Soul’s Safari

Title: On a Journey Called Life
Publisher: Notion Press
Author: Ajit Wadhwa
Rs. 140.

While reading the latest anthology of poems ‘On A Journey Called Life ’ by Ajit Wadhwa, an eminent Indian poet writing in English, it will not be erroneous  to remark  that William Wordsworth  sounds absolutely correct when he writes in the ‘Preface to Lyrical Ballads’ that poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, recollected in peace and tranquility. These observations are justified as we come across  the element of splendiferous  spontaneity and sublimity which define this heart touching collection  of poetic pieces.
‘On Journey Called Life’ which is a supremely soothing compilation has eighty five poetic petals coloured in different hues. The book that is an artistic  cluster of myriad of human feelings  gives the readers deeply sensitive reflection of  the emotional outburst of the poet in which subtle emotions like love, companionship, complexity of life, mundane and metaphysical aspects have been quite elegantly and aesthetically  highlighted to enrich the poetic beauty of English poetry in general and Indian English poetry in particular to its utmost degrees.
Undoubtedly we are dwelling in a world where we have to witness several gory and ghastly episodes of heart rending bloodshed and mindless killings. The  society which we resides in contains a macabre spectacle of multiple massacres and brutal carnages but the pleasant poetic aroma Wadhwa’s poems such as  “ Love Forever” “ I Pray for our Togetherness” “ The Feelings” “ Who Loves for a gain” and so on  spread all around in society in such a way that the insidious impact of all pervasive brutality and gruesome voilence gets if not fully nullified but certainly mitigated to a greater degree.
Here, the poet must be applauded for he emerges as a harbinger of hope, love and peace, the noble virtues for which he attains the repute of an excellent literary genius without dispute.
The lyrical luminosity,the proverbial pigments,racy style of versification,lucid expression,selection of apt words  and ,above all, the skillful usage of various scintillating  figures of speech make him fully conspicuous and stand apart as a Mighty Ocean of Poetic Elixir.
But there is a deeper and subtle shift which we witness in the poetic and philosophical thought process of the poet. He shoots a question about life to the readers and wants them to contemplate over the real purpose of human birth.  The time tested wisdom enshrined in our scriptures exhorts us that it is a privilege to be born as human.
After going through the vicious cycle of eighty-four lakh births, a soul is finally blessed to step into a human body by the medium of which human soul can be liberated from these clutches of life the otherwise endless cycle of life and death. The author himself writes that human soul is a bundle of energy and this energy is just a small part of the source that is steering this universe. Therefore, the best piece of advice the poet proffers to the readers is the evolution of soul. Human soul, the poet opines, evolves after rigorous grinding in this highly materialistic world of transitory nature. Whichever metaphysical regions the soul travels through after leaving this perishable body, the soul must be such an energy which is full of positivity and divine radiance. This is rather the chief message of paramount importance which the poet is striving to impart to his readers through this magnum opus work of profoundly sensitive poetic nuggets.  A must read for all those who are somewhere haunted with the existential issues.