[Reader-list] re; comments on "poem"

[Dr. Reyhan Chaudhuri]

Respected Resigned Reader or rather Reader-in-resignation; Empathise with you on one important score. I myself have been imperious and diapproved in the past on improper language on the Reader list. Also a blanket disclaim for the sake of stereotyping is fundamentally wrong whether it is an NRI or a chaiwallah.; However one must beg to disagree(and I believe two other ladies on the list are with me on this) when you say the person cannot respond to the ugly innenduos. C'mon we are not such delicate and helpless creatures at that. If the poet can send her interesting effort (personally I thought it was pretty emotive stuff )through a reader-list member. Surely through the same transport conveyance she could also register her response or defiance; With respectful regards I would also like to add maybe she is not so bothered about being a female poet (as you so call her in another subsequent inbox dropping) as much as a person-poet.; Which brings me to the prime poet or poet-in-prime as Aziz Mirza put it when he lambasted our Hon.P.M. in a detailed Asian Age article.(For some unfortunate reason which I'm unable to rescue from being used as a noise cruncher by certain children against an army of ants; )Detailed because he charts the P.M.'s course; his early innings as a Jan sanghi and later emergence as leader of the BJP.How by his poetry and social niceties; he was mistaken to be the least venomous of the viperine tribe.How it was hoped he would give the sembance of breeding and make decent beings (or atleast images of them) of an unruly fascist bunch.How many of us were indeed misled by not reading not only 'between the lines' but 'before the lines'.How the writing had been on the wall all along and the poetry was the schizo-affective disorder rather than the right-sided rule.; Actually what pricked me or prodded me to connect the two disconnected things was strangely a very dear and busy nurse at the weekly clinic I work with; for children. The moment I arrived one afternoon with my paraphernalia of health-aids she burst out. You can understand why I was a bit taken aback and hesitated before assenting with her. As she never ever gets political. At the most personal; when she enquires abut my children and their wellbeing. And she's usually too busy detecting malingerers (read students) and juggling the GP(that's me); Eye specialist and Dental surgeon between the classes so that the check-up ends as a triumphant trapeze act. She however this time exclaimed in vexation:; "How can our adarniye Pradhan-Mantri think of poetry when people are being burned? Kisko padi hain ke woh ab geet nahi gaate hein. Sach se ghabratien hain.(Lines from the P.M's most recent Kavita) I used to think he was physically unfit but he is emotionally unfit too. Unko action karna chahiye; apna function poori karninchahiye..yeh kya hain?.."; So coming back to what I want to humbly suggest was :Even if it does not have porn suggestions or abuse-laden slights; this polemic prissiness deserves our fury or objection. Infact mabe we should focus all our emotive retorts and droll driven drivel on this not father but :prime-of-all-poems.; Yours Censoriously; R.Chaudhuri

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: tarunksaint 
  To: reader-list at sarai.net 
  Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 1:24 PM
  Subject: [Reader-list] re; comments on "poem"


  List moderator, others,
  The obnoxious comments directed at a person who is not a recipient of this list (the author of the poem "For Papa') are unacceptable to me as a contributor to this list. The person concerned cannot respond to the ugly and motivated innuendo directed at her; nor did she engage in the egregious posturing and self-promotion that has been on display on this list for some time (the poem was forwarded by me). The smutty tone and quasi-pornographic drift of this contributor's previous postings, with their pretentious attempts to display familiarity with serious academic debates renders his attack suspect in any case. 

  To me, as a member of the academic community, and a teacher,  this kind of personalised slander, with its peeping tom overtones, represents the worst sort of tendency in the university, and by extension this community. If the list is to be hijacked by such puny and frustrated intellects, so be it. 
  The least one expects is an apology-- in the meantime, I withdraw myself from the Sarai list.

  Regards,
  Tarun K. Saint
  Department of English ,
  Hindu College
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