Invisible Threads

          It is an often observed fact that human quest is for the unknown, mysterious and metaphysical.   Deliberations of the self in response with the surrounding life are another area of human interest. Shobha kulkarni’s maiden collection of poems Invisible Threads meets these two grounds of interests with its short and cryptic poems on self,God and the humanity in general. The major thrust of the collection is the theme of quest; self and eternal. It sets to enquire the eternal questions of humanity i.e. death, afterlife, self and divinity. “Between You and me”, “Light Light Light”, “I am the Fire”, “ In search of” , “Moksha”, “My New Found Freedom” are some of the poems that speak about the spiritual quest of the poet to find the eternal spirit, the lord, and be one with the universe. The poet is deeply influenced by the Indian philosophy and spirituality is quite evident in the concepts of attainment of salvation, detachment from worldly affairs, and acceptance which are recurring themes in the poems. The lines, “my search continues last life, this life and may be next life”(In Search of), “ my burden I’ve dropped it at your lotus feet”(At your Lotus Feet), ‘’I walk in too many worlds and I’ve worn too many faces”(Turmoil) speak of the concepts of rebirth in Hinduism. Surrender to the will of the god that will bring salvation to the soul is seen in the lines of the poem Moksha as “shed all worldly attachments and wait for the almighty? Wait for Moksha?” The tone of the poems here and there sound familiar to the reader as they voice similar concerns of humanity expressed in kannada  vachana  poetry or English spiritual poems like Newman’s “ Lead Kindly Light” or Herbert’s  “Pulley”. No wonder poet kulkarni is a bilingual poet in kannada and English and her teaching background has provided a deep sensibility of such poetry in her style of writing.

      The collection has a few poems on the burning problems of the time. The poet’s concern for the human self destruction, the callousness for power and materialism is evident in poems like Kshamaya Dharitri, “The World is a Mess”, “The Rag Picker” and a few other poems. The general tone is one of the observation with sadness but not bitter and pessimistic. It is querulous rather than condemning. Though a few in number there are poems on nature and general themes. “I am a Timeless Path”, “Pain”, “Reflection” to name a few. The style of Kulkarni’s writing is lucid. The imagery is recurrent and often archetypal. Sea, waves, birds, flowers especially jasmine light, journey, sound and silence are used effectively to convey the abstract and unusual concepts. Even the love poem titled “Love” is not on the human love as in the preface Dr. kusnoor mentions ‘profane’ but that of the self.

       The last poem “Invisible Threads” tries to bind the whole collection in a synthesis. As the poet herself mentions in her preface that the book is an effort to ‘create her landscape through her imagination”, this first collection is certainly a success in creating a room of her own as a woman poet in North Karnataka region writing in English. The poet is aware that she is a woman. Yet, she distinctly crosses this inhibition to recognize the self as ungendered entity which makes her poems different and unique.

 As with the wish of the poet to establish ‘universal connectivity ‘ which is her ‘ last wish’, let the collection be not the last. Let this beginning be followed by many more verses and collections. In the drab and dull world of materialism the new tone of the poet is promising and creates the new awakening in woman’s thought and woman’s world. From this point of view the collection is a significant effort on the part of shobha kulkarni.