We have already reviewed books in the series Marathon Race to Acche Din written by Phidalia Toi. Today, I will be throwing some light on the poem by Phidalia Toi which was appended in her second book in the series, The Morning. As you must have seen in the reviews earlier, Phidalia tries to sum her ideas up in one poem – to wind things up. Let’s have a look at her poem below.

The Morning
(Marathon Race to Acche Din – Part 2)
Dawn is gone, sunbeams force out the night,
Come, it’s morning! Bathe in the sunlight.
But lo! Sunglow is shaded out of sight.
Somewhere, somehow, something’s not right –
Hear, thundering storms bewailing loud.
Why unjust elements freely allowed?

As whip-hands twist idea of India,
‘Award Wapsi’ dots flawed areas;
Cheerleaders spring up – prop the killers,
Galleries pulling up clincher thrillers;
As multiple ripples widen out and out,
Itchy flop finale then fades out.

The Eagle soars above rainy skies,
Unmindful of furious tempest cries;
Modifying perception across the world,
Where stormy winds can’t breach the wall;
Arena now flooded with acid rain,
O Come! Hold the reins, ease the pain.

In the first stanza of her poem, Phidalia signals the readers towards the problems which are out there already. She hints at the dawn which is gone implying that the first year of celebrations has passed and now the problems are there for the ‘captain’ to take care of. The poem is written in a couplet form and readers can see the last words rhyming in each alternate line.

The second stanza hints at the events which took place in the respective year – 2015. Events like Award Wapsi and cheerleading for the Gandhi Nehru family began like nothing in the second year of Modi government and it still continues. Phidalia Toi tries to tell the readers how many events together tried to shake the very confidence of people from the government but ultimately they failed…

And in the final stanza, the poetess seems to be trying to urge the ‘captain’, that is Modi, to hold the reins and stir the ship through the stormy ocean. She tries to bring the analogy of the eagle which is not very bothered about the rains as it flies above the clouds. She also hints that Modi has been successful in changing the world view about India – a feat which was seldom and scantily achieved by any of the leaders in this wonderful country called India before…

So, what do you make of this poem? I think it affirms two things – the poetess’ belief in the Modi government and also the pseudo attempts at shaking the roots of the government just because it wasn’t of their friendly friend…

review of the poem by Sujata for Active Reader