SUMMARY

In the poem "Soft Storm," Subedi ponders the illogicalities of turbulent times with compassion. Abhi Subedi's free verse poem Soft Strom is a lovely blend of natural and social depictions. On the surface, it shows the speaker's journey through Kathmandu's dark streets and lights at night; however, on a deeper level, it shows people's feelings of indifference toward the miserable conditions and sufferings of the people, malpractices, the turbulent atmosphere, and chaos in Nepalese society. He revolts against the socio-political irregularities. There is an storm of anger inside him, but since it is soft he does not expect change anytime soon.

In the first stanza, the poet uses terms like "tumult," "eerie," and so on to describe a disorder in the environment in Nepalese culture. Later, he uses the phrase "sky grew like crocuses" to describe a more positive situation, referring to the Irish floral family plants blooming over stones; these plants grow to five inches tall. At the point when the moon is near set, he talks in banners and governmental issues, as well as about different get-togethers. It's when a group of people talk about social activities in front of each other. He regains his softness by integrating both the natural environment and the social setting as he looks out from his roofs at the rose's gentleness like a gale. He utilizes this likeness to blend two restricting subjects, like the delicate quality of a rose and the strength of a solid breeze, and to reprimand different social misbehaviors committed by individuals in the public eye. After that, he depicts a seamless city with the moon singing and lightning, which some people interpret as a city with an easygoing and inviting atmosphere.

He depicts homeless, parentless children in Thamel begging for food and shelter in the second stanza. He criticizes corrupt political leaders who only care about themselves and their families rather than their disadvantaged citizens and orphans in this way. These future pillars are in danger and living in appalling circumstances. The country's prevalence of social problems is one of the main causes of everything. On the other hand, as he returns from such a horde (confusing location) of people dancing madly, parties, and ceremonies in big hotels and skyscrapers, he thinks back to the days when people were truly free.

In the third stanza, he softens up once more as he imagines a hopeless, depressed, and alone child who is always wearing a transistor around his neck and sobbing and looking for his mother. The child is in great fear. A man is brutally beaten in front of his family for no apparent reason. It asserts that people at this time are indifferent to one another and that dominance is king. The speaker rebels against the system as a result of these illegal actions.

The poet describes in the fourth stanza a man who is unable to speak because the powerful inhabitants of the night have silenced him, leaving him with a blood-stained shirt and bruised human lips. The game of hide-and-seek links the laborers and the landowners. The speaker expresses his dissatisfaction with the words "not listened to" and "waiting for the storm for its Leela" in the fifth stanza of the play.

The writer communicates good affections for the occupants in the 6th verse by utilizing grown-up Irish blossoming plants over the stone, storms going to public spots, and the sun sparkling with fluctuated colors like a rainbow. Other metaphors, such as the "soft storm," "silent pages," "forlorn shirts," and "celebrations for the gods," etc., are in a state of chaos because they are under the control of the country's disturbing rulers.

In the seventh stanza, he discusses a variety of the things that have softened his heart, such as valuable items, modern men's indifference and self-centeredness, criminal acts, a disturbed and spoiled mother earth as a result of human wrongdoing, and the terrible lives of other helpless creatures. In the final line of the poem, the speaker emphasizes that he needs freedom not only for himself but also for all of this motherland's creatures. He favors the exquisite and serene sky and wishes to move uninhibitedly, liberated from social requirements, to the normal calming song of calm tempests and pleasant birds singing, in a circle that goes endlessly round.

UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW.

a. At what point does the speaker become soft? Make use of the times when he becomes softer.

There are a few times when the speaker loses his voice. They are as follows:

When he returned from the melee, he saw a helpless child with a transistor radio around his neck, a blood-stained shirt, after hearing the commotion as the moon sang of lampposts and gutters in this seamless city, when homeless children in Thamel cried out for food.

b. What is meant by "this seamless city" to you?

"This seamless city" is a city where people can freely move around, without having to worry about social problems or disruptions, and enjoy the real benefits of happiness and freedom without bias. Seamless mean without any restriction or hurdle according to dictionary.

c. Describe the plight of the poem's poor children.

Under the “bat-bearing trees” of Kesharmahal in Thamel, hungry, homeless, and without parents, children scream. They are denied the fundamental rights that are protected by the Constitution.

d. What do you think "the unwed gardens of history" mean to you?

I understand that social and political hegemony has led to unresolved incidents in the past as well as a society that ignores its culture and traditions, resulting in a lawless and chaotic society in Nepal.

e. Why was the child sobbing hopelessly?

The bereft child screamed for his mother to come out of the corridors of violent history.

f. What does the poet mean when he says "soft storm?"

By “soft storm” I believe that the poet means to say is that he has a storm going on inside him due to all the irregularities, lawlessness, and hopelessness but the anger and frustration is soft which expects change but cannot bring it due to the feeble intensity.

g. For what reason does the speaker call our time 'hard time'?

The speaker refers to the present era as "hard time" because it is not governed by the nation's laws or the constitution. He asserts that environmental degradation, favoritism, social and political inequality, and corruption are all prevalent in the society.

h. In "hard times," what does the speaker want to do?

The speaker wants to melt like a rainbow during "hard times."

REFERENCE TO THE CONTEXT

a. The poet uses the word "soft" in conjunction with the terms "storm" and "gale," which typically refer to disorder and violence. What effect does the poet achieve by employing such unusual language?

An anomalous expression is one that is well-formed syntactically but meaningless semantically. In the poem, the terms "soft storm" and "softness rose like a gale" are unusual and contradictory. Using these terms, the poet creates a psychological effect. By connecting two opposing ideas; he can convey his troubled inner experience.

b. How does the speaker feel about the period he describes in the poem?

The speaker is not as positive about the time because he finds that no particular work is being done by humans at particular times. Since he sees a lot of strange things happening around him, he thinks the time is wrong. He is having trouble because society is completely out of control and in chaos. Consequently, the speaker of the poem views time negatively.

c. How does the speaker appear? Does he rebel? Why? Why not?

Yes, the speaker of the poem behaves like a rebel, but the poem does not explicitly depict his rebellious nature. The artist tracks down the general public in disorder, with individuals living in destitution, yearning, and disgrace. He sees crying children who are homeless and starving. He sees people who treat each other cruelly and forget their history. He seems like a rebel because he challenges everything.

d.In your own words, describe the following stanza:

“I became soft

when I saw

a blood-stained shirt

speaking in the earth’s ears

with bruised human lips

in the far corner

under the moon

of history and dreams

playing hide and seek

in open museums

of human times.”

These lines are from the poem "Soft Storm" by Abhi Subedi. The poet expresses his displeasure when he observes a person in poor health late at night in the given lines. The poet uses these lines to describe a man who is unable to speak because the powerful inhabitants of the night have silenced him, leaving him with a blood-stained shirt and bruised lips. Clouds occasionally obscure the moon of history and dreams, which is the history of human ambitions and achievements. A location with significant cultural and historical significance is illuminated by the moonlight as it rises. The game of hide-and-seek links the laborers and the landowners.

REFERENCE BEYOND THE TEXT

a. Write an essay expressing your dissatisfaction with the current social, cultural, economic, and political issues in Nepal.

If we look at the history, it was both glorious and disappointing. In the past monarchs and autocrats ruled the country. After King Prithivi Narayan Shah unified Nepal, many monarchs and Rana dynasty reigned. Some of them were liberal while some were dictators. Nonetheless, people experienced a stable politics, less inflation, and the country had a different status in the world as most of the nations respected our country. Having said that, it is not that there were no oppressions and irregularities because they are in every regime around the world.

Coming to the present situation, now Nepal is a Federal Republic where there is no monarch as such but Nepalese people are still ruled by the sons and daughters of Nepalese people. In this sense, politics and the changed system after the so called Civil War led by Maoists has not been able to do justice to the sacrifices made by the countrymen. The civil war has brought immense improvement in the political sensibility and awareness in the public, but they still feel that only the name of the system changed. They have not yet felt the change in their status; they still feel like they are being ruled by their fellow comrades whereas the actual meaning of the federal republic means the rulers are of the same status and citizens, and must be punished for any breaches of law, but that is not the case still. The political turmoil and instability is in its height and nepotism and favoritism is beyond limits. Therefore, fundamentally nothing has changes except the fact that now there is no king in the country.

In terms of social and cultural situation, more and more people are going into poverty due to complicated rules and regulations which are also unable to address the actual situation of the public. Increasingly higher number of people is leaving the country for jobs and studies. Moreover, people are finding it difficult to do business, agriculture or jobs in the country because none of these are uplifting people’s lives. Due to this situation, people are being lured toward different visa programs provided by affluent nations and people are always in a lookout for a change to fit in one of these visa programs. Crime has increased due to failure to punish the culprit due to excessive political interference and people have started doubting their safety even inside the house. External influences have so deep rooted that people are following traditions that are fed by the international media which has risked Nepali cultural and social identity. Due to the availability of internet, most of the people are seen spending their fruitful hours in surfing social media which is paralyzing country’s economy bit by bit.

In conclusion, Nepal has experience various changes in political, social, economic and cultural areas. There are some good changes made while others are depressing. It is necessary that main body of the country, legislative, executive and judiciary must be answerable to the citizens if Nepalese want to see a surge in happiness and prosperity.

b. Let's say you're a rebel who wants to change the society by getting rid of wrongdoings and oddities. Write a speech about your plan for change.

Respected Jury Members, Chief Guest, other guests and my dear friends,

The change that comes from within changes the society. You are the change, I am the change.

Today, I am taking this opportunity to express my thoughts on ‘The Change that I envision’.

In the recent days, many anomalies are going on in the society. These discrepancies have been eating the society from within but it seems like it is fine from the outside. I believe the greatest force to change and make the society free from these malpractices and anomalies are the informed youths of the society. I would also like you to know that a further delay for action can bring disastrous consequences not only for individuals, but for the society as a whole.

Therefore, without further ado, we must find, understand and plan the solution to the problems in the society. In my opinion, which may differ from the opinions or experiences of the people listening to me now, the major challenges lurking in the society currently are dilapidated and hybridized education system, which is the root cause of every problem one way or the other. I say this because it is right kind of education that helps the society to be politically, socially, economically, culturally strong. As I said earlier that your opinion may vary from my own, I say this because I am leaving room for discussions and conclusions different from my own. As I was saying, right kind of education and right kind of people in the policy making level can bring rebellious corrections to the oddities currently present in the society. We are today forgetting our own culture, tradition, language and following and sticking to the culture, language, tradition of the others. We need to change this. We are living in that part of the world which is rich in culture, tradition and language of our own. Once upon a time, this land was that rich which taught the world about rules to run a society and a country. There were many learned scholars who have laid out regulations and policies to be followed. However, today we think that our own scholars were orthodox, unintelligent because we have been so much influenced by other’s tradition, language and policies. We have not only stopped taking pride and loving what is ours but we hate it.

In order bring our sway to the right track we need a force that is willing to take the risk for the sake of our identity and culture. We need those strong chests to accept any accusation, revolt against it and be ready to take that hot bullet for the change we expect to happen. This change cannot just happen with the handful of people who desire change but everybody should join hands because it is our problem, not my problem only. As per my plan, we should remove the books that talk about the history, society, events, functions, superiority, glamour, tradition, and culture of other countries and replace them with the books that have the content that is originally ours. We need to be patient and keep working because the change that we expect will not come tomorrow; it will take 10-20 years. The subjects we teach must be in our language and even the science and other subjects. We should also learn others language because it will help us debate and attack others in their language. If we do this there will be politicians who take pride in our soil, who will know the requirements and wrongdoings in our society and formulate plans that suit our soil. The teachers will be well-informed about the needs and anomalies of our society and educate the students accordingly. Slowly the older generation will phase out and the new informed generation will emerge.

In conclusion, I would like to end my speech by saying that it is you youths that should take a step forward to a brighter future for yourself and future generation. Let the future generation not cuss you as you cuss the older generation today. Let us make our society free from hybridized education system and establish that represents us.

Thank you for your time and attention.