Hunger by Jayanta Mahapatra
Hunger
Jayanta Mahapatra
Jayanta Mahapatra (born 22 October 1928) is an Indian English poet. He is the first Indian poet to win a Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry in 1981 . He is the author of poems such as "Indian Summer" and "Hunger", which are regarded as classics in modern Indian English literature. He was awarded a Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in India in 2009.He returned the award in 2015 to protest against rising intolerance in India.
Mahapatra was into a prominent Odia Christian family. Mahapatra went to Stewart School in Cuttack, Odisha. He completed his M. Sc. in Physics from Patna University, Bihar. He began his teaching career as a lecturer in physics in 1949 and taught at various government colleges in Odisha.
Mahapatra has authored 27 books of poems, of which seven are in Odia and the rest in English. His poetry volumes include Relationship, Bare Face and Shadow Space.
Mahapatra has also edited a magazine called Chandrabhaga.
The present poem Hunger is taken from Mahapatra's A Rain of Rites. The poem explores the degraded condition of people who live below poverty line. Hunger can make one compromise on moral values, human relationships and companionship.
The Poem:
Explanation of the Poem :
THE POET‟S MEETING WITH A FISHERMAN:
The poem starts with the speaker‟ meeting with a fisherman on seashore. The fisherman is a poor person who hardly earns his bread and butter. He offers his daughter to the speaker who wants to satisfy his sexual desire .The fisherman asks the speaker in a careless manner and the speaker
follows the fisherman .
As the fisherman is walking, the poet could see him dragging his foamy nets behind him. The speaker feels that the fisherman is also trying to control his nerves or mind because he is not sure if the speaker accepts his invitation .The words of fisherman seem to the poet holy words though there is no holiness in those words .
THE FEELING OF GUILT IN THE POET‟S MIND: The poet follows the fisherman across sands on the sea-beach .The poet also has some guilty feelings .His mind is beating fast. For a moment he wishes to burn his house as a gesture of repentance for his evil desire. The speaker has also become speechless .He couldn‟t speak anything and even his silence has gripped his sleeves too.
After sometimes the poet could see a shack there .An oil-lamp is kept burning inside. The shack seems to the poet no better than a
dirty wound. The smoke coming from the oil-lamp is also causing pain to the poet .
The fisherman has told the poet that his daughter has just fifteen and then he goes outside for a while .The poet feels as if the sky came down .Everything was very shocking for the poet. The girl was tall and thin and her eyes were cold .It is her poverty that forces the girl to sell her body. Poverty is a bad thing. She offers herself to the poet and the poet feels hunger of belly in the girl while his hunger is that of physical pleasure.
