Personal touch: Aparna Sen

Joy Goswami represents that section of the Bengali middle class which looks up to Rabindranath Tagore as a shishya looks up to the guru. Only this May, Goswami wrote a passionate commentary of his personal reading of some of Tagore’s songs and poems in a Bengali magazine. Sikha Pal of Anubhav definitely had that article in mind while planning an evening juxtaposing the works of Tagore and Goswami at Rabindra Sadan (July 15). ‘Rabi-r Aloke Joy’, as the presentation was titled, should be regarded as a sincere attempt to analyse the way a poet assimilates his tradition in order to let his individual talent bloom.

A few months back, something similar was experienced at the CIMA art gallery. This time the scope was greater. In the beginning it sounded like a sensitive dramatisation of Goswami’s impressionistic prose which relates to the title poem of Sonar Tari and the song Amal dhabal pale legechhe as case-notes of his affinity with Tagore.

The ambit suddenly started spreading out, with Goswami reading out his popular poem Snan. I cannot explain why Snan was chosen for the occasion. Nor can I fathom why Goswami’s fascination with rain and nimbus clouds (Meghbalika in female personification) was linked with Tagore’s seasonal songs. Is this only because the indolent world of Goswami’s love poetry vibes with that of Tagore’s music? Lack of poetic finesse almost put me off. The presence of an all-female elocution team furthered the problem. A charming Sarmistha Goswami Chattopadhyay chirped along, often disturbing the poetic halo that surrounded the presentation.

Such wonderings were laid to rest with Aparna Sen giving vent to the treasure trove of abhimaan within Goswami’s oeuvre. Her interpretation of Sparsha, followed by Jayasree Dasgupta’s soul-stirring rendition of Aha tomar sange praner khela was the high point of the evening. Sen also rendered the popular Malatibala Balika Vidyalaya.

Her involvement with the poems notwithstanding, what impressed the reviewer most was her personal touch. No resort to melodrama, no rush of adrenalin; but a responsive and restrained reading of poems touching layers of women’s issues. Given her standard, Sen’s interpretation of Ma Nishad, Goswami’s prophetic response to Pokhran II, could have been better. A tour de force, this long poem is replete with allusions from medieval and modern Bengali literature. The title echoes the Valmiki myth. Sen fell short of justifying its curvilinear structure.

Overall, the performance was commendable throughout the evening. Rakhi Sarkar rendered most of the songs while Sikha Pal, Molly Debnath, Suparna Pal, Ishita Das Adhikari, Sucharita Bandyopadhyay, Antara Das and Medha Bandyopadhyay lived up to expectations as elocutionists. Ratna Mitra was sensitive as usual, so was Bijoylakshmi Burman in reading a dramatised excerpt from Jara Brishtite Bhijechhilo, Goswami’s not-so-successful attempt in novel writing.