> Actually I am busy and afraid,
Dear KHR gAru:
Busy. I understand. Afraid? I don't.
> but you are a friendly person, so I oblige.
Thank you. It's truly nice of you to say that.
> > "యే దునియా అగర్ మిల్ భి జాయే తో క్యా హైన్?" :-)
> Unfortunately, I seem to be the only poster who knows just two
> languages.
It's okay KHR gAru. Even if one knew a tongue less or more doesn't
matter these days.
The above sentence is from the climax song from a hit hindi movie
ప్యాసా featuring an young poet played by gurudatt. In a way, it's a
gloomy song, but I like it.
Loosely, it can mean something like, "So, what's it if we get the
(praise of the) whole world?". Before this sentence, the poet explains
about the world as he sees it. He's a guy whose poems make it to the
top, but only after the world believes he's dead. He's actually not
dead and when he claims to be the dead poet, even people who know him
disown him.
He becomes dejected, and when the world recognises him as the dead
famous poet, he throws away all that glory and walks away with his
girl friend into the darkness of the world (after this song). The
movie ends there.
You will like this song. It's melodious, melancholy etc. I like it
very much. There will at least be a handful more on rb who might like
it. :-) You will find it somewhere on the net too.
> I become a good engineer by doing great work, not by getting
> praised. Praise is a "consequence" of good work.
This could be true sometimes. But not always! Why? I think praise is
not an exclusive function of merit. It may not always have a direct
proportionality also.
I think it's a more complicated thing. For example, merit sometimes
begets envy. More times envy than praise I think. I found that few
people can appreciate sincerely. Those who can and do are really
admirable souls.
So, how would your rival engineers react when you do good work? There
might be some nice people. How about different types of people? The
petty, narrow minded people that we so freely come across. Even bosses
who are threatened by good workers will show reactions of envy. If
they don't feel threatened, they might praise. So, it's not so simple.
I am sure you will agree.
Besides, you can't earn praise from all quarters. Let's say I am a
manager in the middle management. If I behave like a worker's manager,
I will earn the praise of the workers. If I behave like a management's
manager, I will earn the praise of the management. If I behave true to
my conscience and if it happens to be something different from the
two, for all that I know, I might cease to be a manager. So, what's
the best choice here? The word "good" is a subjective variable. What's
good for one might be completely bad for another.
Yes. Praise is sometimes a consequence of this "subjective good".
Those who perceive your work as being "good" might praise you. The
others will try to pull you down or remain neutral. So much about
getting praise.
Besides, praise itself is of different types. There is the one that
comes spontaneously without much thinking. That's the best type.
There is also this contemplated and thought out praise. It's a
simulated form of praise with some eventual expectation. Going back to
the previous case, if I behave like a good management's/workers'
manager, the management/workers might praise me. Sometimes, that comes
with a price tag. That's a dead load.
Praise in art is a funny thing. It's more a fashion, something of
following the "in thing". If everyone praises something, the rest will
try to see something in it that's praiseworthy. There's the story of
the Emperor's clothes and our own వినాయకుడి బొడ్డు story that I
spoke of earlier. ;) May not be true always, but could be true
sometimes too. I want you to watch the "sometimes" part.
So, what am I saying here? Both giving and getting praise is not
always a function of merit alone as you put it. Under some conditions
and subject to some clauses, it could be as simple, but not always.
Therefore, the poet like anybody else in any other role has to perhaps
make a choice on whom to get the praise from. You said, he has to get
approval from the majority (something similar to that at least).
That is probably what I object to. Why? I think he should write what
he feels like writing. Otherwise, I feel there is some kind of selfish
motive on the part of the poet. I am sure you will agree.
So, when you say బాహుళ్యము మెచ్చినదే కవిత్వము or some similar
thing, I have some reservations. I feel that such a poet is reeling
his sentences with the royalty cheque in mind. What do you say? And
the royalty need not necessarily be cash.
> Resonating in readers is also a "consequence" of good literature.
Same as above. I am afraid I will look cynically at a poet who selects
a tuning fork that will get the majority resonating. Instead, I would
like the poet to vibrate at their natural frequency. Is that wrong? If
you say that playing to the public's pulse is a poet's natural
frequency, I can only shrug my shoulders.
> I am afraid you are going the other way and may not succeed.
You might be right. Again, success is a subjective thing.
> I did not say Revati Devi was a great poet;
Did I say anywhere that she may not be?
> I said one of her poems, ఈ రాత్రి, was great.
Hmm. You wanted me to have a look at it again in your essay. This post
is becoming longer. I will post my detailed views on this poem in a
later post.
> Interpreting it as nothing more than a suicidal note is
> understandable and for some of you that is "the correct" way.
I don't think I interpreted it like that anywhere. Did I? So, I am not
one of the "some of you" that you mention, I assume. ;)
> declaring she would leave honestly rather than concede. If those
> lines are dismissed as nothing more than babble, then the point of
> the poem is lost.
I will come to this in another post. Already, those rbites came upto
here are groaning at the length. :-)
> I am very interested in what others think of that line.
Will try to post my ideas on this soon.
> Satya gAru, I will not remind you what you said about Revati Devi.
> You have not retracted your statements and I have not misrepresented
> you or others. If you show me otherwise, I will apologize.
No need to apologize KHR gaaru. We are simply talking here. I did not
mean anything personal anywhere. I was just making a general
observation. Please do not misunderstand it as anything pointed at you.
Do you think it is right for me to retract any of my statements?
Please do tell me. I would be glad to do it if it will help rest the
matter.
However, in my first impression post, I simply said that her writing
seems to be stemming from someone who was depressed. Depression is a
common condition like the cold. Some know of it. Most don't know what
they are undergoing. If it's ignored, it can have some unpleasant
consequences.
This has nothing to do with the poetess in question. It's got no
reference to her. All I am saying is, our populace has to be trained
to recognise the symptoms. There's nothing derogatory about having or
saying that someone has depression. People get it and get out of it too.
Of all the things, how did I think that they were written by someone
depressed? When I was faced with my 12th standard exams, I was under
extreme stress and was penning similar stuff myself.
Of course, my happy days returned after I finished my exams. The
stress situation did not last for long for me thankfully.
I never thought I insulted rEvati dEvi or her poetry in particular.
Please tell me if I did anywhere. I explained my stand when you
thought it was an insulting thing. I thought I had put that doubt to rest.
> Finally, let me try to dispel the notion about "making" Revati Devi
> "famous" as it may sound I am on a mission.
I had no such notion. There is no way you can dispel a non-existent
notion. :-)
My poem in discussion is more a general observation about commercial
poetry as such and not pointed singularly at Smt. rEvati dEvi or at
you. I also would not hold on to my views in it as if they were the
gospel truth. I am always willing to change them if I am told there
are better truths out there.
> I liked some of her poems and indeed feel
> more people should read her poetry.
I did agree quickly that I liked her other poetry in an immediately
subsequent post. My problem was only with some of her writings that I
read at first. I also acknowledged the fact that I could be one person
who couldn't see the poeticism in those writings. :-)
> The lack of even a single smiley does not mean I am angry, but
> merely serious.
Just because I put a smiley here and there, does not mean I am any
less serious ;).
Furthermore, I wouldn't also assume wrongly that you have no "Regards"
for me just because you have signed off without them. :-))
> Kodavalla Hanumantha Rao
With best wishes
Satya
PS: I am very very sorry for the long post.