SONCHAFA

As contemporary Marathi ghazals are becoming sharper and direct commentary on any subject, there is certainly scope for doubting whether it is not becoming more sophisticated. In such a transitional period, some ghazal artists are doing the work of consciously preserving the inherent beauty, softness, gentleness and the palace that deeply soothes the mind of the ghazal form of poetry. One prominent name among them is Induji Shirgaonkar.Although there is a Kolhapuri creeper naturally in his personality, it does not appear at all in his first collection of ghazals, Sonchafa. Although his ghazals show abundant use of poetic symbols and images, they do not seem to lean towards lyricism or poetry anywhere.Induji's poems do not strike the reader's mind but bathe the mind in the form of delicate flowers falling gently from the branches and refresh the mind with its fragrance. This is the characteristic I felt in Induji's ghazals.