Notes on East Land by Thala Abhimanyu Kumar S
Paragraph 1 – Introduction

Thala Abhimanyu Kumar S’s East Land is a powerful poem that deliberately responds to T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. Where Eliot turned his attention to the shattered cultural landscape of the West after the First World War, Abhimanyu shifts the focus to the Orient and reveals that the East, too, is suffering from a comparable decline. The poem is significant because it does not merely imitate Eliot but actively dialogues with him, questioning the assumed spiritual superiority of the East that Eliot once looked to for renewal. Instead, Abhimanyu portrays an Eastern land that is equally barren, hybridized, and culturally confused.


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Paragraph 2 – Title and Allusion

The very title, East Land, positions the poem as a counterpart to The Waste Land. This signals that the poet is drawing on Eliot’s modernist tradition but also offering his own critique of the contemporary East. The poem’s opening line immediately echoes Eliot’s famous phrase, “April is the cruellest month”, but Abhimanyu expands it: “April is the cruellest month, infallibly all the 12 months.” This transformation is crucial. Eliot spoke of a single season of painful renewal, but Abhimanyu emphasizes that the crisis in the East is ongoing, unending, and stretches across the entire year. This establishes the poem’s bleak tone from the very beginning.


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Paragraph 3 – Themes of Decay and Absurdity

At its core, East Land is a lament for cultural decay. The poet notes how legendary roots have been detached, leaving society vulnerable to hybridism and imitation. What once gave the East its cultural strength has been eroded by modern influences. The poet also emphasizes the absurdity of modern life, where values are reversed and contradictions dominate. The paradox “Morning dark, night bright” captures the topsy-turvy condition of existence. The repeated statement “Here nobody hears nobody, / Everybody hears nobody here” exposes the breakdown of communication and meaning. For Abhimanyu, modern life is not just spiritually barren but absurd and directionless.


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Paragraph 4 – Tradition versus Modernity

A central theme of the poem is the conflict between tradition and modernity. Abhimanyu laments that science and technology, while materially firm, have displaced customs, traditions, and spirituality. He writes: “Science replaced customs and values.” The East, once a source of spiritual nourishment for the world, has now become a land dry of culture but wet in cries. The poet sees globalization and westernization as forces that have corroded ancestral practices. This tension between past and present is one of the strongest aspects of the poem, highlighting how modernization has led not to progress but to alienation and confusion.


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Paragraph 5 – Satire on Society

Unlike Eliot’s myth-laden poem, Abhimanyu’s style is satirical and direct. He critiques the realities of modern society, mentioning issues such as unemployment, crime, reservation, fashion, and imitation. The biting line “Imitations work here on grand scale, / Respect to ancestors in small scale” encapsulates his critique of hypocrisy. People are eager to imitate the West but neglect their own heritage. Through satire, the poet exposes the shallow values of contemporary life. His tone is less detached than Eliot’s and more personally involved, suggesting not only an observer but also a critic who feels the impact of this decline.


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Paragraph 6 – Style and Technique

The style of East Land is free verse with no fixed rhyme or rhythm, which aligns it with modernist and postmodernist traditions. However, unlike Eliot’s fragmented structure, Abhimanyu opts for a plain and direct diction. His use of repetition (“Here nobody hears nobody”), paradox (“Morning dark, night bright”), and irony gives the poem its satirical edge. He employs allusion not just to Eliot but also to cultural markers like the Upanishads and Indian traditions, though often to show how they have lost their effectiveness in the present world. The language is deliberately unpolished at times, reflecting the rawness of his critique.


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Paragraph 7 – The Spiritual Dimension

A striking aspect of the poem is its treatment of spirituality. Eliot ended The Waste Land with hope in the Upanishadic wisdom of “DA DA DA” (Datta, Dayadhvam, Damyata) and the peace mantra “Shantih, shantih, shantih.” Abhimanyu, however, dismisses this possibility outright. He writes: “Incarnations, ‘DA DA DA’ doesn’t work here.” This is a powerful reversal of Eliot’s conclusion. For Abhimanyu, even the spiritual remedies once admired by Eliot have failed in the contemporary East. The Orient is no longer a land of salvation but a site of confusion, poverty, and absurdity. This radical position intensifies the despair of the poem.


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Paragraph 8 – Tone of Despair

Throughout the poem, the tone is highly critical and deeply pessimistic. While Eliot’s poem, despite its bleakness, holds out a sliver of hope in spirituality, Abhimanyu leaves the reader with no such consolation. His conclusion, “I’ve been born, and once is enough,” is a declaration of exhaustion with life itself. The voice is weary, disillusioned, and resigned to the futility of existence. The harsh satire, the repeated emphasis on imitation and absurdity, and the rejection of both traditional and modern values make the poem a work of profound despair. Life, as presented in East Land, is “hellish” and meaningless.


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Paragraph 9 – Comparison with Eliot

The poem cannot be understood in isolation from Eliot’s The Waste Land. Both works deal with barrenness, cultural decay, and spiritual emptiness. Eliot mourned the collapse of Western civilization and sought renewal in the East. Abhimanyu mourns the collapse of the East itself and denies even the possibility of salvation through spiritual wisdom. Where Eliot used myth, allusion, and fragmented voices to portray a shattered culture, Abhimanyu uses satire, plain language, and direct critique. The two poems mirror each other, but East Land functions as a corrective: it shows that the East is not a source of healing but is equally caught in the absurdities of modern life.


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Paragraph 10 – Conclusion

In conclusion, East Land is a significant poem because it situates the East within the same condition of cultural and spiritual desolation that Eliot identified in the West. Abhimanyu’s voice is not merely imitative but resistant: he challenges Eliot’s vision of the Orient as a land of wisdom and shows that it has itself become barren. The poem stands as a satire on modernity, a lament for lost traditions, and a cry of despair at the futility of existence. Through its allusions, paradoxes, and raw critique, East Land becomes a modern Oriental counterpart to The Waste Land, reminding readers that no culture—East or West—can escape the corrosive forces of modern absurdity.


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Sometimes I let my poems breathe through “his” voice too, not only “hers”