Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "multicultural-poet"

"Inert objects look good on the mantelpiece. That’s about all. They have no other role under the sun. Don’t be a showpiece on the mantelpiece my friend – be a mental piece, and blow your top every time you witness an injustice taking place, and do whatever is necessary to restrain the wrong."

“Mental Piece (The Sonnet)

In the west you call me humanitarian scientist,
Somewhere in the middle you call me pragmatist.
In the middle-east you call me sufi or dervish,
In the east you call me advaitin or nondualist.
No matter how you see me, you all are my own,
Each of you is family, each of you is my home.
Then there are those who ardently call me fraud,
Which also is a sign of love, but yet unknown.
I am not a person, prison or path, for I am vicdan,
I’m saadet, my friend, I am the spirit of unification.
Call the sun as you like, it still brightens the world,
In the domain of realization, to label is desecration.
All labels are equally right yet equally incomplete.
In a world full of showpiece I am but a mental piece.”

Turkish is the language of love,
Spanish is the language of revolution.
Swedish is the language of resilience,
English is the language of translation.
Portuguese is the language of adventure,
German is the language of discipline.
French is the language of passion,
Italian is the language of cuisine.
With over 7000 languages in the world,
Handful of tongues fall short in a sonnet.
But you can rest assured of one thing,
Every language does something the very best.
Each language is profoundly unique in its own way.
When they come together, they light the human way.

There is a reason I never translate my works,
You can translate information but not sentiment.
So I carve humanity with not one but many tongues,
Yet due to alphabetical wall, much remain unspoken.
Human and culture must grow together in harmony,
All traditions of stagnation must be thrown away.
If a human can come forward across conditioning,
Why can’t a culture do the same and meet halfway!
I sacrificed my language so I could feel you better,
Now I can’t read the tongue of Tagore I was raised in.
Such an uncultured poet whose culture is the world,
Asks the cultures with borders just one little thing.
Take some lessons from Mustafa Kemal in modernizing.
A culture is enhanced, not diminished, by latinizing.

“Dar Mano, Ser Humano (The Sonnet)

Kafir Biraz, peygamber biraz!
İyi insan olmak için ikisi de lazım.
Kısmet to some, kıyamet to some!
That’s how we come to life beyond all ism.

Diablo para algunos, santo para algunos.
It’s all our mess, so las respuestas somos.
Fairytales work best when vegetables sleep.
Pero te digo hoy – dar mano, ser humanos.

Infidel to some, gospel to some!
That’s the cross a reformer got to bear.
The Nazarene already did his bit for the world.
It’s time for new humanitarians to give a shoulder.

We are the message, we are the messenger.
Kabhi hum kafir, kabhi peygamber.”

“I am no insect of the gutter that can be identified by the puny two directions, east and west – I am time – I am space – I am the very dimension of life, love and unity.”

“Poet of A Planet (The Sonnet)

I am not the poet of a nation,
I am the poet of a planet.
I don’t do just one culture,
Assimilation is the prime tenet.
Hence my work repels nationalists,
Like the sun repels the nightcrawlers,
While it attracts expanding beings,
Like the amazon attracts explorers.
If you wanna hear how great your culture is,
Go read some fundamentalist fiction.
I don’t write for prehistoric barbarians,
To put it bluntly, I write for modern humans.
I repeat, I’m not the poet of a single nation.
I am but the living proof of amalgamation.”

Everybody loves Rumi,
I learnt his tongue,
So I could pick up where he left off.
Better than basking in borrowed light,
Is to be an original light to the world.

Everybody yells, viva la libertad,
I learnt el idioma, so I could
humanize the paradigm of revolution.
Everybody loves Indus valley diversity,
Annitiki munde anni shaashtralu nerchkunnanu,
So I’m never out of spice for my humanitarianism.

Everybody loves boasting about their culture,
I spent years making all the cultures my own.
Thus my strength was amplified a thousand folds,
My sight expanded beyond all norms of vision known.

Polyglots have more fun – there is no question.
When science, poetry and polyglottery come together,
That’s the beginning of a paradigm bending revolution.

Vakna, Stå upp, O Modige Atlas!
Ta världen på din axel,
Förkasta allt som är ojust.

Awake, Arise, O Atlas Supreme,
Take the world on your shoulder.
Denounce all roots of hate and hurt,
Wielding your humanitarian viking thunder.

I don’t write for creatures of the gutter,
I write for those craving for open skies.
If you can give up your golden fancies,
I’ll give you a world beyond the lies.

Despierta, levántate, oh loco amante!
El mundo entero está a tu cuidado.
Give up your aphrodisiac of wild ancestry,
We are human, cuando nos descubrimos en cada humano.

“Now more than ever the hateful, intolerant, separatist bigots need our help, for they are ill, terribly ill. They are suffering from a condition, I call, Clinical Culturitis. So next time you see one, offer them a flower, and say – get well soon!”

“Get Well Soon (The Sonnet)

Upon absorbing all cultures into my blood,
I realize, the supreme culture is love.
Upon studying all scriptures as my own,
I realize, the supreme gospel is love.
Even after speaking six languages,
I say, the supreme language is love.
Upon observing all political ideologies,
I say, only ideal worth submission is love.
Unfolding the neural underpinnings of behavior,
I realize, seed of civilization is love.
Unraveling the cellular mysteries of life,
I realize, existence oughta be a record of love.
Tiny-brained know-it-alls will still yell,
their culture beats all, like some tipsy loon.
To which all I can say is – get well soon!”

In Korea, I am Ingan –
In Turkiye, I am Insan.
In Latam, Soy Humano –
In North America, I’m Human.

In hindi, I am Khichdi*,
A *hodge-podge of cultures,
Few have the mind to stomach,
while tribals feel perturbed.

Life is love, love is life –
all other existence is null and void.
World is love, love is the world –
all other paradigm is poison voyage.

All through history every culture on earth has produced its distinct literature – American literature, British literature, Latino Literature, Arabic literature, Turkish literature, European literature, Bengali literature and so on. I am none of these, because I am all of these – Naskar is the amalgamation of all of world’s cultures. Naskar is the first epitome of integrated Earth literature – where there is no inferior, no superior – no greater, no lesser. Soulfulness of Rumiland, heartfulness of Martíland, correctiveness of MLKland, sweetness of Tagoreland – merge them all in the fire of love, and lo emerges Naskarland – merge them all in the fire of love, and lo emerges lightland.