A Mongolian
Poem composed by
Gunaajav
AYURZANA
Vagrant
Train
Explicated
by Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
The Text
Having
closed my eyes to hear the first sign of daybreak
Somewheres
sound of a vagrant train knocking its path
Is
disruptive dying away to unknown
somewhere
Like a naïve
five or sixseven years ago
Lost train
invisible in thought
Its chugging
with sadness chases out echoes and grows dim
At this
early dawn what early rising train is this
To where
does it intend to escaoe from this sleepy life
Where is
such an easily reached place
Explication
The speaker states that he closed his eyes to
hear the first sign of day break.Thi s is curious.The dawn was there and he
knew that it was there But he did not open his eyes to learn that it was dawn.Though
there was dawn he lolled in the bed.Or else with the curiosity becoming a child he wanted to hear the dawn instead of
seeing it. And surely he expected the
rooster to crow. The rooster does not need to espy the light to know it is
dawn. His body clock is so designed that it is aware of the dawn without seeing
the light .Did the speaker unknowingly became aware of the daybreak without opening his eyes like the rooster.
May be. But did he expect some noise
signifying something? He heard a train. This is significant. This tells us that
industrialiisation has muffled the voice of Nature and of everyday human
activity to which men are used through the ages. He did not know whence the
sound of the train came .He heard somewhere
a vagrant train knocking its
path. In other words the train was colliding with its path or striking noisily
the path to attract attention. In Mongolia trains were first introduced to
transport coal in 1938. And no doubt industrialization attracted the masses. The
noise was disruptive. In other words industrialization put tradition out of
joints and rang in a fresh way of life and a fresh world order. Industrialisation was ground breaking. Dopplers effect took
place.The noise of the train died away.The speaker observes that the noise of
the train died awat to somewhere. This is a
queer observation. Any human is subject to
the impressions sent
by the world of eyes and ears.
The impressions are transitory no doubt from the point of view
of the receiver. But they die away to somewhere. In other words the impressions
sent by the world of eyes and ears are
themselves deathless. This gives us a different world view.Any action of the
drama of life is itself an entity not to be
wiped off once for all although it might play its role in a drama and
then vanish. This could be best illustrated from history or literature. Say an
accident plays a role in a narrative, then it does not recur there. But the
same action takes place in another narrative .This leads one to a kind of
structuralism. Vladimir Propp observes
that the same motifs recur in different tales. Thus the poem posits a different world
view and a different aesthetics.The noise of the train died into unknown
somewhere like a naïve love of five six seven years ago. Here the speaker
becomes autobiographical. Five or six years ago love came to the innocent
speaker with lot of intensity and for a
time it may have disrupted the poets way of life. But after a time it lost its
intensity and gradually vanished. The speaker could no longer revive in him the
passions that had been ignited by the visitor naïve love.But it had left an indelible stamp in the speakers
being. Lost train invisible in thought
its chugging with sadness was chasing
out echoes and grew dim.The train was lost to thought. That is thought could
not revive the vision of the train or its noise. But there is some plane in
human beings that is beyond the ken of thought. And the train had left a trace
in the very being of the speaker. The love that had come to the innocent speaker
with repeated short explosive sound gradually chased its echoes or
manifestations and finally became dim not to be descried by the senses or
heart. The phrase chasing the echoes is tremendously
powerful describing how emotions in human hearts die down..The speaker comes
back to the noise of the train early in the morning. Wth the poet at early dawn
what early rising train was there. To where did it intend to escape from the
sleepy life. May be presently before industrialization Mongolia seemed to be
plunged in sleep.Industrialisation awakened Mongolia from its traditional way
of life.But the speaker wonders whether industrialization could at all
transport the civilization to a brave new world. A world beyond sorrow cannot be an easily reached place
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