Wind in the Afternoon is a popular post-modernist poem by the reclusive Indian English poet and translator Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan. The poem was originally published in the Vani Vikas magazine of Utkal University in 1994 under the poet's pen name Gul Mohammed Nur-Ami. It created ripples on its first publication. Subsequently it was published in the Journal of the Poetry Society (India) under the title The Storm and received wide acclaim.
The poem is full of allusions and symbolism, which is typical of Dr Pradhan's poetry, and follows the tradition of post modernism and neo-impressionism in its description of a few scenes of a windy afternoon on a street-side to dramatically present a heady mixture of human emotions such as aspiration, despair, fear and resignation to fate etc.
In the poem the two men behind the window represent the majority of mankind who are afraid of taking part in the world's affairs, and are unsure of their own manhood. Instead of looking directly at the lovely young girl on the balcony, the two men vaguely follow the movements of the empty tea carton. The tea carton symbolizes "vague hope" that has no direction.
In the poet's words, the balcony, gable and rooftop symbolically represent the three higher chakras Anahata, Vishuddha and Ajna in the human body as per Yoga philosophy. Instead of the sexual desire or spiritual aspirations of the two men getting sublimated at Ajna or Sahasrara Chakra, it peters out into worldly distractions.
Winds and "howlings" represent public opinion and peer pressure, cabbage leaves represent old decadent ideas (negativism) and manhole represents one's own conscience. The young girl represents noble human aspiration or a desire for Samādhi, while the sanitary napkin represents base sexual desire, which draws away human aspiration from sublime goals.
In the final stanza of the poem, the two men have abandoned their aspirations, and base desires have taken over in the form of vicarious pleasure of other people (stray dogs) giving practical shape to one's sexual fantasies.