About the Author: The poet was born and brought up in a Hindu family and later he went abroad. So his self was formed with the host of incidents from the past or the memories of a life to which he belonged at his past. In fact while the Indian or Hindu milieu constitutes the `inner’ substance of Ramanuan’s poetry! the western milieu shapes the `outer’ substance and these two coe"ist in his poems. All #uropean artists used to draw their self portraits. $nce the poet’s portrait was drawn by his father. The poet on his way watches his self%portrait through a shop%window. &ut his portrait seems stranger to himself. He cannot recogni'e his own portrait. Here the poet is suffering from identity crisis of his own%self. In fact it `illustrates modern man’s concern with the self and pro(ides the matri" within which self becomes rele(ant’ In the modern world it is easy to resemble e(eryone but oneself. The portrait portrait reminds him the memory of his past! his family genealogy which he ga(e away when came to abroad. This is the other part of his e"istence) the past or his root. The poet here reminds that the stranger o(er there is essentially someone who belongs to a particular family. Here his self is somewhere fragmented. A sense of e"ile comes to his mind. He becomes alienated from his own self. This is a *ind of modern alienation where a man is constantly falling into obli(ion) he cannot resemble his own self from where he came. Surprisingly the portrait is though still signed but not dated. Here the time is diluted) there is no boundary of time in his own self. The present and the past coming together in his mind and try to ma*e sense of it. Two points of (iew are offered in this poem about the identity crisis depicted in the poem about the identity crisis depicted in the poem. &ruce +ing states that in a series of parado"es! resemblance is found to be influenced by situation and the *ind of mirror or perspecti(e in which a person is seen. Here the modern alienation effect is reflected (i(idly when the identity he sees mirrored is that of stranger . &ut if we loo* at another point! he is determined by his father or his sub%conscious mind is somewhere rooted in his own genealogy. genea logy. His identity is reflected through his portrait by the rules of optics! suggesting his muddled identity! although `often signed in a corner’ by his father. `Instead of the traditional artist painting his own portrait in a mirror! we ha(e a cubist (iew of the self as fractured and belonging to different eras’,&ruce +ing+ing-.. Rama Ramanu nua an’ n’ss self self seem seemss temp tempor orar ary y to hims himsel elff as temp tempor orary ary is his his port portra rait it as he `sometimes see’ himself in the shop windows. The whole poem is about the e"istential crisis which is a *ind of predicament. aendra +umar feels that the core of the essential self of the poet persona in the poetry of Ramanuan ``remains as an intuiti(e world! but this is amended amende d by changed circumstances and decisions. The essential self de(elops! changes! it grows from the seeds in the past towards a future which while un*nowable is already being formed’’. formed’’. So the poet po et in the the poem poem is neit neithe herr a nosta nostalg lgic ic tradi traditi tiona onali list st nor an ad(oc ad(ocat atee of moder moderni ni'at 'atio ion n and westerni'ation. He is a product of both and his poem reflect the personality conscious of change! enoying its (itality! contradictions but also aware of the past! the memories which formed his inner self! memories of an unconscious namelessness which are still ali(e. In this poem past and present are mingled together through the poet’s ourney of life not surpassing each other which is a cultural adustment between `/est’ and `#ast’ which is a maor *ind of adustment. He was a uni0ue writer who wrote poetry poetr y in three languages: #nglish! Tamil Tamil and +annada. Translation was his forte. He was attention to Indian literature through his numerous translations and creati(e writing in #nglish all o(er the world. The double impulse of being an e"patriate writer! who had
to satisfy the nati(es of both the countries of birth and domicile! seemed to ha(e wor*ed upon him. He states: 1#nglish and my disciplines ,linguistics and anthropology- gi(e me my 2$uter forms3 linguistic! metrical! logical and other such ways of shaping e"perience! and my first thirty years in India! my fre0uent (isits and field%trips! my personal and professional pre occupations with +annada! Tamil! the classics and fol*lore gi(e me my substance! my 1Inner3 forms! images and symbols. They are continuous with each other! and I no longer can tell what comes from where3. Ramanuan published four (olumes of poetry. The striders ,4566-! Relations ,4574-! Selected 8oems ,4576- and second Sight ,4596-. In his poetry there is an encounter of past and present! of the #ast and the /est. 8oem after poem! he goes bac* to his childhood memories and e"periences of life in India. In his poetry one may discern a /estern trained intellectual man who loo*s at oriental things with a detached interest. ost of the poems of Ramanuan ha(e their origin in recollected personal emotion! and hence! family becomes the main focus of his poetry. They deal with the family life in an ironic tone. His poetry re(eals how an Indian poet in #nglish deri(es his health from going bac* to his roots%childhood memories. $ne has to agree with 8arthasarathy who rightly obser(es: 1The family for Ramanuan! is in fact! one of the central metaphors with which he thin*s.3 is fastidiousness as an artist accounts for the thinness of his poetic output. He is also modern in the use of collo0uial and con(ersational style. In most of his poems! he tries to assimilate the nati(e tradition into #nglish language for the benefit of the foreigners. ;or instance in the poem 1A Ri(er 3 he uses the word 2diapers’which means nap*ins in America for the sa*e of his American readers. He has won the admiration of all his contemporaries and peers li*e
ayanta ahapatra. Ho(ering between the land of his birth and the country of his wor* and domicile! Ramanuan accepts both and does not abandon one for the other. His poetry is Indian in sensibility and content but #nglish in language. It is strongly rooted in and stems from the Indian
4? The Striders The Striders And search ;or certain thin @@ Stemmed! bubble% eyed water bugs. See them perch $n dry capillary legs /eightless $n the ripple s*in $f a stream
are also li*es the bubbles! (ery much short li(ed. Those come and go. The poet refers to human ideas perching on 2Bapillary legs’. The poet may be referring to the force of globali'ation! through the 2ripple s*in of a stream’. Again! at first reading the poem seems to be written on the line of Imagist ideals. After the e"cellent narration of the aterbug in scanty language! the poems seems to gain momentum of meaning.;or some critics! CStream3 is the symbol of Dni(ersal change and of time! what is a (ery common idea in Indian philosophy. /aterbug is a symbol of permanence. &oth the symbols refer to the myth of &ishnu! what is again an Indian od. The &ishnu is a constant in a world of flu". The second stan'a also refers to Indian tradition. The poet lin*s the ancient time to the present time. The depth and the potentiality of the insect is heightened by the poet through the reference to the ancient prophets! who with their energy! accumulated through yoga! used to wal* e(en on water without being sun*. It creates an impression of the fact that the poet might be spea*ing about power of human being!’ who sits on a landslide of light’! means he is e(en capable of going deep into the mystery of light or uni(erse. It has a touch of irony at the same time . /ith the growth and de(elopment of science a nd technology ! moral strength of human being has not increased . It has rather gone down . Hence 2the strider’ is not ust a strange insect. Through it ! the poet refers to the human% being! who is (ery powerful in e(ery respect. Human%being has not only con0uered light! but also the s*y. ;or the poet the high sense of ad(enture of human being is (ery significant. The poet ne(er forgets the unbelie(able power of the yoga and the yogis! which is part of Indian life and tradition from the Eedic days. &ut in present conte"t the same yogic power has decline. 2Strider’ is the
has remained the same until his death in 455G. As the only Indian #nglish poet occupying a place in The
land manifest the prophetic dimension of their e"istence. /hat is (indicated through such an amphibious e"istence is not the desire for essential inner identity! but the myriad of potential identities irrespecti(e to any definite belonging and primordial identity. In the domain of diaspora! both the processes of thwarting nati(e identity and of creating new identities operate as two o(erwhelming forces of moti(ating identity politics in Ramanuan’s poetry. A diaspora disco(ers both the arts of negotiation and appropriation out of that reciprocal tension between the two forces and thereby ma*es the threshold a highly producti(e and ambi(alent space for creation. 4?. Sol(ed Juestions and Answers: /hat is the basic theme of this poemF The Striders3 is one of the finest poems by the poet which opens a scope for a deconstructi(e analysis in relation to the poets of Indian sensibilities. How is the feeling of diaspora brought about in the poemF The poem itself is written with diasporic feeling in the mind of the writer. the processes of thwarting nati(e identity and of creating new identities operate as two o(erwhelming forces of moti(ating identity politics in Ramanuan’s poetry. A diaspora disco(ers both the arts of negotiation and appropriation out of that reciprocal tension between the two forces and thereby ma*es the threshold a highly producti(e and ambi(alent space for creation. /hat is missing in the poemF Ramanuan’s poetry is often deferred by his ironic posture! which! in turn! forms a stipulated discourse of diasporic e"istence in the introspecti(e le(el of his poetry. How ha(e the themes incorporated in this poemF Ramanuan’s poetry often ha(e incorporated (ariety of the mes and moods ranging from the notion of root to routes! past to present! truth and absurdities of religious faith to (iews of modern science or from urge for belongingness to the notion of uncertainty of identity. How does Striders portray Indian traditionF The poem refers to Indian tradition when the poet lin*s the ancient time to the present time. The depth and the potentiality of the insect is heightened by the poet through the reference to the ancient prophets! who with their energy! accumulated through yoga! used to wal* e(en on water without being sun*. It creates an impression of the fact that the poet might be spea*ing about power of human being!’ who sits on a landslide of light’! means he is e(en capable of going deep into the mystery of light or uni(erse.
