When an argumentative Indian turns poetical

By Manish Chand

From the “triumph and trauma” of T20 cricket and the quibbles of the 123 India-US nuclear deal to nano fantasies and seeing the “turning point” in a lover’s eyes, the argumentative Indian, says lawyer and politician Kapil Sibal, witnesses it all and turns poetical, scribbling verses frenziedly on his cellphone.

Having a mobile in this perennially distracted and driven existence certainly helps; and if words take time to form and epiphanies are itching to get out, SMS will do.

Sibal has no high-brow pretensions about poetry; he loves reading poetry and writing rhymes, a passion that goes back to his St. Stephen’s College days. So when the muse beckoned him three months ago, Sibal let words flow and flow and did not wait for the privacy of the notepad to capture those fleeting moments of rage and transcendence.

“I Witness,” subtitled ‘Partial Observations,’ (published by Roli Books) is the outpouring of a public man who felt driven to communicate his private thoughts in a poetic form in the midst of incessant soundbites and perfunctory speeches he had to chant in his official role as science and technology minister and a spokesperson of the grand old Congress party.

“In a sense, that’s the argumentative Indian who is finding his voice in poetry. These verses are written from many viewpoints, from that of a bureaucrat and a lawyer to a politician and a modern-day commentator of daily life,” says Sibal.

“With enormous experience one has gone through, words find their own way. The cellphone was a handy gadget,” he recalls, delighting in his new-found vocation as a versifier of these twisted, teasing times.

“I have been writing often and for myself… Most of the poems I write have been lost while shifting residence,” says Sibal, hinting that the poetic impulse was not a sudden intrusion into his life.

“It’s a form of communication with myself. It helps you to clarify my own thoughts in simple, clear terms,” he says.

“I have been writing often and for myself… Most of the poems I wrote have been lost while shifting residences,” says Sibal, hinting that the poetic impulse was not a sudden intrusion into his public life. It was always there, waiting perhaps for the miracle of mobile technology to make it real, he hints.

He is too much of a down-to-earth person to fall for clichés about divine inspiration. He believes in communication and speaking straight from the heart, he says, and writing in the language of the common man – read urbane English-speaking Indian - and it shows in the eclectic range of themes in his poems that covers just about everything under the sun that caught his fancy.

Political opportunism, sycophancy, tsunami, nano technology, bio-tech, terrorism and the July 22 trust vote that saw some Indian MPs tossing wads of currency in parliament claiming they have been bribed – they are all grist to his poetic impulse. The verses that flow from this hybrid jumble are not always music to the ears, but they try to wring some authenticity from the banality of public life.

Where poetry fails, wit redeems. “For right intent, recognizes/the passion for acquisition/Such a sense of purpose/ Must inform your decision,” writes Sibal in his poem “Politicians’ Eightfold Path.” The satirical vein shows in his mordant critique of headline-obsessed media and the infidelities of political life. “Bollywood geeks,/cricket icons/make headline news,” says Sibal in Whither Press.

And only eccentric poetry can get us closer to understanding Indian Communists’ implacable hatred of the nuclear deal. “Imperialistic designs cited/as reason for suspicion;/one hoped Left ideology had/evolved through transition,” writes Sibal in "123." There is also some inspired ranting against the new seductive makeover of the gentleman’s game. “Cricket lovers’ nightmare/slapstick tamasha/connoisseurs often complain./Instant stroke play/Without any foreplay: this is not cricket, they claim!” bemoans "T20."

Some discerning readers of poetry and high-brow critics may deride these bursts of inspired rhetoric masquerading as poetry. But Sibal has no illusions about his poetic voice. “Some of these could have been essays or middles. It’s a form of communication with myself. Poetry helps you to clarify my own thoughts in simple, clear terms,” he says, expressing his unease with modern poets who have turned poetry into an esoteric cult, bristling with private jokes.

“Modern poetry has become disconnected from reality. That’s why poetry has not taken off as a form. It has lost its roots to touch the heart of the people,” Sibal said.

“Poetry has a certain element of universality about it. Why do we admire Shakespeare? There is a certain rhythm to Shakespeare’s verses and language. A poem is more powerful than a hundred pages of prose,” he declares.

The inanities and insanities of public life are, however, more than redeemed by the intensities of the private moment which poetry alone can transfigure. “Write me not/ a quick SMS/professing that /you love me./I do not want/ to be erased/this quickly from/your memory,” writes Sibal in Live Memories, gently dramatising the power of the written word over cold impersonal digital inscriptions.

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