MID-TERM ASSIGNMENT-WAYS OF READING-KANIKA ATTRI

1. Write two poems, each in the voice of any historical or mythological character of your choice. You may want to choose a particular moment in that character's life and attempt to explore how they would respond to that moment.

Note: In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Trijata is a rakshasi (demoness) who is assigned the duty of guarding the kidnapped princess and goddess Sita, Sita, the wife of Rama (the prince of Ayodhaya), who has been abducted by Ravana of Lanka, a demon king whom Trijata serves. And in Hindu mythology the relation between Trijata nd Sita has been described as very sacred and considered to be as mother daughter like.

1-Trijata

It was just another day,

Me and my other monster friends were roaming in the garden,

When suddenly I saw Ravana

‘The ultimate monster’,

Coming along with a beauty called ‘Sita’.

The glance of her beauty made my eyes pop out of its place,

And her uneasiness with the monster

Gave me an opportunity to go closer. 

She came to me with her eyes all wet

(‘only a woman can comfort a woman you know’),

And I could sense a kind of kinship with her being made.

I pulled her away from Ravana out of courtesy (‘jealousy’),

And embraced her whole body,

She felt comfortable within my arms

So I sent Ravana away,

And held her just like that for hours.

That whole day I was there with My Sita,

Sat with her, Combed her hair ,

Didn’t let her roll down a tear,

Made her comfortable

And in Lanka, we became a new pair.

But sadly people assumed me to be her mother, but truly speaking,

I fell in love with her! and admired

Her face, hair and all her curves.

In that place full of yellow toothed monsters,

I ‘trijata’ felt aroused with this beauty like a dove,

 it was pure kind of love.

Now when I watch the TV series of Ramayana,

I feel sad seeing her calling me mother,

Still the perception of people has not changed a bit to accept something other,

May be it is because our kind of relationship

Is something that always has to be hidden or else

Being Murdered…

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 Note: Sahiba is a Pakistani Punjabi heroine of tragic romance story, where Sahiba was in love with Mirza, who was a very good horse rider and an archer.  Mirza and sahiba had studied together in their childhood where they both fell in love with each other, about which Sahiba’s seven brothers discovered soon and put restrictions on her. Her brothers decided to marry her off and let the matter resolved. But Sahiba couldn’t bear the torture so she finally decided to run away with mirza and she did so on her wedding day. And on the way Mirza and Sahiba was found by Sahiba’s brothers and they killed Mirza, as Mirza couldn’t fight back because of Sahiba’s concern for her brothers (that if mirza was found by her brother, he would kill all of them with his skills and their wives would become widows) and she broke all the bows of Mirza which led to his grotesque death and Sahiba’s guilt of commiting wrong to her lover, and the love story hence come to its end.

2-Sahiba

Nee sahiba oye,

Chnga hoya tu jamane pelle tur gyi,

Je aaj v jyundi hundi te tu roj marna si.

Tinnu pata sara jamane da

Tenu pata ghar ghraneya da,

Tu kal v roi, je aaj hundi te tu aj v rona si.

Mai jadd v yad kardi aan tennu,

Meri aankha cho hanju ni dulda,

Tu roj dekhni aa minnu, tu mere utte apne naalo jada hai roi.

Tu rat mere supne cha aa k krdi mere naal gallan,

Tu pen hai ni meri, smjhi na apne  nu kalla,

tu v ishq di maari si te mai v ishqe di hi maari.

“Ni kudiye oye mai sahibaa hi sahi,

Par ishq taan hai ohi,

Jide piche mai kl roi te aaj fir tere naal roii.

Mai sahiba haan, tu mainu kehndi hai gum ishq da peele,

Tu mainu das taan sahi,

Mera mirza aaj tk kithe ee?

Tu kendi hain kudiye,

Rabb de ghar ishq milda hai,

Mere mirza nu jamane ne khaa chaddeya udi te hun rooh v baaki nahi.

Tu ishq kr bethi haan te hun krdi jaa,

Mud piche na kadi vekhi,

Je tu apne pyar nu paana ee.

Pr ik ggall dhyan rkhi kude,

Pyar te tu kr litta, te mai chani v aa tenu terra mirja mile,

Par ae gall tu sunle meri

Pyar kal v kalla si pyar aaj v kalla ee,

Otte duniya kal v hasdi si

Te aaj v makhol hi krdi.”

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 3. Write two poems, each using repetition of a word or a phrase. Think of our classroom discussion where we realized how repetition achieves different effects, whether it be lending weight, creating irony, exploring multiple meanings of the same word or phrase, among others. 

1-An honourable man

A Ph.D. holder,

Polite in nature,

Well dressed and organized,

Full of manners and civilized.

Owns a mansion

“He is an honourable man”.

Living in his winter days,

He struggles to walk,

Takes many medicine

To be able to breathe and talk

Still takes Care of a girl

He is an honourable man.

She comes in the morning,

For her daily routine,

Hiding herself in a saree covering,

Eager to finish the work and leave,

Always looking anxiously at the sixty year old in the corner,

“Is he an honourable man?”

There is a fact- Eagles always find a way

To look at their prey,

And attack at them taking their existence away

So is the mansion in the night,

When the eagle feasts upon his prey, and

The world sleeps till the next day.

In dark he is an eagle,

But in light he is an honourable man.

The shouts and screams of the prey are always unheard.

You know? She holds no degree,

But a sense of shame,

‘Shame’ that we impose upon her,

So she cages herself in silence.

Is she an “other”?

Oh no! She is

Not.

But He is an honourable Man.

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 2-Same

You said that I am ‘not changed’?
Ohh yeah! You are right.
It's just my eyes that have become habitual of not sleeping.
NO! not because I am sad or I cry all the night,
It's just that only this dark stood by them when no one else was there,
And now the bloodshot does no harm to this soul and gives no pain to these eyes.

You are right in saying that I am still the same.
But sometimes even I dive deep into the sea of the questions and wonder,
"Why does the whole of humanity ask me if I am fine?"
As there is a perfect layer that I carry on my whole body that conceal the real...
Yeah- the layer that conceals my flaws…Yes my flaw... what else?

And yes the Heart!
It is perfectly the same as it always was.
It beats, it has blood,
It's doing its functions properly.
Only the Body is not in harmony,
It just can't feel the heart, the heartbeats.
Only the trap of body is numb.

You are right,

Thinking me as the same old me,

And I am

Not.

I look back at the ‘happy me’,

The joyous me, the real me, the alive me

(I miss my self…)

But yes I am the same (the dead me)

Since the day you’ve left me.

But yes you are right you are right you are right

I am the same.
I am not changed, not even a bit.
I am totally fine.
Yes I am certainly.
I mean yes! I am fine...
May Be...

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4. Read Mark Doty's 'The Tremendous Fish' about the art of description in poetry . Choose any two objects in your field of vision. A window, a person, an animal, a tree, a knife, a vehicle etc.. Write two poems that rely primarily on describing these two objects respectively.

1-The Bottle

Since my childhood I am very fascinated

With a bottle that has left a great impact on my life.

It has warrior like qualities: ‘undefeatable’.

The glass as solid as an army,

The mere touch of it can soothe and threaten someone.

The shape is so dynamic,

Like a mountain touching the sky:

Larger than life.

When one sees it, it immediately grabs the attention of an individual.

The fumes that it excretes has the power,

To seduce a man,

Seduce at such extent that he could go crazy for it.

I’ve seen people going mad for this,

I’ve seen them standing in queues to have a glimpse of it.

It has that magic,

Its shine can make you blind.

The flawless curves of it have sometime made me question,

How a living being can be so trivial in front of a man-made thing?

I’ve realised its power,

It can become a novel’s character,

Protagonist though:

It deserves that much attention,

I guess even more.

The bottle just not seduces the man,

But it sucks his soul,

Makes him a hollow body,

Rid of any senses,

Rid of any emotion.

The bottle is a warrior,

It defeats each and everybody.

I have neither the soul to face it,

Nor the body to hold it,

Told you! It’s undefeatable.

I’ve seen its power; I’ve seen its addiction,

The bottle carries liquor

It has the power to destroy lives,

It has the power to destroy families,

It has the power to take away lives,

It destroyed mine,

It has the power it has the power it has the pow…..

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 2- Almighty spectacles

So, today I finally got it.

My anxiety has come to an end,

When I am finally feeling comfortable,

In the normal human world.

After three months or so,

I’ve found my lost spectacles.

Holding it in my hand gives me relief,

Now finally I can wear it and actually ‘see’ the world.

It fits on my face perfectly,

I missed its shape and colour and its shiny shield.

So, now when I’ve found it once again,

I feel protected and safe,

No laptop, no mobile, no T.V can now harm me,

My sweet little spectacle is there to arm me.

Its importance in my life is so very crucial,

Now I know its worth as I’ve been a blind for three months.

The crystal clear lens

is making me see things,

Without you my dear I found myself dumb.

I plead to you baby,

Never leave me alone,

Without your company I feel so dumb

I feel so dumb.

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