David Diop: A voice of Negritude

Yesterday, I got to read the poem 'Africa' by a Senegalese poet David Diop, which is considered as a milestone in the history of West African literature.  In order to know more about the poet, I went on googling and was very much surprised to find very little or almost no information about him on net--just one or two poetry pages and one or two blog posts.  Even the English Wikipedia has no article on Diop, and I had to translate the French wiki page (that itself was a stub) to know a bit more about him.  Here is the essence of all that I could find.

David Diop was born to a Senegalese father and Cameroonian mother in the city of Bordeaux, France, in 1927.  He debuted writing poetry while he was still at school.  He was one a contributor to Leopold Senghor's (who would later become the first president of independent Senegal) anthology of poems published in French.  This was a major milestone in the history of black french literature as it put forth the movement of 'Negritude' by asserting the greatness of black people contrary to the white man's dismissal of them as primitive and uncivilized.

Diop's poetry talks about the glorious past of Africa and also recollects the untold sufferings and humilities endured by the Africans in the last few hundred years.  It also warns the Africans that political freedom will not essentially bring back their old glory and they have to work had to regain it or they will only get "the bitter taste of liberty."

Diop suffered from poor health for the most part of his life and died at a very early age of 33 in an air crash off Dakar, Senegal, in 1960.  His poetry will always be remembered as one of the keystones in the arch of African literature.

African Literature, French Literature

The almond tree that blossomed

I said to the almond tree, "Friend, speak to me of God." And the almond tree blossomed. ~Nikos Kazantzakis

I always interpret myself as a man who loves to interpret things. I believe that things are told at their best, when they are told most tacitly, because then they leave a lot of room to think over them, to see them from our point of view, and then to accept the thought within them as if it was always of our own. And this belief again got deeper in me when I got the above quote on my Twitter homepage from Kailasha.

At such times, I could not, and if fact, don't want to, restrain myself from pondering over the words--from lingering over the thought. "I said to the almond tree, "Friend, speak me of God." And the almond tree blossomed. What shall I do? Where to go? Whom to tell? I asked the almond tree to speak me of God and it blossomed. I am speechless. I don't need my tongue anymore, nor do I need my ears. I just asked the almond tree to speak me of God. I had really not expected too much but a word or two. I just asked her for a word or two, and she blossomed.

Obama, Elections, and Greenland

Lot of issues are in mind to discuss, but cannot find time to think over them. Just trying to keep them in front of you:
1. Elections in Maharashtra. Counting on November 13. Shivsena/BJP has no issues and Congress/NCP has 10 years of anti-incumbency. Maharashtra is waiting for results this Diwali.
2. We had talked about Greenland. We talked about how can such a big territory remain under sovereignty of some other state (Denmark)? It is an autonomous state under the Kingdom of Denmark with the queen of Denmark as the Head of State.
3. The topic of Greenland gave rise to thoughts about many other united dominions that form a state collectively. UAE consists of seven separate Emirates: Dubai, Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi are well known to us. Each Emirate is ruled by a separate Amir.
4. Nobel prize of peace for Obama. Obama states: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.
5. Nobel prize of literature to Herta Muller, Romanian-born German novelist and poet.
6. Nobel prize to Venki Ramakrishnan, Indian-American molecular biologist.
7. Problems on permutation and combination, I find them very tough.

Waiting for you views. ~~Ganesh.

Good fences make good friends

Sometimes I feel that I take both of you very much for granted. I think that both of you are yet single, have no major family worries to disturb you, and are well to do. With feelings like this, I want you to be in my service anytime whenever I need; and when I found you not available for me, it hurts me the most. Is it really the best approach for a friendship? Certainly not! It is not even a good one. Friendship is not only expecting and taking. Friendship flows, at least should flow, bidirectionally. Though being one of the closest relations, it must have some limits for expectations from each other so that it should forever go on happily. Sometimes I really have this kind of thoughts and they really disturb me. Yesterday, when I tried to call you and you were not available for me, I had a sudden flair of such thoughts that made me depressed for the most part of the evening until you called me back. It was not your fault. You were trying again and again to contact me, and from my side, I was also dialing up for you. It might have caused my cellphone to be engaged. It was a cent percent technical problem, but I was in no mood of understanding the situation. I just wanted some suggestion from you. I just wanted you to be with me. And I felt that you are not available for me.

Perhaps, you know the poem of Robert Frost: Mending Walls. Often I feel that it metaphorically refers to friendship: One friend who does not believe the necessity and existence of walls between them and the other who understands the importance of them. Robert Frost takes the part of first friend, who argues that do they really need walls between their fields when there are no cows to cross the borders, but his neighbor just quotes an old adage: “Good fences make good neighbours.” Robert Frost, as I do, did not believe in this philosophy at first, but by reaching to last line of the poem, he ends it with his friend’s words, as if he is fully agreeable to him: Good fences make good neighbours.

I too did not believe in the necessity of a fence. But it does exist. You must accept it in a friendly manner. After all, it is for our well-being and not for anything else. Last night taught me this fact so that I can go on happily with no childish thoughts for such silly things. I will try my best to respect each other. You too feel free to let me know if you ever find me crossing my fence. Let us respect the fences to be good friends forever.

We shall overcome

I got your depressed message early in the morning today. I never wanted to make you feel depressed; I just wanted to pour out my feeling. Let it be. Life is so colorful, and a normal day has only 24 hours to live.

You are given responsibilities because you are considered to be worthy for them. Responsibilities are not bestowed to anyone under the sky. We suffer, because we are chosen. We suffer, because we ourselves have chosen us to be suffered. To complain and regret over the happenings is not the best way to face the situations that we own have created for us. Let the life be unpityful. We shall never ask anyone for pity. We shall overcome. We shall overcome. We shall overcome some day…

Explore yourself and fetch your thoughts up till the bottom of your soul is vividly clear. Don't let the thoughts rule over you. You control them, because only you have the power to do so. And never be depressed. I felt very bad when I read you writing you want to get rid of such life. I was really surprised when I saw a lively chap like you talking about the obstacles and not about the dreams.

Follow your dreams with full of life. Dreams cannot be achieved always from the straight and smooth roads. Dreams should be perished and nourished till the spring comes. And the spring will spring up suddenly on some nice morning after a dark depressed night. You just need to keep yourself cool till then.

Be happy and make others happy. I am always there with you in sorrows and joys, but I want you to be happy. I want you to overcome your depressed mood before you come here in the next month. I, once again, want that lively Kailash here and not a pity soul. We will meet soon on a happy note. Yours, ~~Ganesh.