4 verses · ~1 min
आज मैंने सुई में डोरा डाल लिया उतनी ही बड़ी सिद्धि जितनी जग जाती एक कविता लिख लेने में।
विगत अड़तालीस वर्षों से तुमने मुझे ऐसा निकम्मा बना दिया कि कुरता-कमीज़ में बटन तक टाँकने का सीखा सलीका नहीं।
कुछ भी करो हँसने का मौक़ा तो न दो औरों को।
तुम्हें ही दोषी ठहराएंगी पीढ़ियाँ सीढ़िया गढ़न में तुमने सब वार दिया कहाँ से कहाँ पहुँचा दिया मुझसे निठल्ले को।
इति
The Poet
शिवमंगल सिंह ‘सुमन’
Shivamangal Singh 'Suman'
1915 · 2002
There is a particular form of literary courage that has nothing to do with defiance or rebellion the courage of choosing to remain human when circumstances press hard toward despair. Shivamangal Singh Suman possessed this courage in extraordinary measure. He wrote across the full breadth of the progressive literary movement in Hindi, and his work bears the mark of a mind that refused to choose between aesthetic beauty and social conscience, insisting with deep patience that both are necessary if poetry is to perform its highest function. His verses walk the razor's edge between lyric grace and the weight of lived suffering never collapsing into sentimentality, never hardening into polemic. Born in Unnao in 1915, Suman rose to lead Vikram University as its Vice Chancellor, becoming one of the rare figures who moved between the world of intellectual administration and the world of pure creative fire without losing his substance in either. He received the Padma Bhushan and Sahitya Akademi recognition, but his true monument is the quality of sustenance his verses have provided across generations of readers who found in him a poet who understood that the will to go on is, in itself, a form of sacred defiance.
Paired Painting
Domestic Scene with Man Smoking Hookah and Woman Sewing
This intimate portrait captures a quiet, rhythmic moment of domestic life in early twentieth century India. An elderly man, draped in traditional attire, finds a moment of stillness while drawing from his hookah, the curling smoke suggesting a pause in time. Meanwhile, a younger woman sits nearby, entirely focused on her needlework. The painting evokes the simple, profound dignity of rural existence during this era, where the hum of everyday labor and the scent of smoldering coals defined the sanctuary of the home. M. Muranjan masterfully portrays the texture of their quiet companionship, inviting us to witness the peace found in the shared silence of a household.
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