Joie De Vivre by Hema Ravi, ISBN 978-93-341-2624-2 INDRs. 250.00 US$12.00

Hema Ravi’s Splendid Collection of Poems

Hema Ravi is an excellent poet, short story writer, critic and editor. A versatile author, she has won various prizes, awards and accolades . Hema Ravi is the Secretary of Chennai Poets’ Circle, a prime source of inspiration for the lovers of poetry the world over. She edits its annual anthology, Efflorescence, which not only features the established poets but also encourages and inspires the young and budding talent.

Joie De Vivre is Hema’s first full-length collection of poems, and a very promising one at that. These poems amply reveal she has a sublime poetic fervour and zeal. Her sensitivity as a poet is marvellous and is reflected through every word and line she uses. Spontaneity and lyricism overflow here which enrapture your heart and excite your imagination. Her experimentation with various forms of poetry, use of the poetic devices, the structured verse with rhythm and rhyme, they embellish her poems and lend glow and gleam to them.

The title of the book is very interesting and exciting. Joie De Vivre is a French word which means ‘keen or buoyant enjoyment of life’. In brief, it is the ‘joy of living’ that the poems in this collection wish to impart. The title itself proves that Hema radiates positive energy through her poems and wants her readers to imbibe the virtues of Joie De Vivre. It is happiness she intends sharing with the world through her joyful and pleasing poems. They are bound to give your hearts the thrills you always crave but rarely experience.

The beautiful and vivid photographs, chosen with care, inserted and clipped with certain poems evoke the feel of those poems magnificently and reveal the artistic effulgence and insight of the poet.

‘Call of the Sea’ (1), the opening poem in the first section of the collection, Spectacular Sights, presents a captivating picture of the sea where the ‘waves are dancing with joy’. It is the sea which is inviting and urging the ‘fisher folk to come along / To cast their nets into the depths.’ The entire picture paints happiness in which the sea, Nature and the fisher folk are participating and enjoying. The poet has very skillfully used the rhyme scheme in the poem that it turns into a symphony which gives the impression that Nature herself is singing for the fisher folk.

‘Cloudburst’ (2) paints a fascinating picture of the torrential rain and the consequent deluge. The picture-perfect of the poem reminds us of one of the greatest poets, John Keats, who is universally known for the pictorial quality of his poetry. Phrases like ‘winged companions’ and ‘feathery jackets’ magically enhance the beauty of the poem and raise its pictorial quality to a very high level.

Besides presenting the enchanting picture of the darkish dawn, Dark is Beautiful’ (3) is outstanding in its rhyme scheme, particularly the last two-line stanza, which lends it the musical charm.

‘Joy at Daybreak’ (6) is an experiment with the repetition of the rhymed lines and is highly successful in conveying the intended meaning. Nature and modern  gadgets intermingle in the poem to present the world we live in. ‘Waking at daybreak reminds / of mundane tasks, twittering of birds’ while ‘Insights into the self, devoid of gadgets, offers sound sleep.’ The poet refers to the modern reality where ‘Broken hearts and homes, drowned in tears’ are a common sight. Even the twittering of birds is a ‘transient sound(s) at daybreak; / the joy of twittering birds in homes…’ The joy at daybreak is thus not an unalloyed feeling of happiness. The poet here should be complimented for weaving a beautiful picture of joy and sadness going together.

‘Save the Hedgehogs’ (8) bemoans the painful fact that the ‘climate change has affected mammal ecology / Hedgehogs in widespread habitats are declining’. The sensitive poet fears that very soon the species will be extinct. She , therefore, pleads:

Let’s save these creatures before they become extinct
Let’s be free from superstitious beliefs and killer instinct(s).

The beauty of the ‘Snow-capped Peaks’ (9) thrills the poet, and she gets lost in the mystical throbbing when she asks: ‘O white-robed tranquil beauty / Are you a deity in disguise?’ She can’t resist her imagination to ask what ‘secrets lie concealed beneath those glaciers of ice?’ Like any urbanized, sensitive individual, the hills, particularly snow-capped peaks, hold a special aura for the poet and her imagination takes flights to the mysterious heights. But she is pained to find urban jungles in the hills and valleys, and warns:

Unbridled growth in your environs
does not augur well!
In vain, let him attempt to put away the dark.
Ne’er allow egotistic Man to rule over you…to quell – (9)

Wayanad is fresh in our minds. Unmindful urbanization and commercialization destroys the pristine beauty of the hills.

‘Sparrow Speak’ is a moving poem where the sparrow praises the poor who feel for them, love them and provide them with grain which they can hardly afford. On the other hand, she laments, the rich are callous and do not care for their species, and asks:

Rational thinkers, do you care for our species?
Then, provide us with niche when you create mansions.
We care not for broken promises or treaties
Remember, you are responsible for your actions. – (11)

The last line is a stern warning to the human race: If you don’t act responsibly to save the ecological balance, you will suffer. Look, what has happened in Los Angeles?

Nature, beautiful, bare, bewitching, that is what you see in poems like ‘Tree-fresh Mangoes’ (17) and ‘Tryst with Birds’ (18) and fly with the poet to the places she describes so authentically. Wordsworth would be pleased to read these poems.

With flapping wings and the joyous caw! Caw!
Blissful are they in the trees green and dense
Ay me! There’s the wood chopper with the saw
What’ll happen next? – (20)

The poet, in great pain and agony, asks this question: What’ll happen next? In fact she is asking this question on behalf of the entire humanity. Man is suffering because of this mindless act of the woodchopper who appears in various shapes and destroys the ecological balance. The result is there for everyone to see: Los Angeles is burning, Spain is in floods, glaciers are melting in Iceland and the Himalayas, pollution is making life unlivable in Delhi and other metros in India, and people are dying in the landslides in Wayanad. What’ll happens next? The earth will revolt and…

The second section of the book, Binding Associations, speaks the language of the heart, emotions flowing all over, intimate feelings of those you have lived with. ‘Amma’s Blessing’ (25) presents a lovely picture of ‘Amma’ who has devoted all her life to raise the family and inspired everyone to try, ‘try, try again’. Yes, Ma is really ‘amazing’.

‘Home, Sweet Home’ (33) will remind the reader of his own childhood home which will fill him with nostalgia. Urbanisation has uprooted most of the people, in search of education and jobs. Those who are lucky to go back to the place of their ‘childhood pleasures’ realize that ‘this land had been a source of inspiration’ and also ‘treasures all the wealth’.

‘It’s a beggar’s life’ (35) is a very moving poem of how a beggar woman has lived the life of a beggar with total acceptance and resignation: ‘Rain or shine, nowhere to go / It’s a beggar’s life, you know, this is me!’

What an interesting fight between tea and coffee in ‘Kaapi’ or ‘Chai’! (36) The poet’s sense of humour makes you smile, and then laugh heartily.

‘Santa’s Watching’ ( 42 ) has a universal message that not only X-mas but every festival should impart:

Care, coupled with concern
and cooperation is the magical key
to reach out to troubled hearts. – (42)

‘You must share’ your opulence with the not-so- well off, and show compassion to the suffering souls, that is the spirit of the festivals we should imbibe, and inculcate right from childhood.

When they get old, their possessions too dwindle. Still their love for a few things that are so precious to them cannot be measured by the younger people. The trunk of the grandma here in this moving poem, ‘The Ubiquitous Box’ (47), becomes an integral part of the personality of the grandmother. The trunk in fact evokes her feelings whenever there is a need to carry it from one place to the other while for other members of the family it is a useless burden, ultimately sold to the ‘kabadiwallah’. Everybody thinks the trunk is outdated like the grandmother herself. So painful!

‘Unsung Heroes’ (51) is a tribute to the construction workers who toil day and night and create architectural wonders and then, after the building is completed, they depart. That is the scene you witness everyday in the cities:

The hands that toiled, the bodies that
slumped, slouched, slogged, strived
to create the marvel
working night and day
through rain and shine
They remain—Unsung Heroes! – (51)

While the architect gets all the credit, nobody even thinks of them—they might be sleeping on the pavement even after completing tens of buildings.

Love is a very intense feeling, and if you really love someone, even death cannot separate you. He would always be with you whenever you think of him. ‘You Visited Me Again’ (53) is a very touching poem where she imagines her ‘Appa’ – (father) to be with her for the night. It then becomes a night of her nostalgia, the love and care that he had always showered on her. She shares her night with her father and you share her emotive flow.

‘For a purpose, you have gained this form’, the poet vehemently asks you in ‘Echoes Within’ (57) not to ‘raise such a storm’ and ‘learn to embrace life as a guest’ when you have ‘obtained adequate nourishment’ from Nature. Instead of always cribbing and complaining, the poet advises: ‘Carve your own path, let no one mar; / face all challenges, not fight shy.’ A great lesson in positivity.

‘H 2’ (61), a beautiful didactic poem, cajoles you not to be depressed and dejected by any defeat:

Temporarily it is a defeat
Dust off the dirt, go upbeat
Never give up, march on with stride
Swallow hard, endure with pride.

Like every sensitive poet, Hema too is pained to see how love, the mainstay of human relations, rather existence, has deserted the human race. She bemoans, in her poem, ‘Let Love Reign’ – (67)

When narcissistic ego stands tall,
in the tortured world, heed the call,
take time to examine new tracts,
Love’s gone away from people’s hearts. – (67)

‘Nothing But the Truth’ (70-71) reflects the intensity of both pain and ecstasy of the poet through her experiences in the world. The poet must speak the truth. In fact he becomes the mirror which reflects the true face of the world, good and bad both:

the poet’s sympathetic heart mirrors
sights that are joyous, disgusting,
exciting, enticing, awe-inspiring or horrific
with the awareness that kaleidoscopic
changes go on and on… – (71)

‘Peace of Mind’ (75) has a great lesson for everyone who makes hasty judgements and arrives at misplaced conclusions. If we inculcate the virtue of patience, most of our problems would automatically vanish with the passage of time. Hema narrates an anecdote from Buddha’s life where he advises his disciple:

Buddha remarked—Mind is similar.
When disturbed, let it be.
Let it settle down—
Peace of mind effortless task. – (75)

‘Be Me’ (81), a beautiful, short lyric conveys a very powerful message: ‘Well, what do I like to do? / To be ME, do what I choose to’. If man can make the right choice of doing what he wants to do, he must be the happiest person. Do not lose yourself in what others want you to be or do, or you would be lost forever. Just be yourself.

‘Beauty—Woman’s Folly???’ (82) expresses the agony and anguish of an ‘acid-burn survivor, scarred for life!’ While she suffers with her ‘loathsome face, a Medusa’s head’ and everybody shrinks from her for no fault of hers, she is pained to find that there is none who should speak for her and punish the criminal for such an unjust crime. The callousness of the society is simply unbearable.

‘Road less taken is my choice / Things fell in place’, the concluding lines of the poem, ‘Crossroads’ (84), is the solution for a girl who is being forced into marriage by her parents while she wants to pursue higher studies. Be bold and take the road ‘less taken’ and things would fall in place, certainly. Do not surrender to the easy way—most of us do that. Man never evolves. The poem reminds us of Robert Frost’s famous poem, ‘Road Not Taken’.

In ‘Destroying Wombs’ (85) the poet is anguished to find endless atrocities against woman—‘Eve-teasing, terrorist attacks, rape and more’ while chauvinists roam free. Shame on the society which abuses maternity, the source of creation and ‘continuity of species / with a desire and expectation.’

‘Individual’s Ideals’ (96-7) or the generation gap! This beautiful poem expounds the age-old idea that the ideals of one generation seem to the next as dogmas and outdated concerns. The poet here takes her mother, herself and her daughter, representing three generations, and realizes: ‘History repeats!’ The concluding line gives the workable dictum: ‘Accepting change—the singular roadmap’. We must change with the time, and if we cannot, we should at least learn to accept.

‘Temporal End’ ( 110 ) asks man who has, in this temporal journey, been ignorant and vain, cunning and manipulative, playing the blame-game in his different phases of life to

Lend an ear to the swan song!
We remain mere pawns in the hands of time
Got to exit this world without a dime
Acceptance of life as it comes is fine
No rhetoric this parting word of mine. – (110)

‘With Folded Hands’ (112-13) is a magnificent poem, its different stanzas expounding various roles that woman plays in her life. Her ‘passionate hands / embodiment of energy’ expressing tenacity, her dainty hands embracing and offering solace, her sturdy hands keeping the ‘kitchen fires burning’, her tending hands rushing to comfort wounded hearts, her soothing hands nursing the sick, her little hands holding the family together, and lastly, her

Two frail hands
worn and withered
collapsed having served—
epitome of simplicity and virtue. – (113)

That is the woman who stands ‘before you with folded hands’. The poet’s picture is so moving that you wish to bow before such a creator, healer and protector.

Woman who loves and binds the home pleads and prays for her safety, security and freedom in her next poem, ‘Woman—It’s Your Day’ (114). Unfortunately she has to wish and pray for those things that any human being should have an inalienable right to.

Life’s Greatest Spark…, the last section of the collection inspires the reader to achieve his goals despite all the roadblocks, never to look back, be ready always for the ‘course correction /to be socially distanced, yet connected / To live one must let live!’ ( Cul de sac???, 119)

In ‘Existential Certainties’ (125) the poet concludes the joy of life with the advice of a sage:

Let evolution be continual
Sorrows and delights have their own timing.
Let not life be reduced to ritual
Beyond gloom, there is a silver lining! – (125)

You are reminded of Shelley’s famous line: If winter comes, can spring be far behind?

‘Goal Ahead’ (127) calls upon the reader to learn to adapt to the changing situation: ‘ As the seasons change, change your mind / Life’s treasures are for you to find.’

Who doesn’t know the destructive power of GREED? And yet almost every human being is a victim of this malicious instinct. In greed we lose our balance and lust for more, still more. ‘Obscure thought’ (134), through the legend of ‘The Seven Jars of Gold’, implores man never to crave for more than the normal need and lose his peace of mind. Tolstoy’s story, ‘How Much Land does a Man Need?’ should remain the guiding light whenever man is faced with a tempting proposition.

Hema has experimented with certain poetic forms and styles. ‘ Reverse Poem’ is a unique poem which you can read both ways—top to bottom or bottom to the top. The two readings will give opposite meanings. Strange, but true. Wonderful too.

The things I want are around
I wonder where they have been all along
In the humdrum of life, a hidden song?

That is the irony of life. All those things of significance which would make your life happy are always around, close to you, lie in your inner self while you go on searching for them in the remotest corners. Explore within, advises the poet in her beautiful lyric, ‘The Things I Want’ (138).

Let all the readers join the poet in her prayer for the entire world in her concluding poem, ‘Unalloyed Joy’:

Let the first rays of sunshine penetrate
into dark homes and minds
Let not hope and optimism dwindle, – (142)

Fresh, fragrant breeze blows through these lovely poems, their music echoing all around. Their vibes will certainly touch the chords of the readers, and will continue resonating in their souls long after they have put the book on the shelf.