How Far Indian Is The Indian English Poetry Of Nissim Ezekiel? Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

The quest for identity with which
Suffers it Nissim Ezekiel
With regard to the theme of Indianness,
How far Indian is Indian English poetry,
The poetry of Nissim Ezekiel?

Nisim as a poet, frankly speaking, is not
A poet of the country,
The villages where dwells in
The soul of India,
Nay of the rock-built temples.

Neither of karma or dharma,
Indian thought and tradition,
Religion and philosophy,
Spirituality and metaphysics,
Cosmology and theology.

Neither Vedism is therein nor Upanishadism
Nor Puranism nor references from
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata,
Nissim is but a poster boy of modernism,
A modern city-dwelling urban poet.

He is a poet of love marriage, happy birthday
To you, to you,
A lover boy of romanticism,
A fashionable romantic
Not so dreamy and colourful.

A poet modern etiquette and conventy good manners
Always using please and thank you,
See you, bye-bye,
Good morning, good night
And good evening.

He is a poet of parks and picnic spots,
Cafes, malls and restaurants
And bars with dances,
Air ports and air hostesses,
Discos and theatres.

A poet of love letters and parties
He loves picnicking and holidaying,
Loving in the cinema hall,
Seeing the films together with the beloved,
A poet modern.