A man who affirms, reaffirms
time and again his and your own convictions about humanity is a true bandhab
(friend). Even while speaking of the masses he reminds you that popularity and immortality
are bad bed fellows – one not necessarily leading to the other. For him the duty of the artiste
is always to act as a bridge, to elevate the taste of the people. But simplicity still remains
a touchstone for him and his art. You should get the fragrance of the earth and the feel
of the people in his works – it is to them that he turns only rightly to get and teach us
bigger and greater lessons of humanity even as he shyly claims that he is still to pen a
song that will echo the real sentiments of mankind. Keshav Mahanta
echoes his sentiments about himself, his works and the people.
How do you define struggle? How has it affected your life and your works?
It is another name of life itself. Struggle has a charm. There are two facets of my struggle – one as a writer and the other as a man. One has of course to touch both these sides because life and creativity in totality makes me what I am today. I cannot perceive of one without the other. But when I speak of creativity I feel that it exists in everything, whether it is science or arts. The basis of all inventions and discoveries of the world is imagination and imagination leads to creativity, whether one is a great scientist or a poet. One has to have imagination to be able to create. Without imagination there is no creation. For science is also, after all, a creation. Art should flow freely. When it does not, then I think it becomes a technique. What is natural is easy. But to be easy is the most difficult thing in the world, because then you must not only embrace the world but also learn to give it expression. For me, therein lies the struggle.
Who do you think is a greater teacher – success or failure?
Failure is important because even if you have failed, you can still inspire others. The people realize that if he can try, try, try again, so can I. So you see it does have its merits, it should never lead to depression. Rather, you should see failure and struggle as the crux of life. History is replete with examples that continue to inspire us ‘not to give up’. You usually do your best at the ‘darkest moments’ when you feel you have reached the end. I remember trying to find a rhyming word for a poem of mine and fighting with my vocabulary way past midnight and suddenly my mother wakes up and, finding me in this predicament, gives me a simple word which rhymes perfectly. I sometimes feel as if my semi-literate mother was a far greater poet. Simplicity is an attainment and the toughest of things to attain. If your creative labour does not result in simplicity, then it becomes a drudgery.
Can immortality and popularity go hand in hand?
Immortality and popularity are not different. Yet it is not the same. In a pyramid-like structure, the base is popularity and the tip is immortality. If you only widen at the base you may grow very popular only to be very popularly forgotten. “I must know that I do not know” and somewhere in it perhaps lies one’s pursuit of immortality.
In your works there is the fragrance of the earth and a feel of the common man. Can we understand it as a tendency towards Marxism?
People have time and again pointed fingers at me. I have faith in people – it is everything for me. Is it Marxism? I have tried to understand this philosophy which tells us that every man is equal in the truest meaning and deserves to enjoy equal status in society. People seem very convinced about me being a Marxist but I say, I believe in people, I believe in equality and in a world vision. I do not brand it as a political ideology. For me it has been a way of living life, believing in it moment to moment and, so, perhaps you will find some reflection of it in my works. But I say even before Marxism evolved, humanity and people’s faith in it was everything and, in the present time and for all times to come man will continue to struggle to break down barriers.
Your work is also deeply rooted in folk elements and folklore. Why do you feel an attraction for it?
Without folk there can be no creation. Our tradition, culture and heritage is steeped in folk lore, legends and myths. Even in modern times, it has its relevance today. Can we do away with the Ramayana and Mahabharata? Modernity cannot emerge on its own, it grows from folklore and tales. A writer will create a fantasy for a man to admire and emulate. Krishna could also be seen as a product of man’s imagination, encouraging one to fight the evil. The fight for evil continues till today, only its forms have changed. Every legend has its basis in facts and together, what we have is a vision for the future.
Do you find any difference between composing lyrics and poetry? You have always referred to love as an inspirational force in a man’s life ...
Basically there is no difference in composing lyrics and poetry. It is the same content in different form. There can be no lyrics without poetry. My poems are my lyrics. With the same content you can compose a poem or a lyric but setting it to tune is very difficult and different. Lyrics are subordinate to tune. Be it poems or lyrics, they speak about life. Even if you go back to Sankardev and Madhabdev, their works also spoke of life’s great truths. Poetry has music too. But, while composing lyrics, somewhere in the back of your mind the taala, laaya or rather music as a whole keeps on playing. All life is in rhythm. If you understand the tune well, then it is easier to compose lyrics. And for me, I can say that I had this uncanny ability to understand and perceive music from the early years of my life and it always stood me in good stead and has definitely helped me in my compositions.
The heart is the seat of love and strange are ways of the heart. You might ask me, how do I perceive the world? I believe I see the world through the eyes of a lover. Love, or if you choose to call it ‘romance’, is the basis of life. There can be no creation without love. In fact, no existence is possible without love, for it is love that makes the world go round.
Should the artiste and the man that he is be two different entities or the same? Should the artiste be a more socially conscious citizen?
A man who preaches something and is something else in real life is not a true man. But at the same time he should also not cater to sensationalising himself. The artiste is very much a social being. So, if he cannot fulfil himself in society, can he fulfil himself in his art? The artiste is not different from the man. Even as a creative personality, he is, after all, working for society.
But I would also like to add that in all this the media also has a role to play since the world of art and media today walk hand in hand. Talent has to be displayed. After all, what is art but a means of communication.
How important is heritage and tradition for you?
Both tradition and heritage are something you inherit from your forefathers. Heritage is the source from which everything flows. Like a river, it flows over different times and places, it takes different forms but it is a constant flow. No evolution is possible if one is cut off from one’s past. But not everything is heritage. One must learn to be merciless and throw away the garbage because it blocks the flow. Tradition or parampara as we understand is also similar. Classical or the classicists believe in continuing with the rich gifts of the past but one must not be rigid. You must allow the past to create something new. For example, in our modern songs, we can also find traces of Borgeets and such other forms. But tradition can be both a strength and weakness. So one must learn to discard to accommodate the new – to keep the flow of humanity rich, vibrant and alive.
