From the North East of India: The Poet Rajendra Bhandari

Just as mainstream India has produced many poets the North Eastern part of India also  is witness to an abundance in poetry. Poets of the North- East of India wrote both in their own tongue as well as in English, sometimes they themselves brought about a trans creation of their own works. Whether it is Robin Ngangom from Meghalaya, or Mamang Dai from Arunachal, Temsula Ao from Nagaland or Rajendra Bhandari from Sikkim. They expressed not only their way of life, their modest and humble experiences living amidst the hills and the valleys, sometimes resounding with the life giving rain and thunder showers and sometimes resounding with the bullet sound of disgruntled fellow humans. One can sense a feeling of insecurity, self confidence, love for the past peaceful days, a tolerance for the present upheavals in their poetry.

Rajendra Bhandari is a prolific poet from the hills at the foot of the mighty Khachendzonga. His poetry moves from satire to nostalgia, from celebration of life to spirituality, from the outer forces and beauty of nature to the mentality of men and manners. He has published a number of poems and is a renowned poet not only in the North East, Bengal and various places in India but also in Nepal. Bhandari’s poems deal with the crisis  identity of a small town individual. His clear streams, the thunder, the raging storm in the poem ‘The Chrysanthemum danced out the windy night’ all symbolize the towering forces of nature that rages within man also .The inner conflict, the urge to be accepted, the search for love, the quest for freedom are some of the themes found in the poems of Bhandari

Just as mainstream India has produced many poets the North Eastern part of India also  is witness to an abundance in poetry. Poets of the North- East of India wrote both in their own tongue as well as in English, sometimes they themselves brought about a trans creation of their own works. Whether it is Robin Ngangom from Meghalaya, or Mamang Dai from Arunachal, Temsula Ao from Nagaland or Rajendra Bhandari from Sikkim. They expressed not only their way of life, their modest and humble experiences living amidst the hills and the valleys, sometimes resounding with the life giving rain and thunder showers and sometimes resounding with the bullet sound of disgruntled fellow humans. One can sense a feeling of insecurity, self confidence, love for the past peaceful days, a tolerance for the present upheavals in their poetry.

Rajendra Bhandari is a prolific poet from the hills at the foot of the mighty Khachendzonga. His poetry moves from satire to nostalgia, from celebration of life to spirituality, from the outer forces and beauty of nature to the mentality of men and manners. He has published a number of poems and is a renowned poet not only in the North East, Bengal and various places in India but also in Nepal. Bhandari’s poems deal with the crisis  identity of a small town individual. His clear streams, the thunder, the raging storm in the poem ‘The Chrysanthemum danced out the windy night’ all symbolize the towering forces of nature that rages within man also .The inner conflict, the urge to be accepted, the search for love, the quest for freedom are some of the themes found in the poems of Bhandari