Shafkat Aziz Hajam
Mahesh Paudyal, the author of this fairly long collection of poetry Notes of Silent Times is a critic, poet, fiction writer, lyricist, well -recognized translator and an assistant professor of English at Central Department of English, Tribhuvan, University in Kirtipur, Nepal. He has authored half a dozen of books for children and about two dozen school text books .He is also the recipient of several literary awards: Prasiddha Khandel Youth Literary Award, Bismal Gurung Literary Award , Sudish Niraula Literary Award, Banita Literary Award, Govinda Gothale Literary Award, Manuscript Award, Moti Award so on.
This book with fairly attractive cover pages, has been published by Brosis Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi.
The poet in his preface for the book, writes that he got introduced to the magic of poetry at his early age because of his father who was also a teacher of literature. The poems in this book were first written in Nepali language by the author and later he himself translated them into English language. In his preface the poet thanks the poets; Viplav Dhakal, Raja Puniyani and Bhisma Upreti for urging him to collect these poems in one book .He also thanks all the critics, reviewers including poets Shyamal, Momila, Nabaraj Lamsal and LB Chhetri for their critical reflections and inputs on his poems.
The book has been written on 119 pages with almost 108 beautifully crafted then translated as written above (said by the poet himself), short, very short or micro poems, using simple diction. The beauty of the poems is not only in the simple diction but is also seen in the thoughts, imaginations that the poet has persevered in the verses.
Being not only a reviewer but also a poet too, my analysis has found the poetry more beautiful because of being thought provoking, which is one of the admirable characteristics, the poetry must have. The poems crafted in the book are written on varied but common topics like humanity, depth, loneliness, pain, longings, relationship, change so on.
But being a reviewer not a critic, I can’t claim the beauty of the poetry of Masheh Paudyal, limited to my analysis. It can have more beauty in it than what I could feel through my analysis. And Poetry lovers will find the book worth reading for the way the poet has expressed his emotions/ imaginations in his micro poems. The poetic device that is most dominant in the poetry is imagery that uses the vivid description appealing to the readers’ senses to create an image or idea in their head, like visual, auditory or kinesthetic. The mostly used imagery in this poetry collection is ‘visual’ that creates a vivid picture in the reader’s mind through which the reader feels as if they are themselves experiencing what has been experienced by the poet, while reading the poetry.
Now I throw a brief light on some of the poems taken from this book to let the readers know what I found the best in them according to what I comprehended based on my analysis.
One of the beautifully crafted micro poems that I like the most is titled as ‘FIREFLY’. In this poem the poet says that however hard a firefly tries to glow during a day, can’t succeed. It has to wait for the night to come when it is seen glowing. So, everything has its own time to come into existence, bloom or to be done. What I grasped more after reading the poem is that the poet likely wants to say that we should make best use of our abilities at the right time to benefit others or to be benefited and we need to be patient and go on working hard and it will bear fruits at the right time.
Another beautiful short poem is titled as “MEMORIES”.
I never knew
Memories could be so torturous!
The poet seems to be saying that he didn’t know that the memories of past painful experiences could be always excruciating. When and how the past memories come to the poet and cause pains, the poet lovers will know it on their own after reading the poem in this book.
One more beautifully crafted short poem in the book is “THE MOON”
In this poem what I grasped is that the poet wants to convey us a very good message. We commonly say that a person is happy when we see a simile on their face without knowing whether it’s fake or real. We hardly know that under this smile there might be bundles of painful experiences which can’t be realized and removed from him by this selfish world .He gives the example of the moon as even if its one – fourth part etc. is illuminating, we enjoy looking at it this illuminating portion and neglecting to think over the cause of its major dark portion.
Another nicely written poem is “CASTE” in which the poet has expressed his thoughts related to casteism giving an example of a mirror when broken into pieces, then the face looking in it, is seen divided and mutilated in these pieces of the mirror. This is what casteism has done, divided one soul on the basis of caste and color.
In another poem titled as “Change” the poet says that nothing stays the same, where there is spring, there is autumn, with time, our near and dear ones become strangers and strangers come close to us.
Another metaphorically written poem is “CHANGE OF TIME”, in which the poet writes about the man’s dictatorship on the earth and its consequences .The poem is interesting to read.
One more beautiful poem is “LONELINESS”. In this poem, the poet expresses sadness for being alone but what he later finds is interesting to know.
One more beautifully crafted poem is “AGE”. Here, the poet says that you can’t stay the same or return back to the time that you spent and what more he tells is worth knowing.
All the poems in the book are interesting or I can say worth reading for the strong content/ message they possess. I hope poetry lovers will buy the book and enjoy it thoroughly. I wish more power to the pen of one of the best poets, Mahesh Paudyal.
[Shafkat Aziz is a poet, reviewer and co-author from India, Kashmir. He can be reached at:Shafkataziz399@gmail.com.]