Garhwali Poetry Collection-1

AndI Jandi Sans a Poetry collection of Madan Duklan
By Bhishma Kukreti

Madan Duklan is very versatile personality of Garhwali art, culture, knowledge and language literature based in Dehradun. It is difficult to describe him in single article. He has been editing and publishing Chitthi-Patri or Hamari Chitthi a Garhwali language magazine for more than a decade. He is a social activist, he was very active in separate state Uttarakhand movement , Duklan is Garhwali drama writer and performer, Madan is very much involvement in each department of Garhwali film making, we may see him in participating in various cultural programs in Dehradun and Garhwal region. The best part is that he is a good human being and you will be proud of his being your friend.

Initially, in mid nineties and early years of last century, Madan Duklan or ‘ghuti got recognition in Dehradun from taking part in Garhwali stage play and creating Garhwali poetry. By heart he is poet.

Madan, ghutti for his grand mother , created more than hundred Garhwali poems, ghazals and lyrics. AndI Sans Jandi Sans is his collection of poetries created at the peak of separate state Uttarakhand movement. There are twenty one poems and nineteen ‘ghazal’ in this collection published in the year 2001 by Ranu Bisht, the very honorable Garhwali woman in publishing Garhwali literature. The history of Garhwali literature will remember her as one of the leading patrons of written Garhwali literature . Since, Garhwali literature does not provide any financial returns (return on investment), the publishing Garhwali literature is another kind of social service in Garhwali world.

Madan Mohan Duklan is an environment activist and he loves nature and flora so much that Duklan says that deities or God do nor exist in temple, mosque, churches, agyari (Zoroastrian temple), gurudwaras, matth and in the idols built by stone or mud but God and deities exist in working hands, floras and in the eyes of children in his Ishwar poem.

There have been many poets who created very sensible verse of pathos rapture (Karun ras) in Garhwali poetry world . Madan’s poem ‘aandi jaandi sans’ is one of the heritage poems of Garhwali language:

Herik joon poetry describes the conflicting situation of ambitions among the people of developed countries, wishes of our own countrymen of other regions and the desire for fulfilling the basic need of a struggling poor child (whose father is no more) of Garhwal area. By looking at moon , the developed country people describe moon as another star as earth. For Indians of other regions, moon is the symbol of beauty (band) but for a poor Garhwali child, moon is:

Pan hamari gaun ki,
Ghuni kaki ko
Bhukhal biblando chhwara
Khelyun chhod samali jand
Rwati khandki
Ghor kheed,
Khutta ghusad
Herik joon

The struggle for human beings is always never ending and when we become frustrated the struggle looses its meaning and stand stillness takes place. However, when we take struggle as our destiny struggle gets newer and newer meaning in this earth. Madan describes struggle and winning zeal of human being against all odds as:

Beej
Kuchh buse jandi
Kuchh
Chakhula thoongi jandi
Uthand dhaun
Kee kumpat
Sarag ruse jand
Pan
Tabi ni Hondo
Vo past
Fir mise jand
Khwalan man sumar
Mata
Bunanai khuin
Ek haiku khandela
Apni bwe khuni……..

Hope is always an enticement for anybody. The poet uses symbol of dry tree, which hopes for bettre days in his verse ‘aas‘:

Mi dhar man
Sukho thangaro si khadu chaun
Yeen jgwal man
Ki
Kabi at
Basant alo

In his poem ‘chitthi’, Duklan explains us that letter or any medium of communication , depending on the situation of the receiver, brings happiness and sadness:

Chitthi, ek madhyam
Afu tain

‘yon maidanun tak’ explains the struggling destiny of hilly inhabitants that the roll like stones from hill to plains of valleys and then loose their identity too:

‘yakh hamari kwee pooch
Na pachhyan
Pan
Kaima bwan
Kaima sunan

Biologically, though, human being animal, the man behaves differently many was from animals and in his verse, ‘dushman’ Madan is surprised :

Muson ko dushman
Viralo
Gurau ko dushman
Newalo
Manikh dushman
Kankh ko

In hamari jog , Duklan describes the reality of life in hills as :

Nanga Bhyal
Nanga pod
Nangu jeewan
Hamari jog

When people were in quite few numbers, they never experienced aloofness. Now there is crowd in metros or cities but the human aloofness is increasing manifolds (yakulwans):

Aj lakhun logun ka ghurchyat ma
Adim
Jathga macula afoo tai chitand
Shait uthga
Vo tab bi ni rayo
Jab vo
Adi daji chhayo

Madan Duklan is not a poor man but his hearts weeps for common man’s conndions in the poem Myara mulka log and explains the struggle of common man with help of various symbolic words but the destiny of common man is:

Ann kam, bhook jada
Ni mildo ankwek gaffa
Raindan bhikki/sdani dookhi.

Hill witnesses many disasters and pain thereafter. In poem, ‘Veen Rat’ , Madan is successful in showing the reality of tragedy of earth quack of 1991 of Uttarkashi and Tihri regions.

The Mujjafar Nagar kand has same place for Uttarakhandis as Kolkat -ki-Kothari kand and Jaliyalwala bag kand have place in Indian History , Jaliylwala and Kolkata Kothari incidents took place because of oppressive applications by British and understandable. But when our own people , our own government suppress any nonviolent people’s movement through barbaric methodology, it becomes unbearable. If, constitutionally, if this author is free to punish to one person without any hearing , he shall punish Mulayam Singh Yadav for his cruelty and using inhumanly methods to suppress Uttarakhand movement. Most of the contemporary Garhwali language poets criticized the UP government in their poetries. Madan describes the effect of Mujafar nagar incidents in his poetry, ‘ kungali hathguli kardi mut” I.e rage, anger, resent in Uttarakhand as:

Aaj uttarakhandai
Gaun ki beti bwari
Palyantharaun man baithik
Chhween ni lagandi
Vo chupchap
Palyani chan daathi……….

Many time, this author said to Madan and his poet friends that Madan is environment and flora lover. This way or that way, Duklan will use plants and tree for expressing the subject of issue. In Dallo, he uses a tree as symbol for describing that what every human being should be the source of helping others:

Dallo;
Thangaro banan chand
Thangar baunik
Chauka teer khado rain chando
Jaifar latkyan rain
Lagalun ka jhumpa
Hunu rau cachalot ka chweenchat
Jaima basanu rau k
Ulkanu

Everybody talks about new year and hope for the new year but Madan says that the wishes or ambitions remain the same for ever in his poetry ‘nayo Saal’ :

Pusa maina ku si gham
Sar-sarak sarik ge you sal
Ar ainsu bi raige unni
Myara suchyan sabbi kam

Mi jinda chaun is chayabadi poetry and same is the case ganglwad.
We literature creative want to create some thing, we have to pass through a mental state of the subject and we say it as creative pregnancy pain. In sweel peeda poetry, Madan describes the reasons for not delivering the poem at all even after high creative pregnancy pain.
Madan explains the reasons for Gadhmaunis being so strong mentally and physically in his verse hum chhan

Hamma
Ganga jano sayam cha
Hamma
Himalaya jan hikmat chha.

When every intellectual is worried about the putrid state of Indian education system, which neither offering knowledge nor a source of employment to our youth, the sensitive poet can not keep quite to pen down about worsening of our education system. are school kana chhan is the poem, which direct us to think about worsening conditions of Indian education system:

Yun halun man kya holu
Yun chhwaron prabat
Thokar khala jeewan bhar
Hwalo kapali par haath
Are school kana chhan
Maya Beej is a philosophical and chhayabadi poetry
Maya ka beej butani cha jindagee
Afu tain sya lootani cha jindagee

Madan’s Aakhi verse , again, is the combination of philosophy, psychological or scientific realism:

Ankhee chhan bingani chhan bachlyani chhan aankhee
Ankhi ankhyuman chhween lagani chhan aankhee

People, rightly, perceive that we inhabitants of Himalaya are mentally and physically strong but there are pains, which we hide from others. These pain may be of any kind but we rarely get chance to express before the people of plains. We express our pain within ourselves, that is we talk about our real pain to our own soul only. Kaima bwalalo, poetry is all about the pain and hopelessness of Himalayan inhabitants, which is not expressed by words:

Tachyon bati jamyun hyun kab galalo
Yo himalay apni peeda kaima bwalalo
Gaani syani ju ganthai chai aljhi gain
Ko bhagyan ged ab yee khwalalo

Everywhere, there is paradox in our life. Kabeer used say,” rangee ko narangee kahe aur doodh jame ko khoya”. Same paradoxical occurrences are happening in Garhwal too. Ghughto ko jikudi experience the readers about the ulatvasi happening in our society:

Baili dhangee sab aigen ghar
Laindi -bindari tain bhel dyakha

The society should evolve itself for betterment of human beings but if the evolution takes the path of individualism, means of selfishness, approach of not to share the joy collectively, take the means of fruitless ness, the poet can not resist to express as :

Iaaj dalaon mudin chhail ni raige
Apno ko apas man mel ni raige
Na pooch dagdya too gaun ko haal-chal
Kauthig man bi ab chail-pail ni raige

Ganjali and Ghazal
There are ups and downs in our life and this up and downs creates paradox. Madan says in his poetry;

hawai jaaj si uddan sukh”
Kabi gham chhan kabbi chhail chhan
Ye t jindagi ka khel chhan
Roj hundan imtyan yakh
Pas huna kwee fail chhan

This gazal is one of the marvelous gazals among best gazals of world poetry. Using airplane as symbol in this poetry make this gazal as one of the best gazals among world poems.

Famous dramatist and social activist Rajendra Dhasman explains that Gazal is like ganjeli , where the middle part is caught by hand and the lower part hit’s the seeds. The gazals of Madan Duklan prove Rajendra Dhasmana is right.
Ya Jindagee:

Ya jindagee poem is combination of philosophy and inspirational stanzas.

Ya zindagee chha bitani bus ganee syanee kaiki
Maya ka Ghana baun man nachani ya lati wheiki

The word nacni latee wheki makes this poem a class apart and reader can not resist to read all the ztanzas of poem
Fyunlee saub jadeite
Madan shows the paradox of the society in this poem by using popular Garhwali symbols like:

Kuchh bhitar man log kalyaji chalking chhan
Baaki chauchhwadee pet sabka dhaunkana chhan

Byali bal urdo ai ar fyunli saub jadeite
Kingwada chhan jo aaj ab bi hainsana chhan

What a fabulous, wonderful, amazing piece of poetry in Garhwali is Fyunlee saub khaidige. Garhwalis are proud of such poet who could create such powerful verse.
Myaro bhaag, jikudi ka kattar and nee chha kaka bwada kwee mantre dada’ poems are pessimistic poems but provide a different amusement:

Kumbhkarnau nind dyabta tain ayin cha
Re bijyan hee at lhedi awatar dagdya

Or

Halaat roj badtar huna chhan
Jikudi ka kattar huna chhan
Aapnee thatta
Apnee thatta poem is agin a realistic paradox:
Apno mund fodi ar gaun kari kattha
Afwee lagni chhan sye apnwee thatta

The poem ‘byali seena man bagh dyakh meen’ is a serious and satirist verse, a very specialty of Madan :

Gham man balu si tapad dyakh min
Nayari chhala vo tisalo dyakh min
Bhair ka ssukila-safed chhan jo
Unkee jikudi man dag dyakh min

Veenka jwagam is about the narration of struggle of hill’s women:
Kabhi banwas kabhi agni parixa
Seeta bananai ki Salazar cha
The verse saakyun ki khud ( generations old memories) is about the various types of sacrifices of Himalayan -Garhwali women and Duklan narrates

Ramee , gaura, ar teelu cha byali
Aaj bachhendri pal didi

Beejige Pahad aaj and Himalai hyun whe ge lal (The Himalayan snow became red ) poetries are about the separate Uttarakhand movement in Mid-Himalaya and the awareness of people of Uttarakhand about their rights, their exploitation from other areas and the actions of people to get separate state of Uttarakhand . The pomes are of brevity rapture and inspirational ones.
Dyabton ka tthau is about the characteristics of mid Himalaya where the Gods live but is deprived of materialistic development by governing machineries of Uttar Pradesh .

Andee jandee Sans and a letter of a mother who lost her young son
The author considers the poem AndI Jandi Sans one of the 200 best pathos rapture poems of the world in all languages .
The author read hundred of verses related to pain of separation but he could not find such a painful and philosophical narration by any poet of Garhwali and Hindi as Madan duklan narrated

AndI jandi sans che tu
Mera jeena ki as chai tu
Kati hi jala khairi ka din
Hey man kilai udas chai tu
Yaa deen-dunya , dyau divata
Yon sabse chulaiki khas chai tu
Dunya ma failin cha sadyan
Bas pholl ki bas chai tu
Meri dunya ma ni chai tu
Fir bhi mera pas chai tu

There is hidden tragedy in the poem, there is pain of loosing a beloved one, there is a will of preserving the memoir forever and there is philosophy or self consolation too in this one of the greatest poems of world of all languages .
The author would like to share a letter written to him by a mother who lost her twenty one years son and how she remembers her beloved son . This letter will prove the realism and philosophy in this poem of Madan Duklan, which makes him one of the greatest poets of all languages in the world:

From Vijaya Dobriyal to bhishma Kukreti---

Sir,

When I could open your first mail, I really sobbed for 10-15 minutes.
Yesterday evening when I reached home, my daughter called me up and said she is coming home to take car as she has an appointment at Nerul. I suggested my husband to accompany her as it was already 7.45 p.m. He agreed politely and both of them went. My other son went to gym. I was all alone, I wanted to freshen up and prepare khana for family. But as I saw bedroom, all memories of my son emerged one by one. When I used to reach home , he without fail use to offer me a glass of water followed by exchange of whole day's experience for both of us. As he was introvert used to spend most of the time at home. Then he used to ask for the dinner ka menu. He used to suggest few a very simple Khana so that I can spend most of the time with him. He used to like puppies which I promised him after Didi's marriage as she used to hate those pets. And all such memories just started pouring and I cried all alone for long time till door bell ranged at around 9.15 p.m. I opened the door without even wiping my tears and my daughter after seeing me with all the tears got worried and asked me what happened? She cd sense that I was missing my son. She asked me what made me cry so much for which I had no reply. She offered her shoulder to me, she became my mother for that moment and said mama, atleast you have other Son of same age. Think of those who loses their only son. Also said-" now rest of the life, we can be more sensitive at least to our family if not to whole of the society". We regret that he died without having a major illness. Just 4 hrs. in the hospital. We spoke so much before one hour of his death.
Thank u once again for being emotional support to me.

Vijaya

(Reference: E-Mail from Mrs Vijaya P Dobriyal to Bhishma Kukreti on 24th March 2009)
Now you read the poem of Duklan created in the year 2001 or before and compare with the letter of a mother remembering her recently died son.
All will agree that the pain of separation narrated by Madan Duklan in poem AndI Jandi Sans is an example of realism ,
The author is of opinion that the collections of poems of Madan Duklan requires translation in English that the whole world know that Garhwali literature is compatible to any international language in all terms .

You may call book from:
Ranu Bisht
Samay Saxya
15 Faltoo Line
Dehradun
Pin --248001

Copyright Bhishma kukreti, June, 2009, Mumbai