Against the Synthetic

Deep Ecology, Materiality, Memory and the Search for Authenticity in the Anthropocene in Selected Poems of Rajiv Khandelwal

Abstract

Rajiv Khandelwal’s Dwelling with Denial explores the relationship between human emotion, memory, domestic life, and the non-human world. This paper examines “Mother’s Mothering” and “Reminiscence” as complementary explorations of the tension that lies between organic environments and technologically mediated modernity. The paper examines the ancestral house, garden, kitchen, botanical imagery, insects, domestic labour, and the “smart home” as interconnected sites of memory and emotional experience. “Mother’s Mothering” connects human growth with botanical growth through the image of the Gulmohar tree, while contrasting maternal care and domestic labour with technological convenience. “Reminiscence” creates a garden world filled with flowers, plants, and butterflies through which the speaker returns to memories of the past. Taken together, these poems suggest that ecological separation and emotional loneliness are closely knitted, as both arise from a loss of connection with the places we inhabit and the forms of care that give them meaning. Instead of presenting environmental awareness as ecological separation and emotional isolation limited just limited to policies or local concerns, Khandelwal connects ecological thinking with memory, personal identity, and everyday life. His poems therefore suggest that living meaningfully in the present does not simply depend on technological convenience. It also requires us to reconnect with our immediate surroundings and recognise the value of the human and non-human relationships that sustain us.