A Review of Ekalavya Speaks

Ekalavya Speaks
Author: Sanjukta Dasgupta
Tranlator: Rajorshi Patranabis

ISBN: 978-81-966577-9-6 (Hardbound)
Edition: (2024)
Price: ₹ 300. $ 35
Published by Penprints

Reviewed by: Sutanuka Ghosh Roy

 

         Ekalavya Speaks is the ninth poetry collection of Sanjukta Dasgupta a poet, short story writer, critic, and translator. The title is intriguing and endorses the intensity of the work that dates back to The Mahabharata. In ‘History of Ekalavya’ (in On Hinduism) Wendy Doniger observes,” The myth of the weavers’ thumbs may also have grown out of the famous Mahabharata story of Ekalavya, a dark-skinned, low-caste boy whose skill at archery rivalled that of the noble heroes, the Pandavas; to maintain the Pandavas’ supremacy as archers, their teacher demanded that Ekalavya cut off his right thumb”. The collection of 100 poems is astoundingly powerful, awe-inspiring, and cheerily avant-garde. Although it questions grave issues like othering, patriarchy, and tyranny layered with grief, familial allegiance, and good intention, it never loses its infectious humour and charm.

       The opening poem ‘Accident of Birth’ is interspersed with personal experiences and contemporary references which both interrupt it as the title suggests—and make it more engaging and accessible. Dasgupta writes, “If only the Dalits, Rohingyas,/ Jews and Muslims/ Could have chosen/ The branded wombs carefully/ Who is a Rohingya/ Who is a Jew/ Who is a Hindu”. There is a sense of urgency, in movement and monologue alike, in this retelling of the contemporary times. New meanings emerge from the ‘interruptions’, which offer fresh entry points into the tragedy of dissent embedded in the mythical history of Ekalavya.

     ‘Sikhandi’ celebrates the non-binaries and bridges the gap between ancient mythology and modern, irreverent egalitarianism. “That Great Indian story/ Is awash with blood, sweat and tears/ Fratricide, killing of kin/ Deception, gambling, disguise/ Confidence trickery/ I am just a footnote/ A user-friendly/ Not quite non-binary”. In ‘Chuni Kotal’s Query’ Dasgupta writes, “Ekalayas and Shambukas/ Were depressed victims/ Nothing has changed/ We are depressed now/ As they were depressed then/ Dear Saviour of the have-nots/ Shall we remain/ The outsider ‘Others’ ”. We are going through a kind of turbulence a time when speaking the truth has become more fraught with danger to life and livelihood, ‘Chuni Kotal’s intransigence in the face of autocracy acquires a profound significance. She enquires into the premise of the female body as an object of oppression and her agency as an aggressive tool of opposition. “A Masters degree student aspirant/ Stripped of all human identity/ Stripped of all human dignity/ Bore the brunt of casteist slurs/ Every day in class”. A lone figure of resistance, she revolts proprietorially against a brutal marginalisation that has been foisted on her.

      The vocal inflexions in ‘Manipur’ are etched in sharp lines of great physical and psychological detail. “Cry bejewelled Manipur/ Cry, beloved land/Your innocent people/ Denuded, devastated / Ravished, abused/ Drenched in blood/ Branded blood groups/ In a killing spree/ All in the name of God”. Dasgupta offers a persuasively visceral experience of a subversive spirit with complete autonomy. She writes, “The silence of India/ Often more ear-splitting/Than speech/ Are you listening?” Such is the power of Dasgupta’s communication that she holds the readers in her thrall as she tells the story of Manipur.

     Some poems like ‘The Time is out of Joint’, ‘Undefeated’, and ‘New Normal and I’ remind us of the times when human beings were out of joint and crematoriums became the destination. Women have always captured a veritable space in Dasgupta’s poetic journey. But what ‘Indian Women at Home and in the World’ does differently is that it just does not offer an alternative version of a story about an Indian woman from a feminist perspective: the poem gives a different story altogether—when the Indian woman/(en) is ‘In the World’ she is an avatar of Durga with ten hands doing ten things simultaneously. The poet writes, “I am a smart Indian woman/ I work harder on weekends/ I sometimes have weekend helpers/ I have to clean my bathroom/ I have to scrub the potty” When she is at home she scoffs—“I have maids to bake, cook and clean/ I am an Indian woman who turns crazy/ If a helper fails to turn up for half a day”.  Judicious use of humour enlivens what could have become a preachy sob story.

    ‘The Third Alphabet’ is overwhelmingly intense and there is wild energy—“Conniving irresistible greed for more/ Cruelty froths unabashed/ Curdling and churning and chuckling/ Coins cryptic and crypto tantalizers/ Catastrophic cataclysmic Implosion”. These 100 poems give the readers an ‘immersive experience’ as Lakshmi Kanan observes. Eklavya Speaks is here to bridge the gap between ‘othering’ and ‘acceptance’. The evocative book cover evokes emotions that truly resonate.

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BIO-NOTE: Dr. Sutanuka Ghosh Roy is an Associate Professor of English at Tarakeswar Degree College, The University of Burdwan. She has published widely and presented papers at National and International Seminars. She is a regular contributor to research articles and papers to anthologies, and national and international journals of repute like Text, Journal of Writing and Writing Courses, Australia, Kervan International Journal of Afro-Asiatic Studies, University of Turin, Italy, Fiar, University of Bielefeld, Germany, Muse India, Setu, Lapiz Lazuli, The Times of India, The Statesman, Life and Legends, Kitaab, etc. Her poems have been anthologized and published in Setu, Piker Press, Harbinger Asylum, Teesta Journal, etc. The titles of her books are Critical Inquiry: Text, Context, and Perspectives, Commentaries: Elucidating Poetry, Rassundari Dasi’s Amar Jiban: A Comprehensive Study, Ashprishya (translated into Bengali, a novel by Sharan Kumar Limbale,). “Opera” is her debutant collection of poetry. She is also a reviewer, a poet, and a critic.

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Setu, June 2024