Of duty and beauty

Fulwadi Ni Forum (Pushpavanna pallav) by Noshir Daboo. Published in 2007 by Bazme Jashne Ruze Behram. Book available with the author, 11/12, Rustom Baug, behind Parsi Agiary, Khamasa Gate, Ahmedabad 380001. Pp: vi + 137. Price: Rs 50 + postage.

Here’s a garden (fulwadi) filled with essays in the first part, life-sketches and short stories in the second and poems in the third and concluding part, in this Gujarati compilation. Each section is influenced by and related to the wisdom of spiritual and ethical traditions ranging from the strictly moralistic to the more altruistic. They talk of duty, choices and dharma while drawing parallels which can be found in other metaphysical traditions.

All the essays discuss the impact of spirituality on the life of contemporary man. The first essay opens on a very optimistic note regarding our faith, believing that if we’ve survived for thousands of years, we won’t perish soon if we pass on the torch of religious traditions to generation-next. Very noble thoughts, but alas some of today’s families have grandparents who can’t read or write Gujarati, parents who don’t wear the sudreh and kusti in the name of fashion and children who can’t recite our prayers. Noshir Daboo mentions admirers of our religion like Philo, Pliny, Plato, Annie Besant, Alfred Tennyson, Herodotus, Samuel Lang, Herbert Spencer, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi and many others but forgets that times are very different today and we don’t have the religious zeal of our forefathers. The entire ethos of the community needs to be enhanced both individually, as well as collectively.

There are essays on duty, the intricate and powerful mind-body connection, inner beauty as opposed to outer beauty, female divinities in our religion and the author’s flashback to his days as a boy Scout.

A thought-provoking piece on the navel captures the reader’s imagination as it goes on to delineate abstract thoughts on pregnancy, the umbilical cord nourishing the foetus, yoga, Pran-shakti, solar plexus, the snapping of the silver cord at death and the significance of tying the kusti in that region.

Another essay, painting word-pictures of the famous Niagara Falls, depicts the author’s love for Mother Nature. There’s also a piece on the melting pot of cultures.

Of all the interesting stories, the one that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading the book is a folk tale called "Satguru Motiram.” Next comes a very good story about love, passion, duty and friendship called "Best Friend.” "Tardaely Tokhum” is a story about holy wedlock which turns into an unholy deadlock. It substantiates the view that a marriage can make you or break you.

The book has some delightful poems on topics like confession, sarcasm, justice, devotion to one’s teacher, etc. My personal favorite is "Sagar Geet” which I recited loudly to myself to enjoy its rhyme and rhythm. It makes you feel you’re in a boat with the deep blue sea around you. Other gems are "Durjan Thi Daajela (burnt by a conman),” "Tooteli Bangdi (broken bangle),” "Koikvaar (sometimes)” and the pathos evoking "Shaheedoné Salami (salutations to the martyrs).”

Through this book Daboo shares his passionate inquiry about the meaning and purpose of human life and the cosmos that we might discover if we could hear more subtly and see more deeply. Ideally, a book for the now-generation if they have the time, inclination and knowledge of Gujarati. R. P. L.