“The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.” –In a Station of the Metro by Ezra Pound
As a student, teacher and poet, I think poetry is the best form of expression. They possess brevity and simplicity which manifest economy of language and precision of form, and say more in as few words as possible.
Imagism, the early twentieth century modernist movement, made an attempt to reduce poetry in both size and diction, and laid sole emphasis on fresh and raw idioms. This 14-word poem by Pound, considered to be the quintessential imagist poem by many, is Pound’s written equivalent for a moment of revelation and intense emotion. Nothing else could highlight the elegance and beauty of human life or its transitoriness better than this poem.[break]
Keshab Thokar
The setting is that of a station of the metro. It’s a place where millions of people come and go. Many board a train, some miss it; some are early while others are late. There couldn’t be a better place to depict the transitoriness of life. Similarly, there’s the notion of passengers boarding a train. This train is the perfect symbol that takes you into the “other world.” Who knows if somebody will even come back or not? Is it a one way ticket or is there a possibility for return as well?
Another striking word in the scenario is “apparition.” It has a ghostly connotation. Those that are here in one moment may not be around in the next. Life is just like that. The people are in this world for a precious few moments and after that period is over, just like the apparition in the crowds of a metro station, they board o a train and simply move on to another world, perhaps never to return.
Within these few lines, I think, the poet has beautifully summarized the transition from life to death and the transitoriness of our time here in this world.
About Subedi
Subedi, a lecturer of English at Tribhuwan University and Kanya Campus, remembers reading Naagraj and Baakelal comics along with Agatha Christie and other detective novels as a child. At the school in Baglung where he studied, all the hostellers like him would have round the clock access to library facilities.
Later, after he became a student of literature, many of the novels fell under his course of study. But with time and experience, his reading tastes began to change. Most of the books that he reads today are non-fiction works like those written on philosophy or religion. He also enjoys poetry. A poet himself with two published books namely “Six Strings” (a group anthology) and “Stars and Fireflies” (a solo anthology), to his credit, he sometimes wonders, “Why not write short poems instead of lengthy novels? Can’t ideas be contained within a few words and expressions?”
Subedi is also involved with the newsletter of Literary Association of Nepal (LAN) and the literary journal of Society for Nepali Writers in English (NWEN). An editor of “Ibson: Samaya ra Sandarva,” he is also an ardent part of Devkota Study and Research Center (DSRC).
Vipassana, Subedi believes, is the most practical and scientific form of meditation. Also a post graduate degree holder in Buddhism Studies, Subedi has done a research paper on “Kim,” “Siddhartha” and “Nietzsche, Nihilism and the Buddha.” Buddha, he says, may have been a common man but he had had the chance to gain self actualization and to embrace the Bodhisattva within himself. Buddha, according to him, was the highest form of poetry.
A teacher who’s at his happiest best when with his students, he cannot imagine himself being anywhere else. An individual who believes in the power of compassion, wisdom and devotion he says, “Who doesn’t have to die? Even the Gods do maybe after a thousand years. But truth lives on forever.”
Subedi’s five picks
The Buddha and His Teachings Narada
Narada, in this book, narrates the story of the Buddha’s life and explains the Buddhist philosophy in clear lucid prose with useful examples which makes it accessible for all. For me, this is probably the best book to understand Theravada Buddhism, or even Buddhism as a whole. The values in this book are also considered to be rather narrow and conservative. These are the rules that are usually followed by nuns and monks.
The Tibetan Book of Dead Bardo Thodrol
The book is supposed to guide a person during the bardo states, i.e. the intermediary states after death and before next rebirth. Composed by Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) in the 8th century, written down by his close disciple Yeshy Tsogyal and hidden in Tibet, it’s a terma text revealed by Karma Lingpa, a Tibetan terton, in the 12th century. The book provides a glimpse into the extent to which Buddhist metaphysics has developed, and that really stuns me.
The Lunatic and Other Poems Mahakavi Devkota.
I love this book for two reasons; first, obviously for Devkota’s amazing poetic sensibility, and second, for his pioneering attempt to make the rest of the world sit up and notice Nepali literature albeit through translations. It’s been more than half a century, and our efforts in that direction have come nowhere close to what Devkota did to uplift Nepali literature during those days.
Aatmabritanta BP Koirala.
Thoreau once said his own life would be the book that he would have written but unfortunately, he couldn’t both live and write it. I believe Koirala has done both. I love this book for several reasons. On the one hand, it’s an honest and insightful autobiography of a charismatic leader and a perceptive writer. But it’s also a story of a time and a country during its transition from feudalism to modernity.
Siddhartha Hermann Hesse
Set in the times when the Buddha lived, the novel deals with a character named Siddhartha whose search moves parallel to that of the Buddha. It makes the point that enlightenment is your personal quest, and you should carry it ahead all on your own. It says, following someone else’s footsteps, even though that someone might be the Buddha himself, may not altogether help you.
As told to Nitya Pandey
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