The process of nativisation of English language writing in India had started even before the Partition through writers and poets like Raja Rao, Sarojini Naidu and Tagore and that continued after the creation of new states. It was a more complicated task in poetry as compared to fiction as it entailed a more complex thought process and writing technique.

The poets like Nissim Ezekiel and A K Ramajuman made their contributions right after the Partition for decolonisation of English language and the poets from later generations like Arun Kolatkar, Dom Moraes, Kamala Das and others carried it forward. It was a conscious effort to get authenticity to evoke the indigenous experience and locale through diction, similes, metaphors and subjects rather than mimicry of colonizers. This all did not let the colonial hangover last long and the end result was deeper affinity with land, culture and people and a take on the local themes in a natural unconscious way as compared to borrowed idiom and received knowledge.

In Pakistan, the process was not that forceful and the poets who ventured into writing poetry in English were lost in anonymity due to various reasons. The most prominent among such poets is Taufiq Rafat and perhaps also the best known in the company which evoked the Pakistani idiom. Others who followed him remained in oblivion which is very ironical, given the fame Urdu poets got and the culture of poetry in the country.

Muzaffar A Ghaffar is among such poets with five English poetry collections to his credit. With his background in Punjab classical literature and translation, he is more rooted in culture and tradition, hence more well-equipped to venture into the real idiom of the land. His works on classical Punjabi poets and Sufi poetry speak volumes of his contribution to literature, especially poetry.

The most recent English poetry collection of Muzaffar Ghaffar is Moondark.

In this collection one comes across local themes, tales and subjects along with the European ones which reached here through English culture, language and literature. In his poems where there is Roman Diana, there is also Sahibaaan. In the poem Moondark-II: Birha, when he brings in Egyptian Nefretiti, Roman Venus and Greek Aphrodite, he also mentions local Saraswati, the custodian of a tradition as ancient as others if not more, which gives his poetry more universality. The local themes, folklore and romances provide an anchor to the bigger task of poetry at hand. In the poem, the poet enters dreamworld but remains eternally disillusioned, his desire thwarted as he suffers from separation (Birha). See how he balances and juxtaposes East and West in Moondark-II: Love.

Love-fraught Mirza sped off with Saahiban / One-eyed Shameer primes his arrows / strikes down the millstone career / races through acrid scrubland / in flaming pursuit: / Diana’s domain rings / with love’s tripping laughter.

Ghaffar renders the most famous classic romance of Punjab, Heer Ranjha, in a six-page poem, based not only on the version of Waris Shah but also Damodar and gives an alternate version of the story. In which Raanjha ran off, became a vagabond, this was his lot. /Heer with no one to blame/ smouldered in her own flame. / she thought about the baby, / another Heer! She ruminated / and walked about in a daze/As ever in impetuous character/Heer aborted the fetus.

Indigenous images are scattered in other poems too, obviously necessitated by the subjects. This is important as a subject brings in the whole context with it. Like the image motia or chambeli (jasmine) is more relevant to the reader’s imagination and easily grasped by him/her as compared to a daffodil. In a poem, Truth, see the local images: On the far side/ mangoes are ripe / Jasmine spreads its sequined wings / a five petaled butterfly sings / It has no kohl in its eyes. Another poem, Time, describes the human helplessness and disillusionment of life, centred on nothingness. The universal philosophical subject comes handy with the poet who takes it in a localised way. With a bread knife / I cut a sliver of time / and pickle it.

A Morning Walk depicts a season of the land when the hot summer affects humans, flora and fauna, the best description of the month of the season. This July is like any other / with days with no peace in passivity / and perfume closeted in the ambit of the tree / choking flowers / in air too hot to blow.

Ghaffar is not just adept at local subjects and indigenous culture and influenced by the poets and writers close to our hearts like the classical poets of the land. Two of his poems, Turtle Thoughts and Seascape, remind one of a famous poem of Ted Hughes, Thought Fox. He takes on a variety of subjects, including the theme of love, with equal ease which are a pleasure to read. His poems, Dewfall, Night and Day and Chance Meeting, deal with the theme of love.

Ghaffar’s other books are Maryam & Others, Inscape, Yesterdays and Another Time Another Place.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2017

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