𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟

 by Nasir Khan

 Indian academic Badri Raina's book 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 shows the poetic side of an imaginative and versatile poet, whose political articles and analyses mostly deal with Indian social and political developments which he witnessed since the horrid Partition of India in 1947, including the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir where he had his ancestral home. As a young boy, those events and the subsequent history of Kashmir seem to have deeply impacted him and shaped his outlook.

Those who have read his political articles know he has stood stoically for the marginalised, socially and politically suppressed ethnic communities and religious minorities in a country where the far-right revanchist forces gradually got the upper hand. Raina's work has been to defend the democratic norms of the Republic, and espouse the cause of the neglected and marginalised people. It is within this political and cultural context of the Indian subcontinent, that we can appraise his sympathies and concerns for many of his poems.

Most of his poems reflect a deep commitment to social and political causes, which he shares with many other social revolutionaries, reformers and humanists. His imagination is fertile and vivid and his vision unbound, always in tune with the realities that we all face. In his choice of words for the varying themes he writes about, he is direct and also appealing and persuasive.

In his poem, 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒, he touches our deep feelings as we witness what its people have faced for over a century, but are still resisting the oppressors. His two lines summarise volumes of what words can narrate:

No Atlas lifted a heavier load

than you, O Palestine!

Only a sensitive soul who knows the history and the alignment of dominant forces that control the present world order (or disorder) could have spoken in such a way. However, despite all the savagery and apathy of the ruling elites that people face globally, Raina remains true to his socialist outlook, by taking an optimistic view of the people’s struggles for freedom, equality, justice and humane values and their historical relevance.

This collection of poems in this beautifully produced paperback edition makes a substantial literary contribution for English-speaking readers to delve into. For all this, both Raina and the producer of the volume deserve our heartfelt thanks and admiration.

A brief personal note: Badri Raina and I were born in the same year and month in the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir! He is from Srinagar, while I am from Poonch, which is now in the Pakistani-held part of Kashmir. For over two decades, we have been close comrades and brothers.

Badri Raina's 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟: A Collection of Poems, is available on: Amazon USA and Amazon UK