‘I Do Not Know Why’ review: A diplomat’s reflection on borders and belonging in 26 poems
Popular culture tends to paint bureaucrats in extremes: they are either cronies, bending to the whims of corrupt politicians, or formidable messiahs. There is rarely anything in between. Interestingly, while bureaucrats remain figures of intrigue and awe, many have also turned their gaze outward — writing about how they perceive the world, often through the lens of their bureaucratic experience. Think Shashi Tharoor, Upamanyu Chatterjee, Navtej Sarna, Ashok Vajpeyi, and Gopinath Mohanty. In that tradition comes ‘I Do Not Know Why’, a collection of poems written over decades by former diplomat Aftab Seth, who served as India’s ambassador to Greece, Vietnam, and Japan.
This collection of 26 poems starts with a commentary on old age in ‘Some Day my Friend’.
“Some day my friend
You will also be my age,
When furtive morning mirror
Will glance at whiffs of white
On jet black mane,” writes Seth, as an accompanying painting echoes the sentiment: an old man staring intently into a mirror, where the reflection of his younger self begins to fade.
The themes are diverse. There are more intimate musings on lost relationships, the death of a parent, and the feeling when a child leaves home to pursue her life. For example, in ‘My Smiling Wreath’, he writes:
“To see you going away
To some other place;
For the first time, leaving our space
Where we remain
Watching over you,” which he writes about his daughter leaving for the US for higher education.
Then there are poems that make a statement — such as conflict, loss, and suffering. For example, referring to a friend in Mizoram, who suffered with his family during army actions there, Seth writes:
“In quivering innocent fear you watched
From far off forest
While they burned your house and shop,
Yet you forgave their fire
You, compassionate crucible”
There’s a poem on the India-Pakistan conflict, not a political but a personal take in ‘Broken Toys’. “Five years after we left Karachi and had arrived in Greece, I saw a photo in the papers of the ravaged house of the Consul General where we had lived for 3 years,” reads the description of the poem about the impact in Pakistan of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.
However, what’s vivid is the several travels a diplomat undertakes and the impact that they have had on him. For example, he writes about life in Japan and in Vietnam. There is a poem on travel on a luxury train and on Jodhpur’s magnificent fort, Mehrangarh, and there are those encapsulating his dislike for cricket and football.
“These stupid senseless baffoons
Who will later repent the spent moons
When they see the time they have wasted
In this awful pastime of the flannelled fools,” he writes in 'The Flannelled Fools', recalling his lack of interest in cricket.
In one especially poignant musing — ‘Our Verandah Tailor,’ written in 1993 in Athens — he writes:
“Your demented son on your trail
To torture you with complaints of his life
Unfulfilled, possessed, sterile, alone!
You bore his barbs in sad silence.”
While the themes are vivid and the words intimate, what enhances the experience is the presentation. Books are clearly no longer about pages and pages laden with words. In ‘I Do Not Know Why,’ each poem is accompanied by a vivid portrayal of the theme, which adds more layers to one’s imagination. It’s a thoughtful collection that touches on a wide range of subjects in a way that feels accessible. There’s nothing overtly personal or overtly political here—only lived experience, rendered with clarity, compassion, and craft.
Book: I Do Not Know Why: Poems by Aftab Seth
Publisher: Birch Books
Pages: 71
Price: Rs 857
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