K. V. Dominic’sWinged Reason: A Portrait of Social Realism
D. C. Chambial
Abstract: K. V. Dominic in his maiden collection of poemsWinged Reason exhibits his penchant for social themes such as religious harmony, poverty, corruption, suffering, human cruelty, mafia crime, old age problem of aloofness, misappropriation of money, haves and havenots, problems of the handicaps, female foeticide, the evil of dowry, corruption, disparity, unemployment and neglect of intellect in India. In addition to these themes, the poet has also taken care of dignity of labour, service unto humanity as service unto God, maternity, and beauty. Dominic’s poetry projects him as a social realist and champion of the down-trodden concentrating particularly on his own state, and obliquely on humanity in general.
Keywords: Social Realism, Human Suffering, Dignity of Labour, Ecology, Economic Disparity, Religious Discrimination, Social Harmony
Prof. K.V. Dominic, a versatile teacher, editor, poet and critic—all in one—is well-known in the field of Indian English literature as ex-editor ofIndian Journal of Post Colonial Literatures (IJPCL). He is now the Secretary of Guild of Indian English Writers, Editors and Critics (GIEWEC) and editor of its biannual refereed journal,Writers Editors Critics (WEC). He is also the editor and publisher of the refereed biannualInternational Journal on Multicultural Literature (IJML). Dominic has also emerged as a poet of social realism in the debut volume of his poems—Winged Reason (2010). This paper aims to study his poems in the present volume for his social concern.
K. V. Dominic, like professor Shiv K. Kumar, is also a “late bloomer” in the world of Indian English poetry. In this very first volume of poems, he exhibits his penchant for social themes such as religious harmony, poverty, corruption, suffering, human cruelty, mafia crime, old age problem of aloofness, misappropriation of money, haves and have-nots, problems of the handicaps, female foeticide, the evil of dowry, corruption, disparity, unemployment and neglect of intellect in India. In addition to these themes, the poet has also taken care of dignity of labour, service unto humanity as service unto God, maternity, and beauty.
POEMS ABOUT HUMAN SUFFERING
In ‘A Nightmare’ (22-23), the poet presents a comparison of the haves and have-nots. On the one hand, he pictures those who have things aplenty, and on the other, those, who don’t have even the bare minimums of things that sustain life. The protagonist of the poem thinks himself to be “a hawk hovering in the sky.” In his flight, he, first of all, sees “an obese boy / whose mother was beating him to eat more.” Whereas in the nearby hut lived a famished child “crying for a crumb.” Then the hawk moves to another sight of a “lavish wedding feast” full of “rich delicacies” being enjoyed “by the pompous guests.” Outside “the town hall”, he saw “two ragged girls … / struggling with the dogs in the garbage bin” to find something to eat to keep their bodies and souls together. The poet juxtaposes affluence and dearth.
Thereafter, the hawk moves to a “public School” where the teacher has made a poor boy stand in the verandah in “the humid weather of forty degrees” for not wearing a tie. The hawk’s wings take him to a spectacle where a large number of men, looking like ants, were standing outside a wine shop “run by government.” What gave him the greatest surprise was that even the beggars stood there in that line for wine. The poet wants to show how the people squander their money on wine while poor women stand in a long line and wait for their turn for rations. This also shows men’s wasting money on wine and women suffering for their concern for the family. The male folks’ concern is limited to their enjoyment of themselves with wine, while women sacrifice their comforts for the sake of their homes and families.
He, then, describes another sc
