Dislocation and Identity Crisis in Kaiser Haq’s Poems.
The literal meaning of the word ‘dislocation’ is dislodging from an original or usual place or state. Social dislocation is someone's physical and emotional change of habitation, which makes them vulnerable to society. An identity crisis is a feeling of anxiety, lack of self-confidence, and insecurity in which a person's sense of identity is in jeopardy because of a problem in their acceptance into a specific community that does not meet their expectation.
Post-colonialism is the academic study that covers the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism of the western European nations and the control and exploitation of the colonized people and their lands. Kaiser Haq is a post-colonial poet who empathizes with the South Asian people, struggling with their identities in the wake of colonization. He has focused on the theme of dislocation and identity crisis of the people of this region in a number of his poems which will be investigated in this paper.
Pariah is Haq’s one of the most talked about poems. The word ‘pariah’ means an outcast or persona non grata; it is an Indian word and originated from the Tamil language. So the poem's title indicates that the poet is talking about someone who is not accepted in a particular social group. The poet here is narrating about a local stray who suffered in his life because of his desperation for power. He wanted to acquire higher power by adopting some unusual approaches. Those approaches, instead of earning him capacity, made him suffer severely and alienated him from society: at dead of a moonless night in a cemetery, stark naked, he’d recite backward from scriptures, and such power would then accrue, he said, whipping out a dirty hanky and letting it swing, that if he wished he could make earth swing like that; we joined in his laughter, more manic than ever (Pariah 28-33). He was soon dislodged from his service in his dead father’s office. Unable to bear the embarrassment, he tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat with a safety blade. Social pressure and failure to acquire power made him melancholy from a very jovial person. He refused to recognize his disciples and critics because of his predicament. He tried to flee from life in desperation, but things didn't work out for him the way he wanted. Neighbors had taken him to the hospital and put him in a rehabilitation center afterward. The doctors finally wrote him off as a lost cause, and nothing positive had happened to him from that point. The speaker, who was one of his disciples, refused to acknowledge any association with him when the dog catchers were on their periodic rounds in the neighborhood and caught a local stray.
The boy was forced to alienate himself from society emotionally and physically. Most of the people from his neighbourhood were his disparagers. It is the norm of our community to outcast the overtly exceptional and curious people from the mainstream to please the social and political authority. Haq, a liberation war activist and an epitome of patriotism, portrays the everyday social and political problems and the deterioration of people, communities, and conventions across Bangladesh in his poetry. He sometimes is severe yet humorous in his diction. Sometimes he is sarcastic and ironic as well. He has focused on the political turbulence during the liberation war in this poem. People were more vulnerable than acknowledging someone exceptional or experimental as their own. Everyone around was incessantly intimidated by the power and force of the authority. A little mistake can cause death—that's how people lived then. So they treated the local boy as the pariah dog who barks insanely in the neighborhood alleys. The then indifferent ruthless society, which is still prevalent in the present time, has thrown the boy away and compelled him to feel a crisis of identity.
Lungi is a vastly popular outfit in Asia and Africa. It has numerous names in these regions, such as sarong, Munda, htamain, salaam, pinon, ma'awaiis, kitenge, kanga, and Kalki. In Srilanka, colorful sarongs are used as party wear. In Myanmar, political leaders put on this outfit to receive foreign delegates. Still, Myanmar remains "a half pariah among nations" (Ode On The Lungi 78). It means the people of these countries, even with their official outfits, are not regarded among people of the elite class. They do not have the privilege of being recognized through their own identity of culture and clothing. They need to wear a tie and jacket or suit to be recognized as people of weight. Western society determines the universal sartorial elegance and controls our minds as well. Our family member feels embarrassed at times seeing us in a lungi. We don't hesitate to wrinkle our noses at compatriots and close relations in this modest outfit when we consider ourselves 'sahibs' in chic suits.
The poet states with a staunch attitude that lungi is an "emblem of egalitarianism.”He is not at all reluctant to claim his identity, even wearing a lungi, no matter what place, time, and the situation he is in. His feeling of identity crisis lies in his desperate standpoint.
This crisis is not only for himself but also for the entire community of South Asian people. Haq remains a uniquely South Asian Bangladeshi poet with modern western tradition in his style. His contentment in publishing his poetic creations in the "humble streets of Dhaka" is quite understandable because of his sense of cultural roots. Though he cannot overlook Vidal's disparaging remarks on the culture, environment, and quality of literature of Bangladesh, he is unwilling to submit to the latter’s claim. He refutes those comments straight away and, in doing so, represents a cultural crisis of identity all his nation's emerging poets and authors are going through.
Post-colonialism is one of the most significant aspects of contemporary literature. Litterateurs who write about this theory have a resisting power in their minds which leads to certain reclaiming of lost status. Post-colonial literature focuses on reviewing the implications of colonial rule around the world. The litterateurs remind their audience how colonization had impacted the reshaping of the world's political map and remodeling of the colonized nations' social and cultural values. Kaiser Haq has the perfect post-colonial attitude in his writing, which energized him to protest against the West's eclipsing of an occupied country like Bangladesh in its political, cultural, and literary circle. He continues to search for his own identity and establish that identity in front of the world. As a post-colonial poet, he has his sense and knowledge of cultural identity. According to Fakrul Alam, Haq uses the tones and rhythms of everyday English and yet manages to convince his audience of his location as a Bangladeshi poet. Despite all his attempts, Haq is not satisfied with the response of the elite people. They are not yet ready to regard him or his successors as equal to them in any aspect. So, the vulnerability of identity in his literary creations is still prevalent.
Haq openly expressed his distaste for diaspora or dislocation of people from one country to another in his poetry. The reason for dislocation could be so many; some people might adopt diaspora to give themselves better life but some are forced to embrace the life of aliens in new territories. Haq sympathizes with the second group of people. The first group of people may find some felicity in life initially, but after a particular time, they also begin to feel an identity crisis. The poet has a keen sense not to forget his root and is wise enough to bring that sense through his poems' characters.
