Book review
What Really Matters in Our Times?
Matter of Time is a collection of poems by Sangeeth Moncy, a young writer who appears to struggle to define himself in a complicated time and place where the traditional and sacrosanct links between human generations have ruptured beyond repair, leaving the social surroundings deeply insecure and upsetting.
In a world of nuclear families where the flow of endless time and memories come to an abrupt end, where nothing flows from generation to generation in a seamless cyclical move that used to nurture a deep sense of belonging and providing a unique identity, the contemporary young dreamer finds himself stuck in an unfamiliar island, searching for the way forward. It is an agonizing experience, both for the generation that fades from existence and the young ones who try to identify their place in the world, a place that looks alien and absurd, that appears to be a totally uncaring wilderness.
This existential angst is the crux of the series of haunting imageries that pop up in these pages, like a wayward spirit that appears from nowhere in a lonely abandoned street corner. The world used to be a familiar place, a wonderful refuge with its beautiful sunrise, the light blue sky in the evening, the birds chirping from the tree tops, and the cool breeze that comes soothingly for the body and mind (Blossoms: I can hear it). All these images have a playful place in these poems, but despite the familiarity of the universe, it suddenly takes a shape-shifting transition, appearing to be an eerily strange, gloomy terrain where one finds abandoned like a lonely child, trapped in a plethora of strange experiences, encounters, feelings, fears and anxieties. “How challenging is to lead a life!” (Life is somewhere).
Then there comes an urge to escape into a world of hallucinations, wishful thinking and daydreaming. Even this is futile. The child goes to the school and on the way encounters a woman begging for food; a white thin hand with a glowing ring accepts the lunch box that the boy readily offers, and at noon the empty-stomached boy opens the water bottle to quench the fire inside the belly and -- how wonderful !-- a sweet honey-like juice flows out! Then back home, the mother opens the empty box and there pops out a ring. A gift from heaven?
“Whose ring is this?” The suspicious mother asks, and the boy says, "I don't know Mom, but your juice was really great.” Juice? She had not put any juice in the box and, eyeing her dreamy child in exasperation, the woman sighs, “Oh, what happened to my boy? What juice? “(Land of fantasy).
This is a little grandmom’s tale that is juxtaposed to the world of harsher realities, a world where even the most exquisite flowers lose their beauty, fragrance and transform into a misshapen monstrosity. (Lost petal.) That is what the child realises as he grows up, from a world of innocence where the father was his ideal to a world of experience where even the heavenly father loses His lustre (The man).
The tremendous transformations in society, family relations, technology and their impact on individual life is a motif that pervades many of these poems. Unlike their parents who lived a less complicated life in a less tumultuous world, these young people feel the pressure of the fast changing times, the agonies and anxieties of this unforgiving age of Anthropocene, where human intelligence gives way to artificial intelligence (Autobiography). They feel and experience the tensions of the times so acutely and their expressions of these experiences take a bitter, unvarnished turn. The destruction of the families is a real and damaging experience, something the young and tender minds are unable to cope with. “Seniors are weeping in the old age homes; juniors are tied in boarding schools. The middle are the rope pullers of cages -- so they are safely caged too!” (Endless).
The sense of desolation and alienation is so deep and depressing. But there is no escape from it. It feels like hell, a place of total abandonment. “Life pushed me down always, showed me only one-- the kingdom ruled by Satan!” (The kingdom).
These poems are not easy pieces of artistry to go through like a lullaby; they are sometimes an experience that leaves one uneasily touched and disturbed. It shows a sense of embittered alienation in a world lost on its innocence, its time-tested traditions of faith and trust. In a recent essay, the author speaks of a world where, instead of the Biblical manna, the heaven rains down fiery missiles on the refugees below. God appears to have abandoned his place. An ancient Chinese curse goes as follows: “May you live in interesting times!” The sages of China knew very well that interesting times were most troubling times also. They must have foreseen our own times, where old certainties are all gone and the contours of the new world yet to take shape.
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Matter of Time, Sangeeth Moncy
Notion Press, 2024
Rs. 150.00
