Publisher's Synopsis
'The Romanticism of a Dreamer' is a long poem by Saumitra.
If we think of long-poems, Nirala's 'Ram ki Shaktipuja', Trilochan's 'Nagai Mehra', Muktibodh's' Andhere Mein', 'Patkatha' by Dhumil, and 'Lukman Ali' by Saumitra Mohan at once spring to mind. You may also find long-poems by Vishnu Khare, Leeladhar Jagudi, Chandrakant Devtale, Man Bahadur Singh and Bhagwat Rawat, but any search for the genre after them leaves you empty handed.
The present poem by Saumitra may be taken as the next page of the Hindi poetic tradition. Entering the core of the poem one feels the poet's anxiety about the present. And what exactly is that concern? Racial violence, estrangement, loss of freedom, pillage, genocide, bloodshed in name of religion, struggle for dominance-- these are the burning issues that have not only taken hold of today's India, but the entire world. These are the flames devouring natural human values like freedom, love and sympathy. Saumitra is a dreamer, who has nothing to lose but a world to gain-- who yearns for peace, tranquillity and freedom for the entire humanity. He gives form to the contemporary tragedy through miniature images and pictures. The truth of today's life is not presented here through some romantic perspective, but rather through that eye for a reality in which sages like Abraham Lincoln, John Hus and Mahatma Gandhi had to lay down their lives for the sake of freedom, love and unity.
This poem written in simple, straightforward diction, presents the blood-smeared history of human cruelty, in backdrop of which, despite hopelessness, there is yet enough sparkle of hope to make man stand up again. Actually it's the quality of our native tradition which has been conveyed through a unique mode of expression.
When Marium, Lincoln and Gandhi get metamorphosed into the persona of the poet, it exemplifies his life-association:
"Halt friend
Stay put
Come!
Exchange your ideas
With me
For humanity's sake--"
This transfer of ideas has the power to connect man with man. Saumitra in reality, is a poet with a desire-- a pleader for the entire humanity. With a dream for a society in which man may breathe in his natural form.
This long-poem is the living image of that dream.
- Hari Bhatnagar
