- 4. KALAHANDI
-BY JAGANNATH PRASAD DAS
(DEGREE I YEAR OU SYLLABUS)
INTRODUCTION:
Jagannath prasad das (1936- ) is a well known poet, dramatist, writer and critic. He started his career as a member of IAS. He wrote poetries, short stories, plays, novel and poems for children. He was awarded the Saraswati Samman in 2006 for his collection of poems, Parikrama. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for his work, Je Jahar Nirjanata.
EXPLANATION:
The poet presents the pathetic picture of a poverty stricken village in India. The title of the poem “kalahandi” represents any place where poverty and drought are prevalent. Jagannath prasad is the poet of the poem. A doubt arises in the mind of the poet as to who is responsible for the deplorable condition. Each of us are partly responsible as we are part of the society.
Jagannath prasad’s poem “kalahandi” deals with the plight of poor people in India. Kalahandi represents a place which is subjected to poverty and neglect. It can be any place in India. No road map or means of transport is required to witness kalahandi. Wherever there is hunger and suffering there is kalahandi.
Kalahandi can be witnessed anywere in India where suffering and problems remains. Problems abound in this village. The villagers undergo untold hardships on account of poverty. They suffer from drought conditions. The people of the village tend to switch over to unlawful activities such as crime, prostitution and sell of children to escape from their financial difficulties and satiate their hunger.
Kalahandi signifies a neglected place. People of their village are deprived of basic amenities and food. Famine looms large there. We have a nightmarish appearance in the village. The hopelessness and suffering of people is beyond depiction.
The statements of the leaders, shedding crocodile tears ad exaggerated statistics of the measures undertaken to eradicate poverty are confined to paper. Our conscience pricks when we visualize such poverty stricken situation.
CONCLUSION:
In this poem Jagannath prasad is visualizing the drought conditions of the Indian villages. He states in the poem that though India is developing country, it is still starving for one time of food in remote places. The seeds of development is not reaching to the deprived and backward people.
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