Songs of the Earth

A ldquoblood and bones farmerrdquo in Hanuthang north of Ladakh enroute to Nubra valley hopelessly surveys his decayed apricot crop Tenzin 65 is in tears He hopes and prays for migratory birdsmdashthrushes plovers stints wheatearsmdashwhich annually fly in to eat the aphids mealybugs and other pests that devour the crop But there have been no birds for a few years now they cannot migrate due to the rising temperatures For no fault of his own Tenzinrsquos farm is at the receiving end of global warming which has adversely impacted the Central Asian Flyway CAF one of the nine global aerial routes used by migratory birds covering 30 countries including IndiaTenzin is hopeless he is one among the many namelessfaceless apricot farmers dealing with the aftermath of ecological imbalance In December 2021 a tourist passing by his farm becomes privy to Tenzinrsquos predicament She talks to him for an hour as he surveys the mound of decayed apricots She offers him money which he does not accept In July 2024 the tourist who is also a birder and poet includes Tenzinrsquos loss in an anthology titled Eartha ldquoMonths of tending watering nurturing pruning giving reduced to mush by pests His deathfossil of a back brokenhelliprdquo she empathises Her evocative portrayal of the decayed crop embodies the essence of the bookrsquos title Eartha a play on the word lsquoearthrsquoVinita Agrawalrsquos latest collection of 55 poems published by Sahitya Akademi dwells on the vulnerability of all things livingmdashplants animals and humans like Tenzin She writes about interdependence of species food chain disruption environmental degradation and irreparable damage to mother Earth She feels poetry plays a significant role in awakening the reader to everyday climate change At the outset Agrawal 59 clarifies she is not a wildlife scientist or an authority on conservation At best she can be described as an amateur naturalist ldquomore importantly a poet naturalistrdquo who has had the privilege of travelling extensively in India especially in the Himalayan region She is currently based in Indore but has led an itinerant life since childhood Born in Bikaner she was raised in the NDDB National Dairy Development Board campus in Anand where her father worked as director of manpower development The love for all things green developed in these formative years As the only child to her parents she loved wandering off alone on her own ldquoThese lone walks gave me the space and time to observe leaves and flowers stones and twigs at close quartersrdquo While her schooling continued in Kalimpong and Kolkata college education up to Masters took her to MS University BarodaAgrawal and a group of birders keep an eye out for avian sightings at Kaziranga National Park AssamAgrawal now fully immersed in the world of words as a writerpoet has garnered acclaim for her captivating poetry She has authored five books of poetry including the collection titled Twilight Language which won the Proverse prize 2021 She was among the 20 poets to be featured in a documentary on Asian poets titled Deepest Uprising made in Taiwan She coedits the Yearbook series of Indian Poetry in English she edited the anthologies on climate changemdashOpen Your Eyes and Count Every Breath She is cochair for the Global Council for Excellence for Environment and SustainabilityAgrawal says any writing on the outside environment leads to a turmoil within her ldquoThe craft of writing brings satisfaction itrsquos the feeling of having conveyed something necessary But I am deeply affected by the contentmdashI tear up after writing some ecopoems Itrsquos hard to dislodge the terrible realities my poems bring home to me For me personally it is not possible to remain unaffected by the daily plunder of natural resources Water scarcity extinction of species and loss of habitat affect me the mostrdquoMuch like Agrawalrsquos personal trajectory the poems in Eartha explore locales as varied as Lebanon Vietnam Russia and China The poet references Hibakujumoku trees bombed trees which survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as ldquosapling flags of survivalrdquo she recalls Balirsquos frangipaniladen boulevards which display ldquoTsunami Evacuation Hererdquo boards her heart goes out to the extinct Kauarsquoi lsquorsquo bird from the Hawaii island whose call was last heard in 1987 she shifts focus to the river Aglar in Uttarakhand where a strange fishkilling ritual is celebrated every year with much pomp notwithstanding the outcry of animal activists The landscapes in Eartha underline the loss and the lack in many shapes and formsmdashlost birds chopped trees dry reservoirs extinct leopards pulped snails river skeins choking on plastic melting glaciers etcThe author of Eartha is sensitive towards endangered and extinct species be it the fungusinfected poison frog fading flowers shedding fragrance passerines that will never moult the last vulture of the generation destroyed by diclofenac poisoning the decimated Baobab thirsting for rehab the sacrificial buffalo in Kathmandursquos Durbar square and sparrows lying dead in barley fields She holds humansmdashherself includedmdashguilty of annihilation and violence Her imagery also evokes the suffering that humans bring upon themselves due to their own unmindful antienvironment actionsmdasha village blistering under Junersquos contemptuous heat a solemn Peepul hiding its leaves mangroves cowering thinner against steel and concrete gossamer veils of dust swishing about the town and most importantly no rice in a little childrsquos bowlThere are some poems in Eartha which indulge in a bit of cliched letspreservetheplanet advicemdashldquoif the earth had a voice it would say no to pollutionrdquo and a bit of sentimentalitymdashldquoEartha you are wounded Allow me to wrap a shawl around yourdquo The poem Vegan calls out meat eatersmdashldquoyou relish the taste of fleshWe relish the taste of compunctionrdquo This columnist has a problem with the moral lens of the poem because the highway to extreme actions often begins with the guilt route Also the national conversation around food choices is fraught with political complications in India As a people we have no consensus over the balance between ethical consumption and environmental conservation Sustainability is not a valueneutral sorted concept therefore it cannot be advocated without factoring in diverse dietary choices Yet another poem ldquomessage to the species that have gone extinctrdquo doesnrsquot add up well especially the reference of lsquoArtificial intelligence being not as cruel as humansrsquoBut Eartharsquos strength lies in its appreciation of the gender dynamic surrounding environmental issues Poet Agrawal grasps the intricate connections recognising how adverse ecological changes impact women As Agrawal marvels over rhododendrons and rivulets she is cognisant of womenrsquos chores and household duties in the times of climate change She describes ldquowater bridesrdquo whose marriages hinge on facilitatingsecuring access to water resources she empathises with cowives who embrace polygamous arrangements and ldquoput lumbago before selfesteemrdquoThis writer wholeheartedly appreciates Agrawalrsquos take and knows of households in waterscarce parts of Maharashtra where an extra set of female hands are welcomed for shared labour they are not perceived as a threat to a marriageOne poem in Eartha revives old connections for me ldquoIn the Himalayas rice and honour seem to be onerdquo It is true of many Indian regions where rice represents sustenance prosperity and cultural identity In Maharashtra ricegrowing farmers enjoy immense social prestige Agrawalrsquos poem reminds me of my late farmowner fatherinlawrsquos favourite phrase lsquopaylibhar tandul ghya mala Patil mhanarsquoIt points to a situation where someone tries to buy respect or a title Patil with a measure payali of rice That sounds true to the grainSumedha RaikarMhatre is a culture columnist in search of the subtext You can reach her at sumedharaikarmiddaycom