Four Levels of Writing to 'Gaia'

Gaia

Literal Comprehension

Existence of every creature is hanging by the earth. As long as the earth holds us tight, survival is possible but once the earth loses its patience, it’s too late to regret. Shreedhar Lohani writes about the pain our earth, Gaia has been absorbing and the patience she has been bearing. Humans have devastated what Gaia had furnished over years. Gradually, the unnatural heat in the air is burning the juices out of the once fleshy plants. Sometimes too heavy sometimes no rain has devastated the levels of seas and oceans. Not only has water levels of the seas been disturbed but the ongoing climatic variability has also caused the tall mountains to melt. The view of the earth is now vulnerable and sympathetic. Unpleasant smells of fungus have now replaced the once aromatic blossoming flowers. Crisis surrounds the entire world and Gaia is the chief sufferer. She is trapped inside the brutalities of human carelessness and compelled to take hits and smashes from the unnatural flow of air and water. Hunger strikes Gaia, the entire system of ecology is disturbed; yet she remains patient and keeps enduring the pain to persist the weight of human survival hanging by her own survival.

Interpretation

Gaia refers to the Greek Goddess of earth and hereby symbolizes the mother earth herself. Shreedhar Lohani attempts to deem Gaia as a victim of human negligence and their irresponsible behavior. Human beings have been careless with their activities, which is ultimately disturbing the entire ecology and system of the nature. The consequences thus have been victimizing the earth burdening her with struggles to regulate the normal chains in balancing the ecology. As for the disclosure of the myths, Gaia does not always retain the gentle nature but also forecasts ruthlessness to the disbelievers. Alike, the earth can also rise beyond the pampering and darken the lives of wrong doers. Lohani tries to alert people about their wrong interactions with the nature and its consequences ultimately affecting themselves.

Critical Thinking

Shreedhar Lohani succeeds to provide readers with the sensibility of the ecological trends in the earth. Human activities are indeed causing the earth to collapse day-by-day. Although humans are not particularly mentioned in the poem, it is somewhat logical to understand that the disorders in the nature are the result of humans and their negligence. The poem delivers an important message of how the earth is being exploited by the humans; however, the necessary precautions or solutions are not included in the poem at all. Rather the poem ends by mentioning that the earth bears the pain and endures the wrong doings. This may not be a considerable point in the context of awakening humans to take prior actions to the mistakes they have created.

Assimilation

The poem makes the readers realize the present context of global warming. Global warming is an effect of wrong human activities causing the earth to heat and bring ecological disorientations. Gradually global warming is taking over the entire planet and unless people realize their habitual mistakes, it is unstoppable. The earth is slowly changing its course of endurance and once it is no more capable of enduring the harm, every creature on the planet is bound to die.

Reference

Nissani, Moti and Shreedhar Lohani. Gaia. Ekta Publication, 2013.