Summary of the Poem:
Preparations are being made for the start of a boat - trip. As the boat moves away from the sea - shore, a flock of pigeons unexpectedly rises into the air. (A pigeon is a bird which is easily frightened and which will fly away immediately when it hears any sound). One of the sailors has climbed up to the top of a mast and, after unwinding and untying the ropes, allows the sails to open up and spread. The sails are not quite white; their whiteness is tinged with a grey colour.
A sailor has waved back to a boy; and another boy then waves to another sailor. The air is perfectly clear; but the boy's gesture bears no fruit because of the sailor's inability to have understood the boy's gesture on account of a lack of correspondence. An aged person puts his hand on the boy's knee patiently and yet urging the boy to hurry up because the time of the departure of the boat has already passed.
The foreman of the boat is conscious of his importance; and by his side sits his wife who is even more conscious of her importance. The foreman's wife demands the fare from the passengers. The old man takes out his plastic purse and pays the fare. The throat of the foreman's wife is at this time covered with golden light and is bathed in sunlight. There is a couple, newly married, who look at each other and smile. (They too are among the passengers wanting to make a trip by this boat).
The foreman claims that he knows his job of driving the boat better than anyone else. Looking at the sea - gull, which is hovering over the boat, he curses the bird by which he feels disturbed even though it is a matter of routine for the bird to fly over the boat.
The boat departs from the seashore, causing the waves to get divided by the force and momentum of the boat. The waves rising in the sea are fairly big; and a gull has perched itself on the boat which is now making its journey and struggling against the waves. The rising waves make it impossible for any boat, small or big, to make a smooth journey. Everything sailing upon the surface of the sea sways from side to side on account of the disturbance caused by the waves.
The winds blowing on the sea seem to be competing with each other for the possession of the shrunken head of the timid old man who is the head of a family and who has a large number of grand – children. Speaking to his grand children who have come with him to enjoy the boatride, he tells them that the sea is dangerous and that, if anyone falls into it, the consequences would be disastrous. The youngest child, who is not so intelligent at his age, begins to meditate upon what his grandfather has said. But the other children are at this moment looking at a Portuguese ship which stands in the harbour and which , they are told, had been captured by the Indian navy (when the Indian government had decided to drive the Portuguese out of the territories which were still under their occupation even though the British had already departed).
The wife has no fear of the sea - waves. Wearing spectacles, she seems to dismiss the sea - waves just as a queen dismisses a group of acrobats who have performed their act to show her their skill and to obtain some reward. The wife's eyes move against the winds just as the fingers of an archaeologist move upon a monument which he is exploring. The wife feels hardly any sympathy for her husband whom she would even like to throw to the wolves even though he is very humble and submissive.
Feeling sick of the sight of huge quantities of water around the boat, a two - year old child moves away from his mother's lap and, going down her thighs and legs, demands balloons from his father nearby. The father gives him the balloons (which he had brought with him); and the child then begins to play with them, exploding one of them in the process.
Two sisters had come last of all to board the boat. In fact they had arrived when the boat was on the point of sailing away. They have been sitting in the boat, side by side, silently; and they have not spoken at all. All that they have been doing was to keep looking past the boatman though they did not fail to notice the wrinkles on his face; and they also noticed the loose ends of the sea.
The boat has now come close to Gateway of India. The boat is shaky though in no danger of losing its balance or equilibrium. A wind blows in the direction of the boat, bringing with it the beginnings of a musical tune which is coming from a man playing on a stringed instrument. A number of empty boats are standing close to the seashore; and their names are painted clearly on them. They have such names as Islam, Mary, and Dolphin.
The boat makes a kind of semi - circle in order to get close to the landing place (the place where the passengers are to step ashore). The boat sails past the man who was playing music, and it does so in an authoritative manner as if the player on the musical instrument had no importance at all. The landing place is paved firmly with stones, though a number of shells lie scattered on them, as if to warn the passengers to take care and not to stumble against them.
Critical Analysis of the Poem:
Introduction:
The Boatride is a long and curious kind of poem. It does not seem to have any specific theme. Nor does it appear to have any specific ideas to express. As the title indicates, the poem is merely an account of a journey by boat. The journey is a pleasure - trip undertaken by a number of people wanting to have a taste of sailing upon the sea from one point on the shore to another. Everybody, who gets into the boat, has to pay a certain fare to the foreman. The poem gives us a description of the trip which the boat makes. But even this description is not a detailed one; and nothing seems to happen during the trip. There is no particular incident or episode in the poem. The poem seems to be a narrative one; but there is no story in it; and there are no dramatic or exciting situations. Perhaps it is because of the absence of anything to stir or excite the reader that a critic offers the opinion that Kolatkar's poems leave on the reader an impression of stillness, and that this impression is probably related to the air of contemplativeness in them. This air of contemplativeness makes the reader feel that Kolatkar is probably trying to explore the significance of external facts. However, says this critic, the significance which the reader seems to perceive in events and things does not always get effectively conveyed except through such striking lines as
in the clarity of air
the gesture withers for want
of correspondence
Nothing of Much Interest in the Poem:
Actually we, the ordinary readers, find very little of any interest in this poem except a few touches here and there. Those touches of interest can easily be indicated. The sails of the boat are unfurled after a bit of confusion in the mind of a sailor. An abrupt flight of a number of pigeons from the spot takes place as soon as the boat moves. The foreman of the boat sits self-conscious by the side of his spouse who is even more self - conscious than he. An old man hands over the fare to the foreman's spouse without letting his hand touch her shoulder. Gold and sunlight fight for the possession of the woman's throat. The foreman speaks boastfully to himself about his exceptional skill at his job. A timid old man, having a large number of grand children with him, warns them against falling into the sea which, he says, is dangerous. The foreman's wife speaks authoritatively and categorically like a queen. A two - year child on the boat demands balloons from his father, and cracks one of them. Two sisters, who had got into the boat last of all, sit silently, just looking past the boatman at the sea. As the boat approaches the Gateway of India, it seems to be shaky but it does not lose its balance. A man is playing on a stringed instrument on one of the several empty boats which stand beside the shore. The passengers start getting down from the boat at the landing - place which is paved with stones but on which shells lie scattered, seeming to threaten the passengers. The Gateway of India seems somewhat unsteady for a moment, but recovers its equilibrium immediately.
The Imagery in the Poem:
From the critical point of view, then, there is hardly any substance in the poem. However, the poem is not without its merits. A striking merit of the poem is, of course, the imagery in it. Every image is vividly presented because it is sharply etched. Especially noteworthy are the pictures of the postures of the foreman and his wife; the boat swerving off the shore and leaving behind a divergence of the sea; the winds bargaining over the shrunken head of the timid patriarch having several grand – children; a child cogitating while the eyes of his brothers and sisters are riveted upon the Portuguese ship which stands in the harbour and which had been captured by the Indians; the wife dismissing the waves with the authority of a queen and ordering her men to throw her husband to the wolves, while the husband, who is in chains , clanks and grovels; a two - year old child leaves his mother's lap and manages to go to his father to demand balloons; and, finally, two sisters, seated side by side on a plank silently, with their hands in their laps, are watching the sea though not ignoring the wrinkles on the foreman's “saline face’.
Felicities of Word and Phrase:
Apart from the imagery, there is a masterly use of the English language by Kolatkar. The diction employed is highly satisfactory and even praise worthy. In fact, we would affirm that the felicity of word and phrase in this poem is its greatest merit. This felicity gives a lie to those snobs who, having studied at Oxford or Cambridge or even Chicago University, assert that Indians should not write poetry in the English language. The command over English of poets like Arun Kolatkar and some others, who have been dealt with in this book, clearly shows that Indians can not only write their poetry in English competently but can do so excellently and admirably. To take only one example from this poem, we may quote the following lines from Section 5 of the poem as beautifully composed ( except for the want of punctuation ):
familiar perspectives
reoccupy
a cleanlier eye
sad as a century
the gateway of India
struggles back to its feet
wobbly but sober enough
to account for itself ….
The Use of Similes and Metaphors; Alliterative Phrases:
A number of similes have been employed by Kolatkar in this poem; and each simile is not only appropriate but highly commendable, as are the metaphors: his wife has “dismissed / the waves like a queen / a band of oiled / acrobats”; " like the fingers of an archaeologist”: “sad as a century”: a wind comes “carrying / the microbe / of a melody”; ‘the wall sweeps by / magisterially / superseding / the musician. The metaphorical use of words in this poem is simply amazing. For instance: “impatience with the surrounding gallons / of boredom”; and begins “to cascade / down her person / rejecting her tattooed arm / denying her thighs”; and so on. There are a number of alliterative phrases which add to the interest of the poem: “grappling with granite”: “withers for want” of; “smiles for small profit”; “swears at the seagull”; “the briny brunt”; “hurl its hulk”; “a gull hitched on hump” etc., etc.
