Such sites of cultural mobility where Ali discusses about ‘Bhairavi’ and ‘ghazal’ opens window to rich excavation from the exotic east. In the poem “The Season of the Plains” from his volume The Half Inch Himalayas Ali make mention of the ‘Banaras thumri-singers’. The verbal structure relates to an art form which defines the unique style originated in Banaras. The poet’s language here is referential of a region that relates to its musical tradition. For a western reader ‘Banaras thumri singers’ is entirely new zone of experience and knowledge which he/ she is subjected to, by the poet because of cultural mobility that the poet indulges in, through his writing. This entails the transitory state of poet persona who migrates to a foreign geographical space and embraces a foreign language only to induce the foreign readers with his own rich cultural heritage.
Exploring along these lines a foreign reader occupies the idea of thumri as a genre in semi-classical Indian music. The term is colloquial to the word ‘gharana’ in the Indian …show more content…
In “Crucifixion” from A Nostalgist’s Map of America Ali embraces tribal American descendants and makes mention of ‘Navajos’ a tribe of the South Western United States. In another poem “Leaving Sonora” Ali unites another culture known as ‘Hohokam’. ‘Hohokam’ is a civilization of North-American Indians who belongs to Southern Arizona. It figures as a prominent pre-historic cultural way of living which could be now known in American Southwest. The poems by Shahid Ali in his reference to variant cultural and traditional forms arouse a set of images that moves across the world developing forth the scenes from world archive. For him India and America existed together, and we see him acknowledging this in many of his poems. In the poem “In Search of Evanescence” from A Nostalgist’s Map of America, Ali embraces two countries together as
Exploring along these lines a foreign reader occupies the idea of thumri as a genre in semi-classical Indian music. The term is colloquial to the word ‘gharana’ in the Indian …show more content…
In “Crucifixion” from A Nostalgist’s Map of America Ali embraces tribal American descendants and makes mention of ‘Navajos’ a tribe of the South Western United States. In another poem “Leaving Sonora” Ali unites another culture known as ‘Hohokam’. ‘Hohokam’ is a civilization of North-American Indians who belongs to Southern Arizona. It figures as a prominent pre-historic cultural way of living which could be now known in American Southwest. The poems by Shahid Ali in his reference to variant cultural and traditional forms arouse a set of images that moves across the world developing forth the scenes from world archive. For him India and America existed together, and we see him acknowledging this in many of his poems. In the poem “In Search of Evanescence” from A Nostalgist’s Map of America, Ali embraces two countries together as