Some can write poems expressing a beautiful and simple optimism amidst the complexities of contemporary life through unprecedented poetry. Badal Ghosh is such a poet. His poems express love, nature, homeland, optimism, spiritualism, unique loneliness and memories of exile life. The beautiful imagery of his poetry will take the reader on a journey to a distant station or a love-filled village or a lonely city in the snow.
English poet Robert Frost said, ‘Poetry begins with joy but ends with knowledge.’ He also said, ‘When an emotion finds its thought and finds words to express that thought, it becomes poetry.’ If the reader gets a message at the end of the poem that stirs the mind and at the same time makes reading the poem worthwhile.
Therefore, poetry reflects contemporary philosophy. There are contemporary tensions. Badal Ghosh’s poetry is no exception. Contemporary and philosophy have emerged in his poetry. Humans are the most helpless in the struggle for survival in these troubled times. People have to change constantly and people are the least expensive. Therefore, in the poem ‘Manush’, the poet says, ‘Having received the artificial polish of civilization, the people have now arranged in the showcase / Diamond necklaces have lost!’
Badal Ghosh’s poetry has also brought up women’s freedom. In his speech we find the strong form as well as the lover form of woman. In the poem ‘Laltip Virat Agun’, the reader will find the mantra of women’s awakening against deprivation. The poet says to enliven,
‘Mother Durga’s ten hands are not enough, your two hands are enough
To throw away all the garbage
What is the need for fire?
With hard courage you wake up once more
You will see that even the fire of death will not find a way to escape.’
The 18th century English poet PB Shelley said that poetry is the imagery of imagination. We see that one of the appendages of modern Bengali poetry is imagery. Pictures and stories are the wings of imagination in poetry. The farther the fan of imagination goes, the more fruitful the poet becomes. There are some poems in the book in question that evoke images of childhood nostalgia. There are some other poems where the poet writes about the loneliness of exile life. Beautiful scenes are found in these poems.
Such as the poem ‘Manab-Ananda’. Where there are stories of boys watching trains in groups. The boys wait like pilgrim crows for the arrival of the visible giant train. What a variety of people come down the metal stairs of that train – some are returning home tired, some are guests, and sometimes a shy friend comes down with a dream in his eyes.
The life stories of those unknown train passengers were painted in the eyes of the cheerful boy. In the story of that imaginary life there is an analysis of the boy’s cotton comb. But then when the path of life turns, everyone leaves the game of childhood and goes away. Someone or some other country. But the boyhood game of seeing that person remains unfinished in the mind. While reading the poem, the reader will find his own childhood.
There is another poem called ‘Jaler Vichitra Kamkalai’ in which the poet Badal Ghosh describes the heavy snowfall in Canada, saying, ‘White water dry as thin grains/Flies in the gentle wind/Sometimes on the window panes/Floats clear charmed terracotta portraits.’ This new description of snowfall can bring a very clear picture to the eyes of the reader and this is the poet’s success.
The name of the book is “A Lifetime of Suffering Joy.” Just reading the name, it seems that Badal Ghosh is inviting the readers to live in joy throughout life. The heart-warming tune between the names of the poems. Similarly, his poems are also very hopeful. Badal Ghosh has told us about hope in the love poems of the book, or in the poems of the country, or even in the poems of mourning in memory of someone. He wrote about the poet Narendranath Chakraborty,
‘You will hug the blue sky of that day in farewell
Naveen – Badal Scent; And then with the immense blessing of Jesus
Wake up to the raindrops
Morning charm of new dreams!’
This ‘Badal Ghrana’ is like Badal Ghosh’s own poem; And that poem will bring a new morning, will start a new era of poetry. What great hope!
Or in the poem ‘Chander Anande Nachi’, as if Nazrul’s creation is a joy of happiness, ‘Death’s toothy claws where every day/ Clear scratches are cut on the house’s borders!/ Our complex dreams are gradually raised.’
As the name of the book suggests, the poet wants to celebrate life by removing the pain of life.
Badal Ghosh is a very conscious poet. He can tell white to white and black to black with a very clear accent, frankly and very straightforwardly. In his poetry we find the tension of contemporary life and society. Pi Figure of unequal economic distribution. Jai Goswami wrote in the poem ‘Amra Toh Jakhne Khushi’,
‘We are little people.
In our rice paddies
Let there be a system of salt.’
That’s how Badal Ghosh wrote in his poem ‘Sakalta Longtar’,
‘Night comes and knocks on the starved door
Swinging around in the pendulum of love and unlove.’
Again, while reading the lines of ‘Hungry life love is an added luxury’ in the poem ‘Time’s flying horse’, the reader will come back to the lines of Sukanta Bhattacharya’s ‘Purnima Chand ke Jhalsano Ruti’.
Great poetry not only creates images of the imagination, but controls the flow of youth, controls revolution, controls society. The poem marks the rift with the goal of healing. And that’s why some poets are immortal in one line. In these turbulent times, in the age of fake people when everything is fake, Badal Ghosh says in his poem ‘Mukha O Muksha’,
‘Binidra watch without heat, not face
The mask is awake
And the mask goes on the list of victories. ‘
Poet and journalist Nasir Ahmed wrote Badal Ghosh as a believer in spiritualism in the role of the book. Badal Ghosh himself is true and sincere in describing the immense mystery of this great world. This is an example
In the poem ‘Ishwar Darshan’ where he says that God cannot be seen in the darkness of the new moon. again
‘On a starlit night
Where God resides – I do not know
Or is often mixed in the dark
He says he will not give darshan in the name of Krishna.’
God is not seen but is there in light or darkness, what a beautiful poetic expression of this simple truth. God can never be seen in the dark or in the light! still there
A poet who has not written a love poem is unlikely to be found. Badal Ghosh also wrote and signed Pratibha. In the love poems published in the book, there is more conviction and hope than the buzz of love. In poetry, the dream of creating a beautiful day is more than the fear of losing a loved one.
In the poem ‘Tonic of Love’ when the poet says ‘I can live for a hundred years, if you can love me for a thousand years longer’… this is his plan of how to live for a thousand years.
In the poem titled ‘Aaj ki fotabe phul’, I find the hope of a bright future. In the poet’s words,
‘Bloom again the rose-colored flower/ Let love shine forth.’
Sahasya Ullase Ajivan includes poems of love and nature, poems of betrayal, poems of the country, poems written for the memory of some people, poems about past and present and some philosophical poems. Each poem is well written. The innovation and Munsiana in the sentence structure and choice of words in the poem are commendable. The stories and scenarios told in the poem are very clear.
While reading the poems, the reader will see, hear and the thoughts of the poem will play in the reader’s head. In the introduction to the book, poet and journalist Nasir Ahmed has rightly written, “Though Badal Ghosh’s literary practice began with writing children’s literature, he is equally talented as a poet.”
English poet Wordsworth, while defining poetry, said, “Poetry is the spontaneous outpouring of the emotions of peace” that is, when the emotions of the mind are translated into language, it is poetry. Although written from emotion, it provides the reader with food for thought, including metaphor, simile, imagery, rhyme, and sometimes story. Besides, poetry makes the reader wise. Considering these issues, the book “Haasya Ullase Ajeevan” is a very successful work.
Badal Ghosh holds a PhD in Marketing and works as a teacher in the city of Toronto. He has published more than twenty research articles in national and international journals. This reclusive writer has been practicing literature for four decades and has received several awards including ‘Tin Bangla Sammanna’. In 2022, he was invited as a writer at the Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA).
The publication date of the book is 2023. Published by The Royal Publishers. The cover of the book is by Mustafiz Karigar. A dancing figure on a yellow orange green and blue background. It seems that all the blue, bright yellows and oranges of pain are fading into joy in this joyous dance. A nice cover.
Congratulations to Badal Ghosh for his newly published book. As a writer, he will write more for the readers, wishing him well with the line of his poem, ‘I am standing forever in the path of your welcome return, from the flag to the flag.
……………
Samina Chowdhury joined the teaching profession after obtaining a master’s degree in English literature from Jahangirnagar University. He also served in the Bangladesh UNESCO Commission while teaching in a government college. Joined Brac University in 2005. A total of nine peer reviews of Samina have been published at home and abroad. Samina, an immigrant to Canada since 2013, has been working in TD Bank’s customer care department for five years.
