A Summit at Jungfraujoch
A Summit at Jungfraujoch was written by
Amol Titus in 2004, the creative sprouting of his
several uplifting trips to mountain ranges across
the world from the mighty Himalayas of his homeland,
India, to the volcanically volatile terrain of his
adopted home, Indonesia. But it was his evocative
visit to Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Oberland region
of the Swiss Alps in the summer of 2003, that inspired
him to construct in verse an imagined dialogue between
the great mountain ranges of the world.
In the Foreword to the book he writes –
“Nature in general and mountains in particular
provide humans with enduring inspiration to rise
above the clogging sub strata of insularity and
pettiness that they tragically prefer to remain
mired in. Equally, mountains kindle stirrings
of awe and bewilderment that must precede any
yearning to fathom the larger meaning of existence.
To gain an inkling of the bigger picture which
when glimpsed from the searching reaches of mountain
ranges, appears so much more imposing and engaging
than the aptly termed rat-races of ordinariness.”
Spanning 480 lines of versification, the book
“is an attempt to delve into the ingrained
connectivity of mountains and their unmatched
perspective”. It is as the opening chapter
is called “a gathering of ancients”
and the setting is Jungfraujoch, whose splendor
is well captured in the following stanzas –
“This expansive
amphitheatre, arena of the elements
Where without inhibition the primal is given
vent
Playground of free spirits, with abandon
flitting
Traversing formation of this tectonic knitting
Where immemorial time retraces prehistoric
roots
And expectant destiny nurture’s future’s
infant shoots
Cerebral plane of reference on continuum
of infinity
Spiritual source of questioning in search
of divinity
An original ground
zero, legacy of creation’s might
On the creator’s palate, the shimmering
white
Hardened in igneous past, true natural exhibit
Where the furies consort, each other outwit
Where centuries pass the baton, turnover
new leaf
And hug of universality soothes acuteness
of grief
Where tug of relativity tones happiness’
bluster
And lure of the beyond helps courage muster”
(I ii-iii)
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At this “original
ground zero” the Alps welcome the great
mountain ranges as they seek to collectively
immerse in the “lyricism of experience”.
The Alps fittingly set the scene thus –
“While
humanity retreats boxed, on screechy
rails
And snowstorm of the moment erases intrepid trails
Intrusive commerce leaves its golden receptacle
This birthmark of nature finally ceases as spectacle
Its time to take cue from the planetary wink
With abandon skate thoughts on undulating rink
Unleash range of emotions in full-throated howl
On rooftop of the world begin our cosmic prowl”
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What follows is a moving dialogue in which views
and insights are shared on the past, the present
and the future. Perspectives are proffered and questions
asked. In the chapter titled “The Trace of
Cosmic Moorings”, Fujiyama raises the eternal
riddle of creation or what in astrophysics is also
referred to as “the paradox of first
cause” –
“Was there
an invisible finger on that fateful trigger?
Or did mere arbitrariness initiate ensuing
atomic vigor
Is dynamic of universal expansion, spatial
contraction
Engineered under knowing eye of a heavenly
mansion
Where is stirred stew of radiation and celestial
broth
By a creator in hope, preserver in love,
destroyer in wrath”
(II 1iv)
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Vinson Massif, the highest peak in the Trans Antarctic
range, enjoins with a different perspective –
“Wisps of
life merely the result of a nervous accident
On unintentional courses seemingly never
meant” (II 1viii)
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One of Amol Titus’ literary characteristics
is his ability to impart voices to the inanimate.
In Darkness at Bamiyan, we were moved by the dialogue
between the two great Buddhist statues and in A
Summit at Junfraujoch we hear the great mountains
speak. Mauna Loa, the half submerged Hawaiian mountain,
ponders –
“..this flaunted
presumptuousness at being alive
Singular perspective seeking ultimate truths
to derive
This glorified existence considered most
precious
Presence of pervading inanimate dismissed
specious” (II 1ix)
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In the chapter titled “Fault
Lines of a Seismic Current”, the Andes
give this reading on the present –
“And yet hopes belied by perspectives wide shut
An interminable entrapment in sweeping plastic rut
The carefree wingspans of my Condors clipped
Aconcagua’s statuesque visage with worry dipped
At lurking upheavals in our bowels embedded
Prospects of regurgitating eruptions dreaded
Echoes of native genocides that still haunt
Mocking generational strut with bloody taunt” (II 2vi)
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The Rockies agree citing
a “frostier blanket of divisiveness start
to grip”. They poignantly lament –
“As tornadoes
of doubt afflict our confused torch bearer
Reduced to posturing aggressor from visionary repairer”
(II 2ix)
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If in Darkness at Bamiyan,
the author had skillfully interwoven tenets of
Buddhist philosophy in A Summit at Jungfraujoch
there are some fascinating references to astronomy,
astrophysics, geography and geology. For example,
in Kilimanjaro’s philosophical observation
is embellished with analogies from astronomy –
“The
fundamental isolation of each orbiting
path
Through passivity, change, explosive aftermath
In a parade of super clusters, domineering giants
Also the furrow of dwindling dwarfs defiant
Amid thrusts and pulls along gravitational tether
The reality of drift through this invisible ether” (II 2xi)
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