Malashri Lal, Mandalas of Time: Poems, New Delhi : Hawakal Publishers. Pages 113, Rs. 500/-
“ Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn” – Marianne Moore
L
ife’s tone, aroma and hues can be uncovered through poetry searching under the counterpanes of obscured emotions. The book Mandalas of Time opens with a poem called “Ardhareesvara” that sculpts murals of deep introspection, weaving the vast mélange of the ethereal with the intimate, in a silken thread that runs through the volume. Malashri Lal’s poetry fuses the transcendent and the ordinary, the spiritual and the mundane, mythology and modernity, allowing us to see the world through multifocal lens, making us aware of the chiaroscuro of life, the light and the aphotic shades. These poems are a reminder that there is beauty to be found in the harvest of autumn as well as the bloom of spring. They also draw our attention towards the destiny of the destitute, the endurance of women, the fragility of life, and the melancholic turns of fate. Nevertheless, there is finally the hope of rejuvenation, as the last poem “Easter Lilies in an Empty Home” promises :
The owners alive only in obituaries
The lilies don’t worry on that count
Buried bulbs know they will creep upwards in season
Life’s renewal is a beautiful certainty.
“Mandalas” in Sanskrit means “circle”, representing the universe. The image of Mandala first appeared in the Rig Veda, later it was used in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The geomantic, symmetrical pattern in Mandalas symbolise balance, unity, evolution, and healing. It fosters mindfulness and suggests a therapeutic impact. Lal’s title, Mandalas of Time looks beyond any specific tradition to a philosophic understanding of the impermanence of existence and, therefore, the need to celebrate this life. Her poetry unveils those realms of the mind where the air is impregnated with revelations and epiphanies guiding the journey to the strange territories of our inner core. And we are caught in a loop of turbulent emotions. The readers are absorbed in Lal’s poetic milieu, making the emotions palpable and the journey immersive and inclusive by touching upon ‘everydayness’ with profundity.
For example, this poem about a woman migrant compelled to leave Delhi during the Covid 19 lockdown, is based on a news report:
Leave the slum or pay the rent
Who cares if she is pregnant
Get out– go anywhere.
Husband finds train tickets headed for a village
She hardly knows.
“Will she find a home for the newborn?
( “Ladies Special” )
In such poetry, every emotion can be made tangible through the play of simple words. The sharp lines enable readers to experience Pooja’s world as if it were their own. The imagery tugs at the confluence of expression and experience, inviting readers into a realm where words and sentiments intertwine in a Gordian knot. The woman has birth pangs in the train, is helped to descend to the platform, and the baby is born with the help of a lady doctor. “This is home,” Pooja mutters wanly, “Among strangers who cut the cord and feed my newborn”.
At the other end of the economic scale are those who feel “homeless” though they possess physical spaces.
“ No place that beckons with peace
No place that is silent, serene,
Decades of habitation do not make a home’
(Homeless)
Here Malashri Lal explores the philosophic quandaries of home and homelessness, longing and belonging. The brevity of the poem and the layers of emotions combine to make it a very poignant and reflective piece of writing. Personally, it unlocked the hidden traumas of being separated from my biological parents at the age of eight. This poem tugged at my heartstrings as I’ve always felt the roof over my head dissolving layer by layer and a feeling of homelessness exposed again and again. Most of us have left our original homes to navigate through life’s circumstances. Eventually, the world grows louder and moves faster and the hope of return quietens down. And then we are reminded of, in Lal’s word:
The thatched home I left
In the village
Elusive, mystical
Impossible, void,
You are the solace of
My dreamless sleep.
This poem took me back to my hometown as I have an appetite for fresh air, the simple sacredness of fleeting clouds, and the joy of running bare feet through mustard fields. Many poems in this collection conjure up nostalgia as we see the poet reminiscing about “forgotten khichudi tastes, unfurling the pages of Gitanjali” (“Sunday Poem”) or noting “the probasis longing for the winter connect” (“Howrah Bridge”). The embedded Bengali phrases remind me of Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia, exploring the untranslatability of cultural terms that must negotiate language barriers.
Also Read: ‘Dreaming of Ma by the Sea & Other Poems: Malashri Lal
“Sita’s Rasoi”, set imaginatively in Valmiki’s ashram, proffers a lesson on equality and justice for all, and we dream of a world where there’s “ No bias” , “ No Trespass”, “ No Waste”. Just as Sita never differentiated between the various children sitting at a meal, can each one of us do our part to smoothen out the “ jagged edges” of social disparity? It’s a question we ponder over after reading the lines :
Sita’s rasoi, a stone slab on which
Warmed single moulds of flour rest.
Rotis dance into a shape
Flat, brown-edges, uneven rounds.
Malashri Lal has a deep understanding of mythology and we are fortunate to encounter several beautiful poems on Sita, Krishna, Radha, Manthara Dasi, Rani Padmini, Shila Devi and others. The poem “Diwali With Goddess Lakshmi” touched me immensely. Lal talks about a house on Diwali which has a solitary resident and he refuses to switch on the lights. In such a home, a bruised, bare soul lies swaddled in a duvet of emptiness and desolation.
This evening, Goddess Lakshmi recalls
Those who are absent
By distance and time
Love and helplessness
Death and sickness.
Friendships are lost and found
In the battles of survival….
Abandoned,
The solitary resident watches Lakshmi
From his dark window
Refusing to switch on the lights.
He chooses to rest his weary mind
Mourning the dead
Snatched by the invisible demon…
The counterpoint to such desolation are the poems about plants and trees, peacocks and singing birds. As Ranjit Hoskote rightly points out in the Afterword, “The sensuous abundance of natural world pervades Malashri Lal’s Mandalas of Time. These poems celebrate the arboreal and the floral…” Bougainvillea, Champa, Amaltas, Hibiscus, the Pilkhan tree and the Pine—are witness and participants in the human drama of an ecologically dependent ambience.
Mandalas of Time marks various circles of consciousness in Lal’s multicultural identity. Modern readers will instantly connect with her voice. The poems reveal untold secrets and question the complex layers of our identities They are a reminder that our deepest longings, though sometimes haunting, also direct us towards beauty and hope. There is solace to be found amidst pain and pandemonium through empathy and compassion.
Lal’s poems articulate everyone’s journey through life, with all its vulnerability, unpredictability and awe.
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Mahua Sen is recipient of the Reuel International Poetry award and Poesis award for Excellence in literature, Mahua Sen is an author, poet, translator, based out of Hyderabad. She has been widely published both nationally and internationally, in more than 70 anthologies. Her works also find place in newspapers, ezines, and the likes, i.e, OutlookIndia, Saranga magazine, Teesta Review, Spillwords, Kashmir Newsline, Hello Kolkata Newspaper, Republic of Turkey Sungurlu Newspaper, Setu, to name a few. Mahua’s interest leans on poetry, prose, and translation of untranslated works of renowned authors, from Hindi to English and also, from Bengali to English. Writing is synonymous with breathing for Mahua. She writes as she believes that literature is the compass guiding us through the promenade of existence and in the echoes of literature, she finds her voice. Malashri Lal in The Beacon
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