No celebration

In Celebration of Women, Poems by Coomi Singh. Published in 2003 by Vakils, Feffer and Simons Private Limited, Hague Building, 9, Sprott Road, Ballard Estate, Bombay 400001. Pp: 98. Price: Not mentioned.

Though Coomi Singh comes in with great credentials of holding a doctorate in ‘women’s studies’ and a scionage of academicians, her book of poems on women is just not able to grip the subject, and either ‘celebrate’ women or womanhood, or do anything to extend the image of women beyond the accepted traditional mold.

Singh: image of womanhood

There are four sections to the book. The first one consists of poems that speak of a woman’s beauty; the second about her nurturing qualities in her different roles and capacities; the third about her strength, while the last is on social issues. How do you express a woman’s beauty in poetry? To Singh: "every morning/on my way to work/I pass by your house/..../raven hair/cascading to your knee/eyes large with the joy of living/.../blood pounding/In my veins, I stare/I stare openly and unashamedly.”

Singh describes a woman’s love as the one you have lived with... "the hand that rocked your cradle/the gentle heart that loved you well/And eased away your frown./The grandma you always turned to/when things did not go your way/...The woman who made you candy bars and wiped your tears away.” Singh’s work rarely rises beyond this kitsch.

To an ever-changing, ever-evolving womanhood, this is no celebration. Indian womanhood, and especially Zoroastrian womanhood is today in a crucible with the young woman celebrating at pubs and paravs with equal felicity; reflecting a tradition of old-world values with the joie de vivre of the new millennium. She’s mother-Meher at the same time as being strategist-Shireen. If only Singh could have seen woman in shades of grey.

The illustrations by Nilufer Wadia that run through the work are just brilliant. Each image is hypnotic, magnetic, and merits much more than just a brief look. The reader could well find that he/she would like to go through the book over and over again to have a look at the pictures...drawings and sketches in chalk and charcoal and occasionally in color.

H. J. R.