Book Review: An Anachronous Shower by Subhrasankar Das

 

An Anachronous Shower. Subhrasankar Das.  Delhi: Insha Publications. 2021.  ISBN 9788195325993 ; Rs. 470/-, hc, 61 pp.

 

https://store.pothi.com/book/subhrasankar-das-anachronous-shower 

 

Subhrasankar Das is a promising Indian English poet from Tripura.  Born in 1986, he has been active as a bilingual poet, translator, and editor of Shadowkraft (an international multilingual webzine) and Water (an international video magazine), and music composer. An Anachronous Shower is his fifth collection of verses, which he dedicates to all the Frontline Covid Warriors.  He is a new voice,  with contemporary ethos and intensity of awareness beyond the vigour and verve of the region he hails from.

 

Das writes with confidence, is internationally-minded, cosmopolitan , and concerned with existential as well as personal and broader world issues. His collection has a distinct bearing of his multifarious reading and exposure, with ironic echoes of content and style one may easily relate to. For example, Rabindranath Tagore’s famous poem, ‘Where the mind is without fear…’ gets a changed perspective in his observation:

 

“Where the mind is with fear

and the head is missing,

where people have learned from grass,

the spells to be a Lilliput and the art of living

under the feet of a monster

is

the best place for the rebels to rise.”

 

                              (‘Where the Mind is With Fear”, p. 19)

 

and

 

          “We move our wrists, press keyboards or  pens

          to generate meaningful sentences but don’t write.

          We use our vocal cords and tongues

          to produce stunning sounds but don’t speak.

          We are engineered to be self sufficient and self destructive.

          …

          We have everything.

          But we can’t breathe

 

                             (‘The Country of Avengers’, p. 56)

 

 

Most of the poems that read well are rooted in emotion awake to its own environment just as the larger ecosystem of the NorthEast India  is predominant. For example,

 

          “The wicks and the condiments are burning themselves

          to keep the flame alive

 

          The God is in coma

 

          The legendary lamp-stand is absorbed in contemplation

 

          And the disciple has lost his prayer

 

                             (‘The Alter’, p, 7)

 

          “We’ve been facing frequent power-cuts

          since we are born.

          We urgently need some Happydents or laughing damsels

          so that we can pay taxes on love

          and avoid paying taxes on electricity.

          Then.. we can shed some loads to save money

          (..I hope you understand what I mean, don’t you?)

          or we can exchange our beloveds

          with the amateur or experienced ones

          and make agreements for some profit.

          Don’t you do that, huh?”

 

                             (‘For Sale’, p. 61)

 

 

          “…I don’t drink.

          But whenever I meet my darling

          I get drenched

          with the reminiscence of my grandmother.

          She said,

          Same are the ancestors of volcano and lake.

          She said,

          Pavement is vagabond’s dining table.”

 

                             (‘Pavement’, p. 60)

 

I enjoyed reading some of the micropoems that add to the poet’s lyrical richness, brilliance, thought, and  texture of the collection:

 

          “Trying to erase you

          I go on rubbing the eraser on me.”  (p. 30)

 

          “I’ve become a circle

          being desirous to be perfect.

          Please distort me somehow…somewhere”   (p. 32)

 

          “There is no scent of relationship

          in the sari of grandma

 

          Only.

          the handicraft of home-maid

          and whiff of surf excel”      (p. 47)

 

          “A tattered pair of shoes was thrown into exile and they yearned for a kiss

 

          A dog missed them

 

          A moonstruck rescued them

          and travelled across four cities at ease”      (p. 57)

 

          “ There is winter in one corner of Love.

          You won’t like to take shower, even if you are burning.”     (p. 59)

 

Obviously, the poet has a strong critical viewpoint as he raises questions that the system manages to avoid. He effectively articulates the anger of millions of people who have been suffering quietly.  An Anachronous Shower  has so much to think about.  It strikes me as a remarkable addition to the diversity of voices and verses from the North-East and merits wider attention of the media and academia.

 

  -- Dr R.K. Singh