Critical Review

Arjan Dev Majboor, writing in Kashmiri language, living now in Udhampur in the Jammu province, is a major poet and his thirty poems written originally in Kashmiri, have been translated into English by Arvind Gigoo.

Arjan Dev Majboor

Reading all the poems makes one feel the touch of tenderness, sincerity and a dash of serendipity the poet possesses. The poet has the imagination that rides, and he sometimes is lost in comprehensiveness of the thought, and it is happily noted, that gives a tinge of poetic dignity. He is enigmatic in the poem The Topsy-turvy Tree, and what follows is a picture of utter desolation and ruin. He is not optimistic about the world's good things but that does not deter him to see images drawn in Nature but perceived by him like the one a poet constructs in intellect and expresses in imagination, and the embodiment is the poetic cluster. The poet in the poem The New Millennium sees an "eternal Rider coming." He pines for the recovery of lost virtues, but limitation remains bound in the Indian tradition; it does not strive to release itself from the vague to transcend, never gives a flight towards a new height. In the poem The Hungry Man he paints a man very nicely who has no address to knock for the culmination of hunger. The poet has no conflict with politics it surfaces, as a poet is a teacher, a prophet, a builder, a protester, an activist (Remember Gunter Grass). In the poem Chiselled Words he strives for invention of words which will give the world, to say, a total humanity and ideal place to live in. This pellucid approach is laudable. Surrealistic he is and in that case his deftness has known success. In To the Swan there is a journey, a search, an option rather a craving for regaining or resurrecting the old phenomena. A vision towards an order of high enlightenment is also earnestly required now. A tomorrow man is a freedom in thought. There are six core thought-depicting drawings by Vijay Zutshi. All the English translated poems are congenial and don't give the idea that they are translated. A very good publication.

Arjan Dev Majboor is a restless soul … Although he is a septuagenarian yet age has not touched his spirits. His poetic journey has witnessed many trends in literature and he has been shaping himself throughout according to these trends. He is a dynamic poet.

Majboor's Waves is a rich addition to the treasure of Kashmiri culture.

Each poem in Majboor's Waves is a wave from the oceanic mind of the poet. He is a magician using the sleight of words to trick and captivate, a sculptor chiselling words to perfection, a master blender concocting a heady cocktail of words and creating unique imagery by endowing words with movement.

Kashmir lives in Majboor’s poems. While reading them I feel as if I were in Kashmir. The English translation of his Kashmiri poems is the way to reach other languages.

A first reading of (of Waves) shows the mature treatment of life. I feel certain that the book will be well received in literary circles.

Majboor's poetry is evocative of the beauty and angst of Kashmir. He draws powerful word portraits and at the same time is able to convey a deeper meaning behind signs and symbols. Majboor is one of India's most important contemporary poets. His poetry is characterised by a seamless fusion of the traditional forms with the modern idiom.

The image that Waves presents is of a poet deeply disturbed and distressed by the violence and terror that have ferociously mauled human values and the uninhibited sway of hate-breeding ideologies that have put the future of the entire mankind in jeopardy … Existential problems also surface in these poems and then there is that element of romanticism that cannot hold itself back.

Arjan Dev Majboor is a sensitive poet and a superb craftsman…. In the history of Kashmiri literature he will remain immortal.

Waves reveals the mind of Majboor- vast and deep with troughs and peaks of intense joy and sorrow, pain and nostalgia, wisdom and vision, despair and hope.

Majboor's poetry is marked by deftness of expression, deep introspection, progressive outlook and mature treatment. His work constitutes a muffled outcry of his bruised heart against the disappearance of old values and the disequilibrium of modern life.

Majboor's Waves is quite readable. The poems in the volume are enjoyable and uplifting .... The poet has handled themes with skill, economy and with a surety of touch.

Arjan Dev Majboor's Waves is the reflection of his partitioned soul caused by the separation from his native land.

Waves shows that Majboor, who was a radical progressive poet in his youth, has mellowed into a matured artist.