Sita (A Poem)

Author: Dr Nandini Sahu
Publisher: The Poetry Society of India
(Pp 129, ISBN 978-93-83888-19-1)

This poem is by Sita, of Sita, and for Sita. It is adorned with the mythical spirits and epical characters which are spoken about, everyday in India and some neighbouring countries. The people speak of the characters confidently and zealously as if they know the real saga. But, the question is that do they know the real story? Do they know what happened and why?

Sita calls the readers into her ‘true abode, a land with no borders and restrictions’ which ‘Sita’s mind’ a place to which the “only requirements for entry are unbiased ears, restless desire to know the truth and ceaseless urge to reach to the depth of the matter.” Nandini’s problem solving attitude, creative thinking ability and writing deftness presents Sita’s feelings in present world.

This book Sita, long haiku poetry of 25 cantos is written in such a way that it talks thunder. Yes! It is thunderous with inherent benevolence of Sita’s heart epitomising Mother Earth, kind and gracious. Nandini invokes Sita’s desire to be seen as in her physical presence, to share her personal experience of her relationship to the objects in the shaky, prejudice, temporal world and then offer explanations and explications for why her own impressions are vital and important.

What’s most remarkable, throughout the poem the narration is smooth and without a loss in its spirit. This poem offers an unlikely kind of hope, Nandini’s ambivalence is the evidence of a fragile belief in the possibility of passion and change, of the logical reasoning and the will to challenge the patriarchal view to understand the real Sita (as she was always strong-willed, persistent and firm).

Similar to Rabindranath Tagore’s characters Chitra, and Aurobindo’s Savitri in their Upnishadic works, in this book Nandini also focuses on evolution of our society and speaks for the understanding of Sita’s viewpoints which uplifts conscious subjectivity of the modern feminine mind.

–Mrs D Sandhu