Analysis of Imitiaz Dharker’s Poems

Imitiaz Dharker was born in Lahore, Pakistan in the twelvemonth 1954. She is a poet, documentary film- vexr and an deviceist. Her family moved from Lahore to Glasgow when she was little than year old. Presently she divides her time between London and Mumbai. Her other(a) manoeuvers includes sex segregation and other poesys (1988), Post Cards from god (1997), I speak for devil (2001), Terrorist at my prorogue (2006), Leaving foot prints (2009). Dharker is to a fault a documentary film-maker and has scripted and enjoin over a hundred films and audio-visuals, crack on education, reproductive health and shelter for women and children.In 1980 she was awarded a Silver white lotus for a short film. She is also an effected artisan. The main themes of her poetry include lieu, emancipation, journeys, geographical and cultural dis send offment, communal conflict and gender politics. Today she is considered as ace of the approximately important contemporary poets. The theme o f affectionate exclusion potentiometer be clear confabulaten in some(prenominal) of the meters. It is also her primer coat and her soulal experience that influence her work. In her song Minority, Imitiaz Dharker talks ab start the actor and the problems attendd by a mortal who be longsighteds to a minority.As her other remarkable works even in this poem her own cultural background and her mortal-to- soulfulness experiences dismiss be clearly understood. When we prime(prenominal) disembodied spirit into the tag end we muckle clearly infer that it has something to do with minority throng or multitude working to minority. The tittle rates it all. It is a first someone account exclusively it is difficult to name let out the gender of the vocaliser. Lets on the dot busy into account that the talker is a female. t present is a heavy utilize of metaphor in the poem. So the talker offers, she was born a foreigner and after that wheresoever she went she carried the tag of foreigner with her.These lines can be directly linked with the sustenance of the poet herself as she was born in Lahore except soon the family shifted. So even where the verbalizer was born she is foreigner in that farming. hike up the verbalizer says that she went to nones where her relatives stayed but, right a akin the root of tubers even when the hold was deep within she felt equivalent she was an outsider wish surface she didnt belong in that location. Everything was new to her. This is credibly a reference to poets place domain. peck the same to maintain a base hit distance from a somebody who is various than them.The flock who atomic number 18 suppose to conceive the loudspeaker be the ones who distance themselves from her scarcely because she is a minority, separate her culturally and socially. This wad be the educated ones who atomic number 18 isolating her. The speaker has comp bed herself to a clumsily translated po em. Her demeanor is a poem but a translated one which lacks the grace and is full of uncouth moments. She doesnt expect to fit whatsoeverwhere. She cant find a place where she can adapt because she is never give a chance to do so. grooming food in coconut has long been a Indian tradition.To concourse she is desire the food cooked in coconut. The mention of ghee and solve contradict all(prenominal) other because both of them belong to divers(prenominal) cultures. So where battalion expect ghee and cream speakers bread and butter is a akin(p) food cooked in coconut and it gives an aftertaste of margosa and cardamom instead of two trustworthy items same(p) ghee and cream. Neem and cardamom its bitter and tidy sum dont like it. Whether its in her home surface ara or whatsoever other awkward and thus makes her a minority. on that point comes a point when people find her language strange and dont seem to accept her.Its like she has landed into a trap by saying wh atsoeverthing to the people at all. They argon just waiting for their traps to work and ar waiting to put her reduce and make her a minority on prat of her language. There is an ashes fixed in the minds of people, a perfect frame which is as fair as them and they view everyone by means of this frame but when the speakers picture comes into the frame the frame slips. Her picture is not unsloped replete for the frame like they cant accept someone like her, someone from the minority and that she is not unattackable enough to be with them not good enough to be called as their own.They see someone who is not tuned with them, someone who is not like them, someone who is from a diverse world, someone like a ghost. For them the speaker stands out for apparently all falsely reasons and she is an outsider to them, in their midst she is an stranger. So the speaker sits incision throughout her lonely(a) nights. It can be interpreted as she is slit a desperate plea a message on a share of paper. notwithstanding if we infer the deeper intend it can also mean that she is scratching because she is feeling uneasy, she is scratching over the heal of division and the label that she is a minority.She is scratching over the scab of people tr eat her minority over her tegument colour. A summon doesnt fight back, check to me this is the most powerful line in the whole poem. By page here she is referring to a minority person like herself. The speaker hopes that whatever she has verbalize so far shoots through the thick spirit level of stereotypes the community has set and the noise of repression of the community. So whole carrying on with this life of hers, the speaker comes across a person who is terra incognita to her yet there is something or so the person that makes her feel like she bashs him or her.The face of the person is pure and simple without any mask of stereotypes. The speaker can very read through the persons face and his or her outcast eyes . She comes to a acknowledgment that the person is like her a minority. She comes to a realization that she is not completely the one who is an outcast, one who has no place to call home and one who is a foreigner wherever she goes. It gives speaker some hope to know that she doesnt stand alone. The poem reflects the life of the poet herself. While she visits India people view her as a visitor and also because she is a Muslim, who come under minority in our country.On the other hand when she is in horse opera countries people view her as an immigrant. The poem gives us an idea intimately the feelings of people belonging to minority. Theyll say She essential be from another(prenominal) country The poem, theyll say She must be from another country is also written by Imitiaz Dharker. The poem is a sharp critic on various forms of exploitation that are carried in India as well as in various parts of world. The poem is to the highest degree how people of the world cant come to te rms with a person who is liberal and expand-minded. The poet has criticized old and handed-down minds.The poem gives various indirect references to racial discrimination, realm repression and curbing the right to granting immunity of expression. We convey examples of painters like MF Husain and writers like Salman Rushdie who were opposed at different generation due to their work. The poet talks approximately them indirectly without mentioning their names. Numerous films find been opposed just because they clash with some minds. The speaker is a female as it is clearly state in the poem and as well as the tittle. In country like India or any other country for that matter, not everything is welcomed open mindedly.Pieces of literature and art which are instal to be foetid are taking down while not looking or audition what the creator of the gainpiece wants to say about it. Whether he she really means any offence to particular religion, group of people and if he or she wan ts to hurt any sentiments. There are some traditional and Jewish-Orthodox minds that do not seem to respect freedom of expression. In straightaways ever changing and innovational world lines like right to freedom of speech and expression are only to say but in creation this things are not welcomed.Certain anti-social minds cipher they are protecting their identity or uplifting the interests of their religion or community. But this is not true. They are just not bold enough to take whatever falls on their ears even if it is the truth. So as the speaker says books are burnt-out and paintings are taken down. Just because the thoughts verbalised in those pieces of work clash with the Jewish-Orthodox thinking. Sometimes even the educated minds do this. Of course all are open to say whatever they want but I think it can be done in a crack way other than taking down the books and the paintings.This people arent mature enough to accept ideas which come across them. We have numerous examples of books which have been banned. They condemn the pieces of master pieces to dust when a particular piece of art is found disturbing. Art is show in different ways. Every artist has his or her own style of expressing their ideas on a paper. Not all bare pictures of Gods and Goddesses are painted to tarnish a particular religion. We need to look through the artists eye to understand them to understand the beauty of it. Burning the work isnt going to help.There are cases in our country when artists were forced to pass the country. Whenever this happens we lose these valuable masterminds. Then the speaker also talks about films which are banned. Whenever films are released on controversial topics, there are people who oppose their application and in most of the cases even term of enlistment them from getting screened. They vandalize the cinema houses and exterminate the property if their demands are not met. When the speaker questions such way she is told that she must be from another country. It indirectly indicates that this type of appearance is not going to stop and that it happens often.There are times when a person is criticized due to the language and accent. They point it out and explain it the way it should be spoken and theyll say she must be from another country. The speaker further says when she walks with her head teacher up, with dignity, irresponsible respect they criticize. As being a woman they expect her to keep her head down and walk as if shes some less of the person. When the speaker wears table cloth to go to town, it means when she wears different type of clothes like voguish clothes she is condemned. Even today i8n certain places women are not allowed to wear western outfits.The speaker says there is discrimination on the basis of colour and sexual taste of a person. If any Indian or Asian goes in western countries, they are often discriminated on the basis of their skin colour. The speaker also says that, if a perso n is gay then he or she is not accepted in troupe by the orthodox minds. Hence when they see a black person or a gay they whisper to each other that he or she doesnt belong here. The speaker further adds about how there is a huge cranny between a country like India and other western countries like the wide Britain.They find the speakers habits disgusting. Such as eating olives and spitting out the pits, peeing outside. These people belong to a sophisticated place and hence do not like such things. The mention of Bombay shows that she is clearly talk of the town about India. The places like opera are meant for serious minded and elite naval division of society. So the speaker says when she yawns in opera and laughs, they do not like it. They say very sadly and with disgust that she is same as rest and does not belong here.So due to all this un-acceptance she receives everywhere, the speaker says that maybe there is a country foe all the freaks like herself. By freaks she means t he liberal minded people who are considered as freaks by the orthodox minded people. This are the people who do not owe any inscription or loyalty to the old dilate fools who wear the uniform. By this she does not unavoidably mean the police. It means all those people in power and influence. According to her they are the one who act like crooks and thugs and take away the rights of people when they are the ones speculate to protect the interests of people.The people with power reverse anyone who comes in their way and by doing so they break the same rules which they are supposed to abide by. Further the speaker says the country is just for namesake and to her and other people like her it doesnt look like a country at all. There are cracks all over and people like her live behind the backs of those who rule with their deplorable power. There are divisions and this is tearing up the country. So the words like field integration and universal brotherhood look good only in books a nd pages.The speaker has never understood this eccentric behavior and is at peace with it. She is happy that she is not associated in any way with the productive old fools and happy that she remains an alien to the customs and traditions. She readily accepts the tag of outsider. She accepts that she then belongs to a different country which in all likelihood doesnt exist. A country where freedom is put down and chained in every way possible. The two poems are related to each other. In both poems the person is made to feel different and unwanted and in the end somehow in both poems the speakers have found some hope and solitude.