Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? The poem I am discussing today is titled ‘Ashtavakra’. I wrote this poem in 2010. That morning I had read about a movement in the Kasaragod district of Kerala protesting against the use of the pesticide Endosulfan in cashew plantations, its effects on all living things in the area and the demand for compensation for those affected. I looked up the issue on the net and was aghast at the images that came up. Of humans, animals, plants, all living forms that were affected by the indiscriminate use of Endosulfan. The images haunted me and the poem just came into being as I worked in my kitchen that morning.
As I started writing I was struck by the similarity of Ashtavakra, a sage in Hinduism. As the story goes he was affected while in his mother’s womb by the shlokas/metric verse recited by his father. There are different versions of the story. One says the incorrect recitation caused agony to the unborn child who was a wise soul making him twist in the womb leading to crooks in his body. Another version says that the unborn child corrected his father who feeling insulted cursed him to be born so. Anyway he was born with eight crooks/bents. And later in life he rescues his father and is blessed by him. That is the element that I interwove with the current scenario. I felt the children like Ashtavakra are innocent and yet are made to suffer for the follies of the elders.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtavakra
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I was in my kitchen. It was around seven or eight in the morning. The sun was streaming in through the window as it faces east. A light breeze came in. I was cooking. Mornings are the busiest time of the day. I had to get breakfast ready for my children and send them to school. Then get lunch ready. Do the washing up, get ready and go to office. I find that, much of my writing comes when I am terribly busy. I used to keep a paper and pen on the oven to jot down ideas. (However a few years ago I switched to using ‘Notes’ on my phone.) So the poem was born. I scribbled on this paper and added lines one after another.
What month and year did you start writing this poem? I wrote this on December 1, 2010. I rewrote it a couple of times, before it reached the final form. Actually I pared it down as I felt some lines were superfluous.
How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? (And can you share a photograph of your rough drafts with pen markings on it?) I think I made 3 or 4 drafts. I am not an organised person. More of a hoarder. And it is good that you asked. I managed to dig up 3 drafts. The original is the messiest one, I guess. It is dated 01/12/2010. I used to initial and write the date when a poem was born. I haven’t written any dates on the other two because those were drafts. I am sharing the first draft which as you can see is pretty messy.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? Actually there were lots of lines which I excluded in the final version. Sharing some of them below:
/What did we do to deserve this?
Will someone answer me/
/Tears well in
their eyes when they see me,
their shattered mortal
immortality.
Bulging eyes
Twisted limbs/
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? Sometimes we do things out of ignorance. Like the initial spraying of the Endosulfan was done with the intent of destroying pests and increasing the yield. But to continue the use of the same in spite of knowing the ill effects including the genetic ones on humans and animals is arrogance and greed. There’s a difference between the two. Multinational companies and governments both have a responsibility and should be answerable to the people first. Compensation for the damage inflicted should be given to the victims without any delay or dragging of feet.
I want this poem to make the reader realise the danger, the tragedy of using pesticides like Endosulfan or for that matter any chemical. Our first priority as a species is to ourselves and to the earth we inhabit. Of what use is development if we have failed miserably in protecting our fellow beings. What use is it if we cause harm to ourselves and this earth! Wealth is important but not at the cost of lives. That is why I have written this in first person. The reader will identify with the affected.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? The beginning, the middle and the end. The poem in its entirety. I remember seeing the images of the children, of calves suffering from mutations and the poem just came out as a cry of pain. I called my father and read it to him over the phone. He was silent for a minute when I finished. I asked him what the matter was. Whether he didn’t like it. He replied that he suddenly felt afraid. It moved him totally. The way the images did for me. I want this poem to do that to anyone who reads it.
Has this poem been published before? And if so where? Yes. It was originally published in the Brian Wrixon anthology Words on the Winds of Change in 2012. I had sent it without any notes.
https://www.blurb.com/b/3060710-words-on-the-winds-of-change
Later it was published online where it was selected as the Poem of the Month for April 2015. This time I added the notes. Here is the link to it:
I brought out my poetry collection in 2017 and titled it after this poem. My book ‘Ashtavakra and Other Poems’ published by Authorspress, New Delhi is available on Amazon.
All Backstory of the Poem LIVE LINKS can be found at the very end of the below feature:
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2021/02/will-justice-drakes-intercession-is-251.html
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