‘In Memoriam’: The Poet’s Guide to Grief and a Must-Read for All Those Who’ve Loved and Lost
Krupaharini M
Loss, suffering, and death tallies entered the everyday vocabulary of COVID news and dinner table conversations. In this desensitized world, Mafazah Sharafuddin’s ‘In Memoriam’, with a poem by the same name as its headliner, comes as an enclave that wombs each of us to share the burden of these dark times. The poet is an enthusiastic final-year student of Journalism, Psychology, and English.
With a staggering span of forty poems, this anthology published by The Alcove Publishers has a genealogy that sets it apart from the plethora of books being published every minute. What makes this anthology one-of-its-kind is that Mafazah’s experimental artwork, and not just poetry, is scattered across its pages. This artwork has traveled a long way to the pages of the anthology, from the ink of her pen onto the cursor of her computer.
Candied words and ornamental language would not grasp the authenticity of emotions explored by this poet. The poetry and art in this anthology is grotesque, in-your-face, shocking, and helplessly black-and-white, just as the pandemic has been. Her works have the air of critically acclaimed composition, making ‘In Memoriam’ an archive of groundbreaking originality.
This visual entry into her world-building is a sought-after experience after the success of her first anthology, ‘Labyrinth of Emotions’, which she got published at the age of sixteen.
The poet shed any illusions of normalcy at the threshold to compile this book. To explore the erratic waves of emotions and paper cuts of the pandemic, the poet and artiste embrace the abnormal and break patterns of language and art. After all, would rule-obeying, syntactical art or poetry do justice to the perils of the pandemic generation? So, as the poet eloquently puts it, “The world falls apart, and all I can do is tell its story”. This anthology, then, is as much our stories, as it is hers.
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'ED must show order copy', AAP rejects claims of sanction to prosecute Kejriwal
New Delhi, Dec 21: Aam Aadmi Party leaders in Delhi, including Chief Minister Atishi, on Saturday rejected claims that Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has granted sanction to the Enforcement Directorate to prosecute party supremo Arvind Kejriwal in the alleged excise policy scam.
While no formal reaction was immediately available from the lieutenant governor's (LG) office on the issue, sources in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it is yet to receive the sanction to prosecute Kejriwal in the excise policy case linked to money laundering.
"Reports of ED getting prosecution sanction (against Kejriwal) are false. Had the LG granted prosecution sanction, why isn't the ED showing its copy," senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, who was also an accused in the excise policy case, asked in a statement.
This is nothing but an attempt to divert attention from the "disrespect" shown by the BJP to Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sisodia alleged.
Atishi claimed reports about LG granting prosecution sanction are being spread solely to "mislead people and divert attention from real issues".
Stating that the BJP should stop such "conspiracies", the chief minister said in a post on X, "If the LG has granted prosecution sanction against Arvind Kejriwal, why does the ED have a problem in making its copy public?"
Sanjay Singh, AAP Rajya Sabha MP and also an accused in the excise policy case, claimed "LG V K Saxena has not granted any prosecution sanction", adding that the ED should make public if it has received any letter on this.
Meanwhile, BJP MP from New Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj, hit back at AAP claiming its leaders were "panicked" with the thought of Kejriwal's prosecution.
"If the lieutenant governor grants permission to prosecute Kejriwal, corruption in the AAP government will become the main political issue, which 'Team Kejriwal' does not want before the (Assembly) elections," she said in a statement.
"The truth is that cases against Kejriwal are already registered, and 'Team Kejriwal' is aware that this approval could expedite the ongoing cases against him, possibly leading to jail term for him in the near future," she claimed..
In March this year, the ED arrested then Chief Minister Kejriwal in connection with the money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy (2021-22). He was released from prison on September 13 after the Supreme Court granted him bail.
