Did you read the poem Amalkanti? Reading
poems had never been in my blood before. Yet this poem somehow changed my
taste. It was only when my English teacher explained; I understood it somehow –
but from a different angle.
The poem goes like this:
Amalkanti is a friend of mine,
we were together at school,
He often came late to class,
and never knew his lessons...
-Nirendranath Chakrabarti
I am reading this poem once more. Now I feel
it can be explained from yet another perspective. But doesn’t mean I am trying
to oppose its interpretation given by my teacher.
The dream of becoming sunlight is hard to
explain. If we relate it with the features of real sunlight, the dream can be
considered different – that will bring abilities to see and realize in people.
Sunlight had always received high regards in mythologies, parables and folk
tales. So when Amalkanti’s dream was to become sunlight, it must be to do
something different; something that will keep the humanity lit.
But this dream appears almost impossible to achieve. So Amalkanti should have
worked hard enough to fulfill it. However looking into how his friend (poet)
describes him, he seems to have never worked on it.
Therefore in the last stanza, the poet says they (except Amalkanti) have more
or less achieved the dreams. He also says one who is a teacher could have
easily become a doctor or a lawyer. But Amalkanti who wanted to become sunlight
didn’t become sunlight. Instead he landed in a poorly lit room to work with a
printer.
So Amalkanti was portrayed as a lazy man who crazily dreamed high but hasn’t
worked hard. This is also how I understood that time. I took him as a loser. It
indeed taught us to have just reasonable dreams and then to work accordingly to
have them achieved.
But today I feel that Amalkanti should have never been treated only that way.
In the first place, he doesn’t appear destined to be either teacher or doctor
or lawyer. He has more. When asked to conjugate a verb (must be from the lesson
he missed), Amalkanti neither asked his nearby friends nor flipped the book.
Instead he looked far out of windows for the answers. This shows Amalkanti
actually thought out of box. He wanted so much to be different – walk out of
the road trodden by all.
When all his friends got more or less what they wanted, Amalkanti was with a
printer. He must have become writer or publisher. This means he has indeed
achieved the dream. His friends have failed to look his success well. What we
can relate with real sunlight than a writer or publisher who enlightens public
on various subjects?
The room he works may be poorly lit, yet it
seems he isn’t bothered. He didn’t become as society wanted him to be. He
became different. He followed his heart. At last it’s only Amalkanti who visits
the poet often to talk on various topics over a cup of tea. Friends who have
become teacher or doctor or lawyer are nowhere. This shows the power of
writers, publishers and print media.
I think Amalkanti is an
allegorical poem (please let me know if there is such kind of poem). And
Amalkanti shouldn’t be looked as a person who crazily dreamed high and never
worked well for it. He is indeed a person who had dared break social walls in
becoming what he is best at or destined in rather than where society wants him
to be. After all, no matter what people have to say, getting what one loves can
be success.
Therefore, I think it can be indeed wrong to say that Amalkanti isn't a successful student. Do you think I am wrong? Can it be interpreted another way? Please leave your views as
comments. I would love to hear different views.
No. you are not wrong to assert that because everyone will have different dreams and aspirations. It is not obligatory to have the same ambitions. Besides, one cannot foresee one's destiny. Nice one brother. It has made me imagine myself studying in class ix.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your support. But it's just my view. I might be wrong just because I am not a poetry professional. You also might be wronged for supporting wrong view. Yet thank you!
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