in making his progeny remember him through “a few humble lyrical notes to recollect” (38). This is a consoling thought which makes his life meaningful and satisfactory.

“Grow Old We Must“, the poem with which I wish to conclude my article, is all about Reddy’s perception of life. The tone again is confessional where he states whether one likes it or not one has to grow old. He adds that we may gloat that we are young now but he reminds “Though not now, tomorrow meet we must” (96). So he deduces that we should welcome it with a bold heart as we cannot evade it. He extends the idea by saying that not only human beings but everything in nature plants, planets too undergo this change as it is “Nature’s law we must accept till the day of doom” (96) and everything fades with the passage of time. He notifies that “Beauty.... / Glory we lose, which we often fail to keep / Strength we lose, it goes with braying age” but he adds all these loses will be compensated with the “spiritual growth” which one should aspire to pursue. If we are able to achieve that, then we will understand that “We are born to die, so why should we weep?” (96).

The concluding five lines are highly consoling to people in senescence and they bring with them echoes of Tennyson‘s thought that “Old age hath yet his honor and his toil” (‘Ulysses’). Quite like Tennyson, T.V. Reddy surmises “Old age has its honor with all its wrinkles unkempt / .. . . / All passions spent, mellowed mind moves sober and slow/ with rainbow charm it has the soft sunset glow” ( 97). These words do not simply eulogize ageing but explicate how the plaintive attitude of the poet which the readers experienced in the beginning of the book Golden Veil has undergone tremendous change in its course. Life’s hardships help the poet achieve consensus with reality and mould him to admit ageing with magnanimity and tolerance. Reading Reddy’s poetry is a great learning experience; it teaches the young as well as old to greet old age without anxiety and exasperation. It must be said as a concluding remark and observation that the book Golden Veil is not just an expression of the poet’s personal feelings, it is a thought-provoking set of poems preparing everyone for the most inevitable and indispensable old age.

Works Cited

Frost, Robert. “The Road Not Taken.” Selected Poems. Edited with introduction by Ian Hamilton. 1973. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin books, 1975. Print.

Reddy, T.V. Golden Veil. New Delhi: Authors Press, 2016. Print.

Shaw, George Bernard. https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/george_bernard_shaw/

Shelley, P.B. “Ode to the West Wind“. Shelley. Poems, OUP, The World’s Classics, 378. Print.

Tennyson, Alfred. “Ulysses”. Tennyson’s Poetry, 2nd edition, Ed. Robert W. Hill Jr., W.W. Norton & Co., 1999.Print.

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Wails of Grief and Waves of Peace in T.V. Reddy’s Quest for Peace

D. Gnanasekaran

The overall assessment I have gained by reading T. V. Reddy’s long poem Quest for Peace (2014) is that he is a selfless social critic and has a philosophical bent of mind. It is said that a microorganism has evolved into man and the evolutionary process appears to have taken million of years. A good many million years may have passed by since man started his quest for peace, mainly inner peace. Inner peace is no doubt an extension of outer peace. Golden periods of creative output have been the byproduct of peace and harmony in society at large. Rollo May states in Man’s Search for Himself that anxiety strikes us at the core of ourselves; it is what we feel when our existence as selves is threatened. Reddy is one who has a certain anxiety in the interest of all humans.

Seers, saints and seekers of truth have tried down the ages to understand the meaning and purpose of human life on this planet but woefully made only partially successful attempts and confessed to the fact that peace in human life is highly elusive. They have located the most possible source of peace and convinced themselves of their hard-found solution that peace dwells within and one should make one’s conscience clear and cleanse one’s soul to make it the dwelling place of the ubiquitous God or some Greater Being incomprehensible to the ordinary human mind. However, man perennially toils in pursuit of peace, peace of mind.

Human existence is a series of predictions and expectations and also a series of disappointments and unexpected quirks of fate. These two series continually intersect and get interspersed with each other. One may argue that fatalism is the failure of reason and blindness to realities and reactions, and may also favour man’s helplessness in the overall scheme of things on earth, call it predetermined or predisposed. So we are totally at a loss and nonplussed about the answer to the question: Why are we born and why are we to die leaving behind the fruit of all our labour and loved ones? When one thinks of this state of affairs in the continuum of life, he turns inward, looks within and begins his quest for peace. Many questions crop up while we are fretting and strutting upon the stage since in the end all our sound and fury fades into insignificance all of a sudden. T. V. Reddy is one such human embarking on the long endless voyage in the direction of the abode of peace through his effusions of poetic expressions. Mostly Reddy’s lines loosely fall under the genre of heroic couplet with end-rhymes.

T.V. Reddy’s poem is aptly titled Quest for Peace and runs to 1665 lines falling under seven segments. In fact, this is a long uninterrupted meditation on the essential emptiness of human life and a momentary stay in the midst of chaos and of continuous flux and emotional commotion. Reddy gathers all his strength to anchor himself at a certain vacuum and uses the vacuous space to place himself very close to the source of peace, because the very source of peace is the spring of vacuum. He is at ease at his best for peace but like his ilk in the past, he makes an abortive attempt to reach his destination, where he can derive inner strength and enjoy the bliss of peace. However, we are all praise for his poetic attempt after all.

In the beginning itself, Reddy states his mission. The statement is unambiguous and speaks eloquently of an arduous task:

For this single soul’s ceaseless flight

this is a brief linear landing place for rest

to refuel its teasing tank with inherent right

and refresh with clean air free from pest. (1-4)

The fabled ancient eastern hilly place, Kedarnath, which “relished once the Lord’s supreme grace” (8), is a symbolic location where he locates himself and extravagantly indulges in self-introspection and retrospection to strive to experience peace a bit against the backdrop of the inevitable existential conflict. Born into this world, one has to be confronted with unavoidable unrest and forced to feel the urge to seek a locale of rest and peace.

A comparative understanding intrusively makes its appearance as Reddy is still conscious of the corruption both physical and moral all around much worse than in the past. He bemoans the corruption that has expanded its domain even in this “sacred spot … on the earth.” Hundreds of people, “exiled by the metropolitan pell-mell” get set “to deconstruct their cultural remains/on planned ways and sanctioned lines” (12, 21-22). Only “a sorely slighted miniscule minority/ with positive thoughts” “coolly venture to reconstruct in a cool way/ … the sole inheritance of ageless sages” (33-36).

After a brief statement of his purpose, Reddy has spoken about the ills of today’s society, political, social, economic and moral by cataloguing them throughout the poem, sometimes repetitively. He looks at certain realities from his perspective and is free to describe India as a democracy “crushed under fish-catching reservations” and “exploitation of capitalism” (63). On the one hand, we acknowledge his enthusiasm to identify the missing links and menacing embroils and on the other, we see him wish to “free this city from heat and hunger” (84) like a self-appointed comrade-cum-good Samaritan with communist leanings. Reddy enlists all the realities soaked in ugliness and speaks at length to reason out why peace is absent amidst humanity at present. He is able to see that “now a third force rises from slums /and announces its emergence with drums” (98-99).

Reddy goes non-stop to give a dreary picture of India today, not the shining India, not the incredible India but the shunned India. In the name of ultra-modern civilization and cosmopolitanism, we promote uncivilized behaviour and happily march back to primitive savagery: “mercury of morals to bottom level slopes and dips/crowded bars, rising stars, tempting lips and zips” (123-24). He is thus ruthless in his criticism and nothing unacceptable from his point of view escapes his vigilant eyes. Schools mushroom like “money-minting factories and college teachers always count arrears “unmindful of students’ needs and careers” (152-53).