Book Review | Inaippin Pinaippu by Dr. Phebe Angus
Four Book Releases in the Department of English
Mnemosyne 2024 | @ DoE
14th March 2024 was a red-letter day for the vibrant Department of English (Aided), MCC. Four books were released on the occasion.
Dr. Mekala Rajan, our Head of the Department, led by example. Two of her books were released on 14th March by the legendary Dr. Nirmal Selvamony.
The first book authored by Dr. Mekala is titled, Cultural Integration Through Images in Biblical Wisdom Literature.
Our beautiful earth, with the involvement in wars, fights in all fields, battles over materialistic assets and positions, is getting crushed and the real essence of existence is therefore squashed. We are losing our capacity to exist in harmony. Human beings are not only indifferent but diffident too. Jealousy, hatred and envy in multiple ways have disrupted peaceful coexistence.
A self- centered life is rejected and an inclusive approach is advocated. The oneness in thought and action among fellow human beings is appreciated and the logical presentation as in the Book of Job facilitates value clarification. Thus, real knowledge is knowing God,
says the book.
The second book is titled, Green Strokes in Biblical Wisdom Literature.
says the book.
Yet another book titled, Loud Inner Voice written by Abraham was also released today. You may want to order copies of the book on e-marts HERE.
But the greatest of these, is LOVE!
Or to put it in another way - the book by Dr. Phebe Angus on LOVE!
It’s titled, Inaippin Pinaippu: A Celebration of Love, published
by Notion Press.
The Dedication is so delightfully penned, and says it all –
In a cold dark forest
Damp, moist, slipping
Knees weakened by the searching
Finally, a glimpse of a faint glimmer
I spotted my spotted deer
Skipping
Dear to the eyes
Calm to the soul
Safe to the heart
Soft to the spirit
It’s a remedy and a balm
But he raced away
Taking with him
My smile…
The foreword by Dr. Ilango, Associate Professor, Dept of Tamil, MCC, beautifully foregrounds the spirit of the poems in this collection in all their aura and charm!
In the introduction, the poet in Dr. Phebe so majestically outlines the intention of this passionate book as an ‘indulgence in the finesse of love’s play, layering one’s imagination and fantasy with the thoughts about the beloved, writing each other’s love story, the power of loving in silence, reading the eyes and smile to communicate feelings of love…’
It aims to perceive human love as the shadow of Divine Love and shows how one cannot survive without the other, even while Divine Love is eternal.
Dr. Phebe then takes us - her readers - on a lovely journey through the history of love down the ages, right from the Bhakti tradition, where poets equated Divine Love with human expressions of love, The Song of Solomon, Tamil literature of the Sangam era from 1 BC to 3 BC, the Tholkappiyam, etc., up until to the present.
The poet also gives us possible reasons on why disappointments in love surface, and how, when one is filled with Divine Love, one is always sure to find their way!
A Hundred Poems follow!
The first poem titled, ‘Why did you enter my heart?’
which also becomes a refrain in the poem, with 25 lines, shows a
gradational progression of sorts!
The next poem comprises of 20 lines.
The fourth poem comes to 10 lines!
There is an internal order and cohesion to the structuring of the poems as well!
Some of the poetic lines are so mesmerizing and awe-inspiring!
Sample these –
From a line that borders on metaphysical heights –
In your eyes glittering in the light of the moon. I saw my world.
To the metaphoric charms –
Oh my spotted deer that slips about and runs.
To a myriad literary devices that heighten the aesthetic pleasure while reading through each of the lines!
Embracing me with your smile and creating love with your words.
Bravery that walks in the light of the moon.
Seeking the waves the river flows towards it.
Your instructions bear the sweetness of mountain honey.
Let us find sweetness in your shadow and lose ourselves in this bliss.
Sweet relaxing in the shadow of your embrace.
His eyes speaking to her in silence.
In the sparkle from our eyes, let’s write our stories.
Did you embrace me without embracing me?
I will show you the sweet music of love!
Voice that makes me forget myself!
You created me with your love!
You make my dreams and my reality!
Your eyelids are the shield of my heart!
And many more such priceless poetic pearls!
Well, it was a pleasant surprise that Dr. Phebe had chosen to write all the hundred poems in Tamil, with apt pictorial illustrations for each of the poems.
Nothing like writing the spontaneous overflow of the heart in one’s own mother tongue, as the legendary Ngugi wa Thiong’o rightly says – one’s vernacular 'bears the burden' of one's own cultural experience!
How true!
Human beings are superior beings says Fredrich Nietzsche.
They are sexual beings says Freud.
They are textual beings, says Derrida.
They are storied beings, says Ben Okri.
But forget them all,
human beings are basically love beings says Dr. Phebe!
In a world where love becomes a fleeting passion of little value, where people shift their object of affection as quickly as a racing cheetah, this encyclopedia on Love is sure to become the Bible for true blue Love Beings across the world!
Love becomes the golden thread that binds the book into a blessed weave!
The book says it all!
It’s an amalgam of the Sufi and the Rumi, the Kabir and the Tagore, the Osho and the Augustine!
Well, I’ve just given y’all snippets from the book.
 |
| A Special Copy for this Blogger |
To grab a copy for yourself, please order HERE on Amazon.
Special appreciation to Ms. Swetha, III BA English for helping with the animes.
I’ve read and also reviewed love in lowercase by francesc miralles in our blog.
However,
Inaippin Pinaippu is a true blue testament to Love in Uppercase for the readers!
Before signing off -
Well, the author Dr. Phebe strongly suggests that, the reader have a
cuppa coffee while reading through the poems. So here’s giving you a tempt to
go for the book and for the cuppa as well, dear reader! 😊
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