REVIEW OF POETRY BOOK ’ GREAT IS THE EYE'
ENGLISH VERSION BY Dr.RAM SHARMA , BASED ON HINDI VERSION BY
Dr. ANJANA SANDHIR
ORIGINALLY COMPOSED IN
GUJARATI BY NARENDRA MODI JI
PUBLISHER: VIKALP PUBLISHER, MERRUT
HARDBOUND EDITION
PRICE: I N R 400/-
Poetry is one of the most
mellifluous linguistic devices that man has utilized to appeal to sense of the
listeners and voracious readers.
Poets and writers are
essentially social beings, but some are very actively involved in pursuits
aimed at bringing about social changes. Poet Narendra Modi is all for social
reformation, a pro social welfare, provocative social being. His poems are not
empty slogans. They are the mirror of his beliefs, his association with roots,
love for traditions and cultural heritage. He supports masses and invokes them
through his poems to assess their potentialities, strengthen will power and
fight against injustice, chaotic situations, inequality and recursion.
The positive, meaningful,
value-prone outlook on life, presented in his poems is due to emphatic force of
his expression, ideology and conviction.The poems are rich in vocabulary and
presentation and powerful play of words. He is a visionary poet and his poems
cover a thematic property.
The poets feels strongly
about prevailing social phenomenon ad registers his resentment openly. Chaos in
society, degeneration of human values causes anguish to him and he forcefully
expresses his pang. His poems are enriched with his straight forwardness,
sensibility, lofty thoughts and deep perception. He has not made any deliberate
attempt to ornament his poems with opaque similes and freakish metaphors.
He very humbly declares
I am not a litterateur or a
poet
More to more, my identity
Can be of a devotee of
Goddess Saraswati
I keep on writing here and
there for a long time
All should be compiled which
is extensively wounded
It has been compiled into a
small book.
I offer this collection in
your hands
My prayer is:
Don’t look at my status or
post in this book
Enjoy the opened small
windows of imagination
As I knew and enjoyed, I
ordained the words. (Page 16)
At times, he beautifully employs native
dialect to express himself profoundly. In his poem Garba (The song which is
sung at the time of installing holy pot during Navratri)
The body is Garba and
The soul is Garba too
Garba is life’s simplified
silence
Garba is Sati
Garba is speed
Garba is women’ power like
flower
Garba is truth
Garba is imperishable
Garba is mother’s blissful
vermilion. (Page 41)
His poems abound in
philosophical touch and he conveys his thoughts in a simple but meaningful way
I like this Sun
It keeps in his hands
The bridle of its seven
horses
But it has never used
The whip for any horse. (Page
46)
Beginning is the end and the
end is the beginning
Rejoice Spring in the heart
of Autumn. (Page 48)
He is proud of his birth
place as well as motherland. He has deep love for its traditions, rivers and
natural surroundings. For him Narmada holds a sacred identity
Narmada is not only a river
But our meditation of ages to
ages
An immortal prayer.
Narmada is not just a line on
the map
This is palm-line of Gujarat
And maker of the destiny of
the people.
Narmada is the pride of
Gujarat
Narmada is clan’s Goddess
Narmada is Bestower of
Blessings.(Page 53)
Some of his poems reflect his
invincible courage and firm determination.
“Who asks for the fate here?
I am a man to accept challenges
I will not borrow radiance
I am myself a burning
lantern” (Page 54)
He retains the equipoise of a
seer or a prophet, who knows so much, sees so much, feels so much and says so
much, in words so few. His poetry establishes a direct contact with the reader.
Narendra Modi ‘s Collection of Poems in Gujarati was published
in 2007 and was widely appreciated. Later in August 2014, it was translated into
Hindi by Dr. Anjana Sandhir, Professor, Indian Language Cultural Institute,
Gujarat Vidhyapeeth, Ahmedabad.
Once, a book is translated
from Regional language to National Language, chance for its popularity are more
enhanced because more readers avail and enjoy it and its translation in English, further enhances its popularity
and opens up scope of its translation in other regional as well as
international languages.
Dr. Ram Sharma, Associate
Professor and H.O.D. English, J.V. College, Baruat, Baghpat, has accomplished
this great task of translating the Gujarati Poetry book into English, based on
its Hindi Version by Dr.Anjana. Rooted deeply in the literary tradition, he has
done justice to the poetry of Narendra Modi, retaining the essence of the
original poetry and this is the measure of success of a translator. I
congratulate him on this rare success.
Rajni Chhabra
Multi-lingual poetess,
translator, critic
