Name of the book: Pragyan
Author: Dr. Satyavan ‘Saurabh’
Genre: Children’s poetry
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Publisher: Notion Publishing Group, Chennai.
Version: 2023
Price: Rs. 160
Page Number: 100
By: Suresh Chandra
Dr. Satyavan Saurabh, born in Haryana in 1989, is a well-known signature of children’s literature. Writer, journalist, and translator Dr. Saurabh has created abundant literature for children as well as adults. Along with books of children’s poetry, he has made a significant contribution to Hindi literature by creating many works of couplets, stories, poems, translations, adaptations, and edits in adult literature. He has been enriching literature by writing independently for twenty years.
Pragyan is a beautiful collection of fifty-one children’s poems by children’s litterateur Dr. Satyavan Saurabh. Various colours of life can be seen in these poems. There is beauty in nature and there is also the ugliness of society. While there is a vivid depiction of the joys of childhood, there is a touching description of children burdened with work due to financial constraints. Childhood is the golden period of life but not all children have the same childhood. The childhood of some children is crushed by the cruel hands of time. A glimpse of this struggle can be seen in this collection-
Get education on paper, only love in promises.
Sharing speeches, love, and affection on Children’s Day.
In search of two breads, he robs the world.
Crawling on the sidewalks, carrying bags.
Childhood is getting affection like this, Saurabh every day.
Got lullabies of abuse, gifts of kicks.
The first poem of the collection is ‘Bane Santan Adarsh Hamari’, in which a parent cherishes dreams for his upcoming child. How do parents want their children? The poet thinks about his upcoming child. Giving the example of our heroes, the poet says that his child should also incorporate their good qualities in life and follow the path shown by them. In this poem, our heroes and heroines have been depicted naturally. The poet believes that it is important for every common child to have our ideals –
If you have a son, he should be like Prahlad, he should follow the path of religion.
May he become as steadfast as the North Star and show the true path to everyone.
By giving birth to a daughter, I will light the flame of friendship, Gargi, and knowledge.
Let my children become ideal, I will teach them those things.
Children’s literature is children’s literature. In this, the tender feelings of children are taken care of. Children like entertainment, but the poet wants children to get information about life too. The poet also considers it his duty to make children aware of the inconsistencies prevalent around him. He wants to extend the sensitivity of children to the entire society. This emotional sentiment of the poet in the poem ‘Google Ki Aosh Mein’ is touching –
The phone has taken away all the joys from childhood.
Grandmother sat and watched the change in generation.
The mind yearns for things, wondering who is at home.
Everyone is sitting silent, holding the phone.
What kind of change is coming in the new century?
Today I am more interested in phones than in relationships.
Children feel connected to nature. Natural scenes attract them a lot. The little child inside the poet also looks at these beautiful scenes of nature with fascination. ‘Bachpan ke woh Geet’ is one such poem in which the poet has humanized childhood and depicts its changing form every moment in a very beautiful manner. The use of symbolic and figurative style is immediately visible –
Whenever I sit, I remember my childhood.
My mind started to wander, I started talking to fairies.
I still like those songs of childhood.
The mother sings a lullaby, a strange love.
The phone has taken away all the joys from childhood.
Grandmother sat and watched the change in generation.
The poet’s compassion extends from every destitute person to animals. Today, the poet urges to behave with equality, cooperation, and sympathy towards the condition of cows and animals across the country and says in the poem ‘Plight of Cows’ –
Hey, please pay attention to Mother Cow today.
The one who kept feeding milk, ate dry mouthfuls.
What milk came from the udder, Saurabh got squeezed.
To a cow like a mother, let it wander.
There are cows in our country, helpless and orphaned.
That’s why he doesn’t get company in his own home.
The child’s world revolves around the mother and the mother’s world consists of children. The mother herself wants to give every happiness to the child by enduring sorrow. ‘Maa Hariyali Doob’ is a small poem but in this poem, the poet has deeply expressed all the love for the mother –
What kind of feeling is hidden in your lap?
Mother, I sleep peacefully when you are near.
Mother is the mine of love, God on earth.
Praise the mother, the greatest of all.
Mother is like the words of a poem, the language of a story.
It got mixed in the juice of couplets, it gave life to the verses.
Mother is the pivot of the family. The house runs smoothly only because of the mother’s sacrifice and dedication. While taking care of the comforts of the family members, the mother never pays attention to her happiness. In the poem ‘Aanchal Ki Chhaya’, a child shows his sincere sympathy towards this sacrificial form of his mother and says –
Temple – Oh holy, auspicious, and pure.
Mother always gives us the support of life.
Mother is the embodiment of renunciation and sacrifice.
Shadow of Anchal, the sunshine of every crisis.
In this world, like a mother, Sujan is not Saurabh.
All the knowledge of Geeta is contained in her mother’s words.
The poet believes that we should accept changes easily. Elderly people have always been strong pillars of the family. The poet does not like his departure. After the departure of his grandparents, the poet’s life has become desolate, the poet imagines in various ways so that he remembers them all the time. The freshness of the poet’s imagination is visible in the poem ‘Grandfather and Grandfather’ –
Without grandparents, the door is deserted.
Which story should I tell now, give me the love of the lullaby.
Became grandparents, only now they complain.
Make the courtyard happy, and remember them constantly.
Cry, sing, and laugh, with grandparents.
Why did they leave the courtyard, life became an orphan.
In the poem ‘Anupam Tyohar’ of this work, the poet expresses the importance of festivals and says that festivals are a storehouse of love and harmony. Festivals not only entertain us, but they also expand our experience by providing various types of information. Festivals, which provide healthy entertainment and education, are children’s true companions –
May there be an aura of life, “Teej” and “Festivals”.
Fill your mind with colors and infuse new life.
Through renunciation, penance, and chanting, the seeds of love grew.
May your wishes be fulfilled, and worship Bhado Teej.
Raksha Bandhan is the festival of love and heart.
Draupadi resides in it, it is Kanha’s love.
The condition of the poet’s sensitivity is such that he sees the image of old people even in the old broom. The poet’s heart is pained by the neglect of the elderly. The tendency to throw away work is based on selfishness and narrow-mindedness. The poem ‘Vriddhi Ki Har Baat Ka’ which teaches us to respect elders is wonderful –
Who takes care of everything about the elderly?
Under the guise of modernity, every house is in distress.
This is the proven step towards fame, glory, happiness, and peace.
A home is an empty house without an elderly person.
He is a very old man, and Saraswat respects him.
It is only from them that we get the knowledge of experience.
Everyone’s windows are closed, what kind of time has come?
Gave it to elders, and threw it out of the house today.
It is clear from the above examples that the main tone of the works of Pragyan Bal Sangrah is human sensitivity and compassion. Flowing like a calm river, these poems drench the reader’s mind with waves of cool emotions. There is seriousness and decency in these poems and the discipline of the embankments. Environment, weather, sunshine, morning, bird, butterfly, squirrel, leaves, grass, elephant, cloud, lake, moon, sun, childhood, mom, dad, lamp, letters, daughters, new year, country, festival, morality beautiful compositions by child psychology have been created with full seriousness on the topics of forgiveness, our martyrs, tuition, Google, tricolour, book, school, police, grandparents and other relationships, etc. These works proceed with a light story; hence they also include the element of narrative which keeps the child’s mind engaged with curiosity till the end. These poems depict not only the children but also the working class of society struggling with deprivation. The purpose of all this is that the poet wants to protect the tender feelings of children and instill in them a feeling of sympathy toward their suffering.
These compositions written in verse are a mixed form of song and poetry. There is rhythm and flow in them which makes these poems impressive. The language is simple, interesting, and easily understandable according to the child’s mind. The printing is beautiful and error-free. The cover decorated with the charming picture of Pragyan with the expanding sky is very attractive. Hearty congratulations to Dr. Satyavan Saurabh for creating a readable work ‘Pragyan’ adorned with entertaining and sensitive poems that appeal to children.
