Nirendranath Chakrabarty
On boons and benefits of poetry
‘Most people around us do not even realise that poetry can give us something substantial’, said veteran Bengali poet Nirendranath Chakrabarty, in a lecture, at Bengla Shilpalaya Café on Saturday.
The 90 year old poet, who was born in 1924 in Faridpur of the then undivided Bengal, came to Bangladesh recently for a short visit to participate in the award-giving ceremony of HSBC-Kali O Kolom Young Writers Award, held on Friday evening.
Chakrabarty, on Saturday, began his lecture a little dramatically saying that poetry, for him, is not something that springs out of imagination; rather it is a technical craftsmanship by which everyday experiences, feelings and perceptions are turned into a special form of writing and expression.
The poet clarified his point by reading one of his recent poems titled Sakulye Teenjon (Only Three). The poem deals as simply as possible with urban people’s reality where the old concept of ‘house’ is being replaced by the new reality of ‘flat’.
Though the poem did not go for a commentary on what the change means, it was abundantly clear that the change means nothing less than the breaking down of relations, affections and togetherness.
Chakrabarty then switched to the topic of what poetry can give. The veteran poet said that poetry has always had a little readership because most of us do not know the boons and benefits one can get from poetry.
From his personal experience, Chakrabarty shared that poetry can help us at least in three vital ways, i.e. by solidifying our happiness, by calming us in times of sorrows and, lastly, by making us strong and resolute in times of hardships and adversities.
The short, but memorable speech, by the aged poet concluded on this last note.
Seasoned recitation artiste Bhaswar Bandapadhyay recited a few of Nirendranth Chakrabarty’s poems at the programme presided over by emeritus professor Anisuzzaman.
-With New Age input
