Indian Express features Madhu Raghavendra's viral poem Artist

 Indian Express Link: https://indianexpress.com/article/books-and-literature/madhu-raghavendra-art-essential-poem-viral-6502052/ 

Artistes are beyond the option buttons of essential, non-essential: Madhu Raghavendra on his viral poem

The poem soon was widely shared by artistes in India — by lyricist Varun Grover, actor Richa Chadha — as well as abroad with composer Stanley Grill setting it to music

In keeping with a crisis, everything from objects to jobs are being passed through an imaginary sieve to adjudge their essentiality. On June 14, a survey was conducted by The Sunday Times to gauge the jobs people considered as essential and non-essential, in Singapore. It was revealed that doctors, nurses, deliverymen, among others, were the accepted as essential workers. Artistes were not.

In response to this, poet Madhu Raghavendra wrote a poem titled Artist, attempting not to challenge the result but spotlight the futility of the question. Art, Raghavendra suggests in his succinct poem, is beyond such binaries because it does not service but serves. “I don’t mind/ being the non-essential/knowing you will come looking/when things are broken/and nothing else works,” he writes, concluding, “Art is non-essential/ Until it is not.”

The poem resonated with artistes in India —lyricist Varun Grover, actor Richa Chadha were among many who shared it — as well as abroad with composer Stanley Grill setting it to music.

The 34-year-old homemaker and founder of Poetry Couture was aware of the potency of social medium. But cute puppy videos or even a couplet by Rumi seemed likelier to be shared. It was his friends who brought to his notice that his poem had been facilitated with the highest honour on social media — it had gone viral.

He spoke to indianexpress.com regarding his opinion on artistes, being overwhelmed by the response, and what he feels struck a chord.

Excerpts:

What for you is an artiste, essential or not?

Art is the placenta that nourishes the world. One may belong anywhere, a gatherer from the Inuit tribe in Alaska, or a Galo weaver from Arunachal, or a herdsman from the Zulu tribe, or a cosmopolitan at the New York stock exchange; they may have nothing in common but they have their unique song. I am reminded of a Voltaire’s quote from his letters, ‘Battles and revolutions are the smallest part of the plan; squadrons and battalions conquering or being conquered, towns taken and retaken, are common to all history…Take away the arts and progress of the mind, and you will find nothing remarkable enough to attract the attention of posterity.’

An artiste is a witness to his time in history who speaks through the medium of arts. They are beyond the option buttons of essential/non-essential. Art is the essence of the essential.

Apart from being a witness to the way art has been treated during this time, have you rediscovered your relationship with art and artistes during lockdown?

If I can keep aside the collective anxiety and the bleakness of this ghastly time, this pandemic has created time for poise and nothingness, which is important for most artistes. In the wake of our collective mental well-being at stake, I wish that more people have access to art, poetry, thoughts and words to hold on to. So I share my poems more often than not on my social media space. Speaking of artistes, we are speaking about a cohort who have selflessly given ideas and art for the majority of their career and got paid in ‘exposure’. This phase has made me realise more than ever the constant challenge of artistes globally in creating art and sustaining themselves financially.

With the poem Artist turning out to be an anthem for artistes across the world, it has created more opportunities for cross country collaborations. The inimitable Stanley Grill, a New Jersey based classical music composer, has set Artist to music for soprano and piano, for Laura Dixon Strickling. It is a beautiful collaboration over the poem between India, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands, which will be out soon. The internationally acclaimed, Singapore based cultural music composer, Albert Tay and I are in talks about composing a few of my poems, apart from other art-poetry collaborations that will be seeing the light of the internet, for now.

When did you know the poem had gone viral?

I did realise the poem was being generously shared from my original post on Facebook, but it was my kind friends, fellow artistes and poets from all over India who started pointing me to Varun Grover or Richa Chadha sharing it, or their office colleagues sharing it on WhatsApp. My Mumbai based artiste friends called up saying the poem had gone viral on artiste community groups. Being a homemaker and a doting father of a one-year-old does evaporate quickly without social media, and at times it may not be possible to keep a real time tab. Once the shares kept ticking beyond 1000-2000-3000 from my original post, I was overwhelmed that the poem, which I had just written for myself, struck a chord with so many world class artistes.

Did the reception take you by surprise?

The poem, to me, reiterated the power of poetry. I am extremely overwhelmed, it is not every day a young poet could hope to wake up to find that his poem was travelling the world and touching lives with hope, especially in the times of a pandemic. I am humbled and honoured that the poem found home in the hearts of so many artistes. The poem also happens to come at a time when art across the world is facing a challenge about its essentiality. There are fund cuts in arts everywhere in the world. Established theatre and choir collectives, chamber musicians, filmmakers and many artistes have been adversely affected, and the poem spoke to and behalf on all of them.

I have always believed that poetry is the conscience of society and one of its crucial responsibilities is activism and to bring change. So it brought me immense happiness and gratitude when I witnessed that the poem is being used by artists globally on Twitter to advocate with their governments for funds, and was used in the #savethearts campaign. As the celebrated Hindi poet Dushyant Kumar writes, ‘Sirf hungama khada karna humara maqsad nahi/Sari koshish yeh hai ki surat badalni chahiye//Mere seenay mey nahi toh tere seenay mein sahi/ho kahi bhi aag, lekin aag lagni chahiye’

If seen objectively, what do you think resonated most with your poem?

I think the poem resembles truth to the bone in a timeless, universal tone. The poem appears as a mirror to every artiste, and simultaneously underscores the absurdity of keeping artistes on a list of essential/non-essential, like one would not try to take a survey of essentiality of a mother or water. ‘Art is non-essential, until it is not.’

With this, do you view the potential of social media in a new light?

Certainly! Cat and puppy videos are meant to go viral all the time. Even a couplet by Rumi, a quote by Khalil Gibran, Faiz or Manto making rounds on the internet is fairly common. One of my poems becoming a phenomenon and finding home in thousands of hearts, being used in the advocacy for #savethearts global campaign is not something I had day dreamed of. The power of social media has undoubtedly expanded the horizons of my dreams.