Dr Jitendra Awhad- “Chawl-ee-tle Tower” a literary tribute to poet Mangesh Padgaonkar
Housing Minister Dr Jitendra Awhad at his literary best, while penning a literary tribute to poet Mangesh Padgaonkar…
In the poem Gypsy Poet Mangesh Padgaonkar- mentions “ I proposed to her, she said “yes” shyly: that golden affirmation, dancing in my mind” ! This is a song from Poet Mangesh Padgaonkar’s ‘Bolganya’. This song comes much later in his literary work. But the romantic poet must have planted this seeds in his mind when he was in Wilson college hostel or in Shantaram Chawl in Girgaum. During this time, he fell in love with Yashodabai. there are very few people who’s name itself is his Introduction. Mangesh Padgaonkar was one of them. Mangesh Padgaonkar, his poems are known to the fans who have the taste of minimal humor, if not, he is not a literature lover.
With “Gypsy” who loved this birth, this life for centuries, he landed in the court of the literature writers in 1950, “Dhara Nritya” another poetry. the collection of poems like Gypsy, Chori, Utsav he built a house in the hearts of his fans. If the poet is aesthetic, loves the truth, Shiva and beauty of life, or loves love, the ugliness of life is more noticeable to him. lost in the forest of colors, the bird of dreams came to identify the past life with a drop on blue silk water. Thus, it would be surprising if the poet who was bathed in the silk stream of shravana would not have been angered by the hypocrisy, inconsistency, distortion of life. “your days used to bloom”. it would be surprising if the sparks had not fallen from his words when the poet, who wrote ‘swing without sleep’, had not fallen from his words when he had just shaved the lips of dreams with a violent hunger that had been filled with the forest of the shouts.
Padgaonkar’s poems Salam, Vidushak, Ghazal were attacks on the brutal reality around him, all of them on evil. his ridicule, resistance and anger in poetry, his vatratika and later the lyrics, was born in Marathi, It was a juicy poetic form that Padgaonkar had drawn on all the evils of life. but behind all this was their aesthetics. this is what Padgaonkar was doing . Padgaonkar who says it is beautiful to live. It is beautiful to soak trees in wet wet soil, deep breaths of wind; my love, living is beautiful; it’s beautiful to look with your eyes full! Padgaonkar’s big steamy eyes had a special ‘lens’ to capture this beauty. therefore, even after his youth, student hood and later marriage, Shantaram in Girgaum did not feel like a drag in his chawl. he lived with his parents in this chawl. when studying in Wilson College, he and Yashodabai met. ; but what is that love if caste and religion are coming in the way?
Yashodabai wrote about Padgaonkar, ” then – ‘the hostel gallery was seen at the back of our classroom. Mangesh, who was sometimes engrossed in himself, was seen smoking a cigarette and walking around the classroom. the color will be fair, large and slightly out-of-the-eye, weak and delicate body, beard enlarged, long upside down black hair to the neck, balganin type beard cut with chin, white robe and very large white bottom . Seeing this avatar created curiosity in my mind about him. later it was found out that he was a poet. Sindhu (yashodabai’s cousin) used to call him a poet. the only character looked a little humorous…’ Yashodabai fell in love with this humorous character. their family was opposed to the marriage, but Poet Borkar’s intervention , she ran away and married Padgaonkar. for a long time after that, he lived in this house in chali. Padgaonkar would not have been employed then. his father’s family was employed in the Municipality. the situation was terrible. i won’t beg in my own house. understand that you, maa, won’t tell you, that’s the arrow , shot byPadgaonkar then. When the poet is engrossed in his own poetry, he is not aware of what’s going around him. Don’t bring water to your eyes at dusk , don’t tell those distant lights the stories, when I am involved in my work.
After shouldering the responsibility of the world, Padgaonkar completed his education and took up a job. later, he went to live in the ‘Saiprasad’ building in Sion. It is said not to find the origin of poetry. because poetry is no later the poet’s life. it becomes of everyone who reads it. even then, there were many dimensions to Padgaonkar’s poems, therefore, it is sure to live in this Chawl in Girgaon. Finally, while living in this chawl, this poet was lost by his girlfriend, his Sakhi.
