AN INTERVIEW WITH THE POET M.A. RATHORE
By Bipul Kalita
[With Team Writers’ Mirror, Assam]
Good
morning dear Sir. Please respond to the following questions specially designed
for HAPPY SATURDAY WITH AN EMINENT POET, a weekly interview program organized
by WRITERS' MIRROR, ASSAM, INDIA. Questions for Happy Saturday with an Eminent
Poet.
Q1.
Good morning dear Sir. I'm happy to have you as our guest of honor today. You
are already a popular poet of international repute. Our adorable readers will
be happy if you say in brief about yourself.
Rathore-
Very good morning all of you, my dear friends and followers! It’s my pleasure
to have a talk with you here in this portal. I congratulate all the members of
WITERES’ MIRROR, ASSAM. Let me introduce myself first. My name is M.A. Rathore.
I come from Rajasthan which is the land of sands, saints, and warriors.
Professionally I am a teacher at Mahatma Gandhi Government (English Medium)
School at Kohla in Hanumangarh. I am the author of more than half of dozen
books including Pathless Woods, Pearls of Repose, The Voice of Silence, The
Essence of Life, Worlds Fail When Silence Speaks, and The Voice of Humanity. I
have been awarded many national and international awards including World Icon
of Peace, felicitated by the World Institute for Peace, Nigeria in 2017,
Enchanting Muse Award 2017, Hyderabad, ‘Kalam ka Sipahi’ Samman 2017, The Best
Poet of World by WUP Cultural Form, Germany, Poetography International Contest
Winner 2016, The Best Poet of the Week by so many Facebook Groups. My poems
have been published in many national and international anthologies and magazines,
including some of the online portals viz. atunispoetry.com and Writers’ café.
Q 2.
Why do you write?
Rathore-
As a poet, what inspires me to write poetry is only to search out the
potentiality in man and the question of redemption of man’s soul. Poetry has a
closer voice to reach the depth of the hearts of the readers.
Q 3.
Who/What inspired you to be a poet?
Rathore-
My poems are the notes of Vedanta philosophy which I can understand while
reading Indian and Western Philosophy. Especially Osho inspires me. I am an
avid reader. What I read, I write with the thought. Each of my poems is the
product of the blend of thoughts and emotions together.
Q 4.
How would you like to define poetry?
Rathore-
Poetry cannot be described well. It is felt and smelt when something eatable is
put side by side and we are unaware of the thing where it is. For me, poetry is
the discovery of man’s soul which is closer to the heart than the use of
intellect as we often do in writing a piece of prose. It is also the music of
pangs of heart. I often find myself hopeless to make people understand life
which results ultimately in the form of poetry.
Q 5.
Who are the Classical, Romantic, and contemporary poets that you like the most?
Rathore-
My first interview was with Shakespeare, Milton, and Donne. Keats and Shelley
impress me. Wordsworth paves my way to think about nature and the general
themes of my poetry. In the contemporary poets, I use to read Dr. Jernail Singh
Anand’s poetry.
Q 6.
What do you prefer- rhymes or free verse?
Rathore-
When I started to write poetry I used to try to rhyme. Two of the books which I
wrote at the beginning of my career as a poet were written in rhyming form
entitled The Winged Seeds and Divine Love which was inspired by John Donne.
Later I learned to write haiku from Jen Walls, Minnesota, and Caroline Cecile,
California, USA. Both the poet's friends and mentors inspired and taught me how
to write haiku poetry which resulted in my haiku poetry book entitled Drizzling
Dales. These books are still to be published.
Time
changes with the band of the striking notes. I came across the poetry of Dr.
Jernail Singh Anand and became his friend on Facebook. This friendship got a
name and fame also. In my college days when I started to write English poetry
Professor L. K. Sharma, sir inspired me to write poetry in free verse but I was
a budding poet at that time and was suffering from the basic knowledge of the
English language, Later this inspiration got a shape in the hands of Dr.
Jernail Singh Anand. He always inspires me to write in free verse with a
particular thought. Most of my books are written in free verse. Rhyming poetry
bars the running thoughts which otherwise throughout the free verse.
Q 7.
How does Facebook poetry differ from the others?
Rathore-
A great deal of people uses social media especially Facebook these days.
Facebook poetry gives way to instant recognition and there are so many friends
like Dr. Anand who inspire budding poets a lot to be successful writers. Most
of the writers show their inner conflict or the stuff they are stuffed with.
Facebook is just like a rough notebook where they can write their thoughts and
feelings without fear of what people say about it. In between such thoughts,
there comes a noble and elevated thought in the form of modern poetry. Time has
been changed. People prefer online study or reading to print. With the
revolution of thoughts, a great class of writers has come into effect. In the
olden days, they had the rare opportunity of being a writer or expressing themselves
in so high with such great openness.
Q 8.
Would you say in brief about your published books? What about your upcoming
books?
Rathore-
As I have told you. More than half of a dozen books are in my credit including
Pathless Woods, Pearls of Repose, The Voice of Silence, The Essence of Life,
Worlds Fail When Silence Speaks, and The Voice of Humanity. I am now working on
my 7th poetry book entitled The Wings of Poesy and Bhatner Duaggatha, a book of
my Hindi poetry.
Q 9.
Please share one of your latest poems.
Rathore-
1:
THE SONG OF ETERNITY
I
am a withered leaf;
When
the breeze blows
It
carries me far away in the distant lands
And
drops me there;
I
arise with the blow of the winds.
I
am a paper boat;
When
the breeze blows
It
carries me on the splashing waves
Which
push me towards the bank;
I
float on the surface of the ocean.
I
am a stream;
Though
it is not easy to flow
Against
the obstacles of the mountains
Yet
I try to be simple and innocent
Like
a three year child.
I
am a child of innocence;
When
the breeze blows
It
carries me into the land of mermaids
And
in the realm of Albatrosses
Where
the mariner sings the song of eternity.
2:
DIVINITY
The
smell that I could inhale
Was
unidentified passing through my nose;
I
travelled far and wide
To
know the fragrance;
The
fragrance of the flower of meditation.
The
flame was lit yet I could not see
The
light of knowledge;
It
was just like a dazzling spark
As
if my eyes were blind
Which
could not observe, though burning.
The
earthen lamp of self-recognition
Was
under the flame
When
I beheld it while the day broke
And
yet the sun was about to rise;
The
rising sun of hope and bliss.
I
needed eyes to see the unseen;
I
tried to search all the ways conscientiously;
I
made all the best I could;
I
found it was all my ignorance
While
being silent I felt the divinity.
Q 10.
Do you think that Facebook poets and their poems have been properly appreciated?
How do your appreciators have inspired you to keep writing?
Rathore-
There is some literary groups such as Philosophique Poetica, headed by Dr.
Jernail Singh Anand from India and Ade Caparas Manilah from Sydney where we had
critics like Cijo Joseph Chennelil from India who had made intensive research
on reviews and criticism. They appreciated their fellow poets and writers.
Writers’ Mirror, Assam is also one of the best platforms for literary reviews
and motivation. The critics like Bipul Kalita have done great reviews of
eminent poets and writers around the world.
Q 11.
Do you think that govt. and non-govt. organizations have done their best to
promote world-class literature?
Rathore-
Yes. The Ministry of Culture and Resources has time to time published its
journals and books and anthologies to assist the literature of almost all
languages. There are so many other non-government organizations that try their
best to preserve world-class literature. They promote writers and poets to
compose their best works. So many awards and certificates have been given.
Q 12.
Do you think that Facebook and other social media have challenged print media?
Rathore-
Yes. Of course. Facebook and other social media have challenged the print media
but it also provides the base and stuff for budding writers. Thousands of trees
have been cut to prepare a sheet of paper but still, print media has sustained
its existence in the modern world.
Q 13.
What is your opinion on the awards and certificates issued by various Facebook
groups?
Rathore- Facebook groups are formed to assist
the works of fellow poets and writers and thus they encourage each other by
reading their poems and articles at the same time; commenting and reviewing
instantly which ultimately provides them good counseling, and when they work
well with their matter and manner they are encouraged with awards and
certificates until it becomes a game of making money and all other such issues
and misuse of belittling the other fellow writers in any way.
Q 14.
How do you feel when you interact with poets from different countries,
especially through Facebook?
Rathore-
I joined Facebook in 2012. It was the time when I was appointed as a government
teacher far from my hometown. I was alone and had no way to interact even with
my family members besides phone calls. My son made an email account and
Facebook Id to spend time on it. This gave me the opportunity to see through
the world. I had made so many friends around and across the world. I preferred
older friends to young ones for the reason they had a lot to guide and share
their experiences. I got an elemental change in my style of thought and
writing. I would like to tell you about some of my best friends and mentors who
have devoted their time and love to the development of my soul and style of
writing. I can’t help remembering my close friends like Caroline Cecile Godgal
from California who introduced me to how to write haiku poetry with and without
a particular syllable of 5-7-5 pattern,
Sister Jen Walls from Minnesota, USA who taught me how to count
syllables for haiku writing. She used to check and cross-check my haiku. When I
used to make mistakes she rebuked me to have my duty done with dedication. Dr.
Jernail Singh Anand is my all-time mentor and checker of each of my poems
without caring much about the time of the day or it is night.
Q 15.
Do you experiment with your own poetic creations?
Rathore-
Not any special but I think every poet has the experiment with the way and
style of composing poetry creatively. He gets his stuff from around his life,
scriptures, and mostly from the extensive reading of the authors, philosophers,
and thinkers. Following one and the other styles of composing poetry is just
like creating a barricade in thoughts and feelings.
Q 16.
Do you think that Facebook poets have contributed to bringing peace to war-prone
zones?
Rathore-
That’s a fine question indeed. Yes. No doubt. Facebook posts have contributed a
lot to bringing peace and harmony to the world. Through their creative works,
they have appealed to the people who have prolonged to face the world under
threat of war. Poetry has the voice of
heart and appeals much more than words of prose.
Q 17.
Do you have any suggestions for our group?
Rathore-
As for as your group, Writers’ Mirror, Assam is concerned; all the members of
the team have been working with dedication to uplift the flavour of literature
worldwide. They are appreciating and motivate the seasoned as well as the
budding poets and authors to compose more and more creative pieces.
Q 18.
What suggestions do you have for your co-poets?
Rathore-
I would like to suggest to the co-poets that they should read more and more
books before writing a piece of poetic creation. Reading makes them aware of
the general facts of composing poetry and other creative arts. They should keep
in mind that what they had read has been expressed and now it’s their duty to
add more flavour to literature.
I
would like to thank all of the members of the team Writers’ Mirror, Assam for
giving me time to share my thoughts and feelings here with you. Thank you very
much. (Copyrighted)
