I had read this poem in my school days and the lines that are relevant here is “ we never stop to stare and look…” and both these entities had just opened me to the earthy beauty of captivating meagerness. Both Floyd’s music and Amit’s books are scattered with intoxicating slowness.
They cry out to be noticed when your mind is calm and you are in equilibrium with your existence. They fill you ever so slowly but with such richness and subtlety that you feel surreal. Floyd had always attracted me for their abstractness. With them I have finally come to peace with the word abstract. Take “shine on you crazy diamond”, the song has such an ethereal haunting quality that will capture one’s senses and fill one with past streaks of lament. Another song that comes to mind is “several species of small furry animals….”. I always relate that song to a faraway helplessness. The desperate chirping of birds and the constant hint of a Nazi army march blends well and gives the song a gripping attitude. I am sure once you hear the above two numbers, you shall probably experience a completely different line of thought. But then, that’s what abstract mentality is supposed to achieve.
The point here is, these pieces of art can only be appreciated once you detach yourself from the daily humbug that surrounds most of us. A similar pattern can be traced out in Amit’s writing. It is always painfully poignant with a hint of expectancy after each line. Like a horror movie is about to be played out. But nothing ever happens. I have seldom seen a writer being able to toy the reader so effortlessly. Most of his sentences are paradoxical but each sentence contains such beauty that it instantly reminds you of a piece of finely engraved wood. As a whole it is worthless and serves no purpose but each minute engraving can be admired for hours on end. His books contains insignificant truths , it is that truth that one can instantly recognize as meager events that happen each day but when viewed properly holds a warm beauty.
We are blessed with such immense richness and vitality all around, the catch is, we are always gliding over them at such high speeds. Breathe, “lets sometimes stop to stare and look”…”to feel”…
