Don't call me Indo-Anglian -- Syed Amanuddin (Text for II Sem B.Com Basic English)

Syed Amanuddin (b. 1934): Don't call me Indo-Anglian

                                   

no i don't want to be

a hotchpotch of culture

a confusion of language

a nullity of imagination

   an abortive affair between an indo and an anglo

i hate hyphens

   the artificial bridges

   between artificial values

   in the name of race religion n language

i damn all hyphenated minds

   prejudiced offsprings of unenlightened souls

i denounce all labels and labelmakers

i refuse to be a moonrock specimen

  to be analyzed labelled n stored

  for a curious gloomy fellow to

    reanalyze reclassify me

    for shelving me again

they call me indo-anglian

  I don't now what they mean

  cauvery flows in my veins

  chamundi hills rise in my mind with stars afloat

  eyes of the goddess smiling on the slain demon

  brindavan fountains sing in my soul

but i am not tied down to my childhood scene.

  i have led languages by their ears

  i have twisted creeds to force the truth out

  i have burned candles in the caves of prejudice

  i have surged in the oceans of being

  i have flown across the universe on the wings of my thought

they call me indo-anglian

  the mistaken misinformed folk

  n class me with a small group of writers

    cloistering me

    crippling me

i would rather roam with kalidasa n kabir

or go on a spiritual journey with dante

meditate with khayyam on the mathematics of existence

or sing with ghalib the anguish of love

or drown with li po kissing the moon's reflection in the river

they call me indo-anglian

  it's true i write in english

  dream in the language of shakespeare n keats

  but I am not an anglo my friend

  i am a POET

  i have lived forty centuries under various names

  i am now amanuddin

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don’t call me indo-anglian – syed amanuddin (Summary)

Syed Amanuddin was born and brought up in Mysore, South India, and later he migrated to America. This is the reason that his poetry unifies the Indian clarity and American modernity. Syed Amanuddin is a poet with a blend of Indian essence and American flavor in his writings. His works capture the essence of the human experience like joy, happiness, love, pain, suffering and death. He has a very distinguished style of writing, which resembles to E. E. Cummings style of writing. Both of them introduced the Avant-grade style in writing poetry, which experiments the conventional rules of syntax and punctuation. His poem ‘don’t call me indo-anglian’ is the best example, which unfolds the liberty to use his syntactic structures. His usage of negative words like ‘hotchpotch’, ‘confusion’, ‘nullity’ and ‘abortive’ unveil his disgust as he was put in the category of Indo-Anglian men of letters.

Syed Amanuddin denounces being addressed as an Indo-Anglian. In a staccato speech pattern, he designates the word ‘Indo-Anglian’ as a ‘hotchpotch of culture’, which suggests lack of belongingness to either of cultures. It seems he feels himself illegitimate when somebody assigns him as Indo-Anglian and it ‘aborts’ his identity as an individual. The complete absence of punctuation in the entire poem shows strongly the urgency to vent out his aggression and frustration or of the repression of anger that he has been undergoing for a long time.

Syed Amanuddin, in his poem ‘don’t call me indo-anglian’ vehemently rejected his identity as an Indo-Anglian. He hated ‘hyphens’ that play as bridges between artificial values in the name of race, religion and languages. He denounced all pseudo labels and label makers. He declared that his writings are not be a ‘moon rock specimen’ to be analyzed, labeled and stored for another curious gloomy fellow to reanalyze and reclassify and put them back into the shelves of the book racks again.

He said that they called him Indo-Anglian that he did not understand what it exactly mean. Though he was migrated to America he nostalgically recalled his hometown Mysore and its important landmarks like Cauvery river, Chamundi hills, Deity Chamundi who slain the demon and haunting music of Brindavan fountains. But he did not want to confine himself to his childhood scenes. He had flown across the universe on the wings of his thought in search of the truth by knowing languages and their creeds and kindled the candles of wisdom in the dark caves of prejudice.

Even then they called him Indo-Anglian by the mistaken misfortuned folk classify him with a small group of writers, which made him cloistered and crippled. Though he was able to roam with Kalidasa and Kabir. He could go on a spiritual journey with Dante and meditate with Khayyam on the mathematics of existence. He could sing the songs with anguish of love with Galib or even he could drown with Li Po kissing the moon’s reflection in the river.

In fact, he was not Anglo but he could write in English surely in the language of Shakespeare and Keats. But his name was categorized as Indo-Anglian, which was just confined to a few men of letters. He did not digest this type of segregation.

The poem begins with utter dissatisfaction and disappointment.  The most remarkable thing in this poem that marks the poet’s style is his audacity to challenge the linguistic norms. It seems like he exploits them in a rage against their non-acceptability. It is he does not belong to them then their rules do not belong to him.  Amanuddin presented in his poem ‘don’t call me indo-anglian’ a clear picture of what he feels about his hybridized identity. The sense of loss of belongingness haunts his identity, which finds no satisfaction but ends in victorious chant when Amanuddin finds his identity as “POET”. His diasporic identity vanishes with this declaration which makes him universal and every where, when he says:

i am a POET

i have lived forty centuries under various names

i am now amanuddin

Thus Amanuddin revolt against the conservative ideas of the literary world.

                                                             

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