Nadir Godrej’s monsoon verses celebrate Mumbai while echoing India’s timeless literary fascination with rain and nature.
The rain is central to the Indian life. Since India is a country of agriculturists, the drops of rain are life for the Indian masses. Since it is central to Indian life, it appears constantly in Indian poetry from Kalidas to many contemporary young poets. In almost all Indian languages such as Sanskrit, Tamil, Odia, Telugu, Bangla, Marathi, Assamese, Bodo, etc., rain appears as a poetic symbol frequently. In Sanskrit literature, Meghdoot by Kalidasa is counted as a great epic which addresses rain-based sensitivitiesviraha, love and shringar.
In Bangla, Rabindra Nath Tagore’s poems related to the experience of rain are popularly sung in Bangla literature and by common people. In English, classic poems on rain were composed by poets like Jayant Mohapatra and many others. In Indian folk traditions of various dialects such as Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Magahi, etc rains appear in songs sung by women, labour songs, agricultural songs, etc. In the poetic craft, rain performs two things—appears as a poetic narrative and also functions as uddipak bhav, which evokes the main bhava of the composer and singer.
I am in Mumbai nowadays, where rain is part and parcel of the life of Mumbaikar. Recently, Nadir Godrej, a poet and corporate executive, recited one of his poems, ‘The Rain”, while delivering the Ratan Tata Memorial Lecture at the Tata Institute of social science that is, popularly known as TISS. This poem describes how rain works in Mumbai life—influences small things of everyday life to big thoughts. The poem reveals how the drops of rain on the back give a feeling of swimming: “The feel of rain on my back as I swim, and watch blue water overflow of the brim”. The drops of rain to feeling of swimming is an interesting poetic analogy. The rain in Mumbai, on the one hand, creates a condition in which the poet experiences that my unused shoes are covered by a mould, my clothes are damp, my books look yellow and old. And every now and then I feel the pain of fevers brought on by the steamy rain. (The Rain, in Life and other poems, Nadir Godrej) But the other side of the rain experience in Mumbai is as described by poet: I do enjoy the vivid green of trees, the stormy sight of tumultuous seas and waves that break in bursts forth on rocks.
His poetry collection “Life and Other Poems”, includes many poems which emerged from the poet’s experience of life universe of Mumbai. Not only Mumbai, but the concern of earth, sky, stars, God and last man also appears in various metaphors in the entire collection. Poems like the influence of Pushkin on Vikram Seth raise many existential questions in a poetic and lyrical way. Lyricism is the strength of the poem that I read in this collection. Poems like The Gerenuk, Saddam, religion, etc reveals deep concern of the poet with humanity. The small experiences of a poet appear like drop of ocean of humanity. These poems also pave the way to understand interlinkages between poetry and society, which is yet an unexplored territory in our knowledge sphere.
