OUTCRY OF AN ANGUISHED SOUL
‘In the Land of the Pure and Beyond’ is an emotive response of a conscience-smitten, sincere and sensitive soul to the deteriorating moral standards of Pakistani society. Feza Aazmi has bled his heart out in lamenting their tendency, as a nation, to utilitarianism combined with moral hedonism with emphasis on riotous living and opportunistic approach. It is a thematic poem, which presents a subtle and thoughtful account of what has gone wrong with the psyche of that nation.
Although this poem is largely Pakistan-specific, but it also has elements of universal relevance. In the words of poet himself “Pakistan is a mere euphemism for the entire civil society of the world , be it the common citizen, the political leader, the religious scholar, the literati, the intellectual, the academician, the journalist, the bureaucrat, the businessman et al.”
These characters are the subject matter of poem. They exist everywhere and in all nations, Pakistan, India, Israel and the rest. Their names may be different, but their ideologies, their modus operandi and their objectives are not very different from each other. They oppress, they kill, they maim, they ostracize in the name of religion, civilization, nation. Often they do so in the name of peace, liberty, democracy and war against terror etc.”
According to Feza Aazmi , Pakistan is just a microcosm of the world and the people that inhabit this earth. Bush is no different from Advani , Modi and the people of the United States are no different from the people of China, Iran and Pakistan. They are equally gullible. They are all the same when it comes to chicanery, stratagem, lying, brutality, greed, expansionism, lust for hegemony and what not. The record of democracies is no better than that of dictatorships in this regard.
According to Feza Aazmi , the political slogan ‘For the people, of the people, by the people’ , at best is a dream of lotus eaters. The people are dumb and decrepit. They are driven to wage wars against weaker countries on the basis of fraudulent information; they are brainwashed to commit suicide, to kill and be killed; they are goaded to slit open the womb of a woman and dance in the streets of Gujarat with fetus on tip of the sword, they are beguiled into committing heinous crimes in the name of religion, democracy, human rights, freedom , liberty and national sovereignty.
. The first canto of the poem entitled ‘The Virtual Penitentiary’ is a stand-alone poem complete in itself. It is profound in impact, intense in poignancy, esoteric in its multi-layered metaphors, and rich in emotive imagery. Incidentally, it has beautifully and very accurately captured two concepts of Freudian analytic theory, that is, id and superego. The id is infantile, amoral, and non-rational. The superego, on the other hand, is a moralist of the most fanatical coercive and intolerant kind- it embodies quite arbitrary and non-rational notions of 'right' and 'wrong in this perspective now. Feza Aazmi says :
SUPEREGO
This blighted conscience of mine
That has me imprisoned
Turns violent
Overpowers me
With razor-sharp assaults
On my whole being
Hammers my mind perpetually
With thoughts irreverent
Vanquished it has fully
My heart and my soul
And left my feet in fetters entangled
Dripping with blood
My hands bleed
With festering sores
Shackled in handcuffs
ID
Fearless I set out then
On the wanton path of greed
Like an elephant berserk
In a state of stupor running amok
Each object I obliterate
That hinders my way
I am free now
Of all shackles, all constraints
Free like a vagabond
Wandering aimlessly
I feed my ego, nurture it
With the fodder of conceit
I have broken the bondage, at last
Of my conscience
Of my voice of reason
In the last canto written in the Iqbalian tradition, the poem's canvas enlarges. God, answering the prayer, addresses the man generally who was destined to be His viceroy on earth.
Decipher your status
Before you weep and wail
Evaluate your strength
Scrutinize your character
Before tears ye shed
To no avail
Venture forth into arena
Of your obligation
Fearless of reprisals all
Perceive the will divine
Before you seek
Pleasure divine
This world would see then
A new dawn, a new era
Glad tidings would be yours
O repentant
Listen to the clarion call
Heed the urgency
And collect the bounty
Of happiness that would surround
Your world all around
‘ In the Land of the Pure and Beyond’ is a poetry of protest and resistance, not in its narrow sense of activism but resistance at intellectual and philosophical levels. Within the parameters of refined expression permitted by the medium of inspirational poetry with a purpose Feza Aazmi wages his struggle against social evils and presents his vision of a better future.
In the Land of the Pure and Beyond is part of a series of seven book-length poems of Feza Aazmi. Of these, five have been translated into English from Urdu : From the Graveyard of Civilizations ( A protest against the theory of clash of civilizations), To Dust Consigned (Poetic discourse on the timeless issue of the relationship of man and woman in its historical and cultural perspective), The Agony Trail (An impassioned plea for peace and harmony in Indo-Pak subcontinent), Poet, Beloved and Philosopher (a reflective dialogue on real purpose of life) and the present volume In the Land of the Pure and Beyond is inspirational poetry at its best . With these book-length poems Feza Aazmi has joined an august galaxy of international poets who are working hard to make this world a better place to live in.
According to a critic “ Such potent and thought-provoking poems are not to be found in Urdu literature. Now that these are available it is incumbent on the rulers of the country not only to read it themselves but to make it sure that it becomes part of the curricula of schools and colleges.”