Appreciation

This is both a sentimental poem and an unsentimental poem. Moments gone by and treasured; but also torn up and mourned only a little. The ambivalence makes the poem interesting.

About The Author

Jayant Pathak, M.A., Ph.D. (1920 – 2006) was born and brought up in the township of Rajghad in Panchmahal district of East Gujarat. This district is forested and many tribals live there. Its ambience strongly influenced Pathak’s poetry. As a youngster, Pathak was blessed with literary relatives, including particularly, cousin ‘Ushanas’, later another literary luminary. Teacher Pranshankar Bhatt was another influence. He began to write in Gujarati as well as English rhyme. Later, at M.T.B. College in the city of Surat, Professor Godivala took a fancy to him, and during vacations, provided him with dozens of books of English poetry. This made Pathak familiar with Eliot, Auden, Spender, MacNiece, the English Romantic poets and Shakespeare. He also got to know Sanskrit poetry, particularly of Kalidas. Pathak confided once that nature, primitivism, and human roots are the driving forces of his poetry. He liked to probe our roots to understand better who we are. One of his ambitions was to write narrative, dramaturgical poetry. He served as President of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad and of Narmad Sahitya Sabha. He published several volumes of poetry, translations, literary criticism, edited compilations, etc. Among his many awards were the Kumar, Narmad, Ranjitram, and Dhanji Kanji Gold Medals. He also received an award of the Delhi Sahitya Akademi.