CULTURAL EROSION AND CULTURAL MEMORY IN TAUFIQ RAFAT’S ARRIVAL OF THE MONSOON

Purpose of the study: This study focuses on analyzing and locating the cultural images and the elements which present the idea of cultural erosion, and with the lens of cultural memory evokes the idea of identity, and nostalgia in Taufiq Rafat’s poetry. Methodology: This research is qualitative in design. To explore the concepts of cultural memory and cultural erosion Purposive sampling is used for the selection of the poems. For analysis, textual and descriptive methods of analysis are used. Jan Assmann's (cultural theorist and archaeologist) theory of cultural memory serves as a theoretical framework for this study. Main Findings: From the analysis, it is explored that Rafat’s poetry discerns the concepts of cultural erosion and cultural memory. In the majority of his poems, few dominant images are used repeatedly to strengthen the notion of memory and yearning for the past such as time (clock), the flow of time which is fleeting and nontransient. He not only laments on cultural erosion but also keeps his personal and social memories, traditions, ancient civilizations, rituals, and objects alive so that they could be transferred to the next generations to establish mnemonics. Applications of the study: This research may be beneficial to those studying Anthropology, Culture Studies, History, South Asian Literature, and Sociology. Furthermore, the interpretation of major symbols and images related to the culture, and history which evoke cultural memory, and erosion will pave the way for the deconstruction of symbols in poetry. The novelty of the study: Rafat’s poetry is enriched with natural and romantic images, the depiction of beauty and culture about which many studies are available. The significance of this study lies in the fact that the concept of cultural memory from his poems has been evoked and analyzed.


INTRODUCTION
Taufiq Rafat is one of the distinct and nationally acknowledged Pakistani poet writing in English. The Arrival of the Monsoon contains 116 poems that cover 31 years of the poetic career of his life. It is also well appreciated for its use of neologism and Pakistani idioms. Hayat, in her research paper 'Pakistaniness in Taufiq Rafat's Poetry,' writes that after partition, many Pakistani poets talk about distinct culture and Pakistani traditions as "this idea emerged with Taufiq Rafat in the 1960s but became popular in 1970s" (Hayat, 2016(Hayat, , p. 1638).
The themes of Rafat's poetry are the co-existence of creative and destructive forces, delight in the local flora and fauna (romanticism), and a delineation of the life of a commoner, love for nature and beauty, cultural erosion, death, and contemporary issues. Rafat's vision and illustration of cultural and rural life show his deep love and attachment with his soil Pakistan. The patriotic zeal in his poetry cannot be ignored. Rafat has been called an Asian romantic poet because of the presence of romantic elements in his poetry. Like Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, and Coleridge, he is the worshipper and ardent lover of nature. He takes delight even in the smallest objects of nature. Furthermore, his poems present the natural objects' panoramic view all around us in their simplicity, beauty, and truth (Rafique & Tabassum, 2021).
The functionalists view culture as a central force that holds societal individuals together. In contrast, Marxists perceive culture as a system or instrument that some groups use to manipulate supremacy over other community members. Wang defines the term culture "as both a system and a process (rituals, daily routines, and practices) of symbolic mediation. It directs all social institutions and regulates individuals' moral values, actions, thoughts, sentiments, and ethical standards". In 'Culture and Imperialism, ' Edward Said establishes the viewpoint that colonizers operate and utilize the power of culture in all its systems of institutions, politics, and economy. This power has become the basis for their maintenance. Edward opines that it is only the cultural force that acts as moral power "which achieves a kind of 'ideological pacification" (Ashcroft & Ahluwalia, 2000).
Likewise, the expression of memory has been used over the last three decades in bounteous literature. Regarding memory, a new perspective has been discovered by anthropologists, historians, sociologists, literary critics, and philosophers and has also catechized cultures, peculiar aspects of societies, and histories. Frequently, memory is viewed as a repository of past experiences located in a particular context. However, recent theories have shifted the emphasis to the mechanism of memory, which enables the past, whether collective or person, to emerge as a construction that serves as a powerful driving force for identity creation in any given present moment. In this view, memory selects a feature from the past. It organizes them into more or less cohesive constructs that others must validate to serve as reliable representations of the past and building blocks of present and future identity (Larsen, 2016). Memory is not only a physical ability; it is also a collective activity of reconstructing the past that social groups engage in (e.g., the nation-state, the family, and the church) (Ortner, 2020).
Memory is a critical component of all that defines human life and identity. Without the ability to recall the past, neither the present nor the future can work adequately or evolve entirely in light of prior experiences (Classen, 2015). Memory is a fantastic resource because it enables individual animals to walk around with a store of meaningful past experiences stored in their brains (N. Laland & Rendell, 2013). Memory is conceived as a discursive space where cultural identities are established in dialogical encounters with othersnot silencing narratives, but displacing them, writes Laursen (2012) to expose the dynamic transnational legacies of colonial and racial abuse (Andermahr, 2019). Memory's porous nature enables a person to navigate a social environment composed of an accumulation of autobiographical memories, and in doing so, the individual generates collective remembrance (Brown et al., 2012).
Memory is understood from a geographical viewpoint as deeply rooted in its connections to place and identity and the role of influence in-memory representations. By examining the politics of memory, we will gain a better understanding of how power affects and influences the perception of memory representations and the (re)production, preservation, and output of identity (Drozdzewski et al., 2019). Lev Vygotsky (1987) examined how humans organize and aid memory through the use of diverse cultural technologiessuch as knots on a rope, monuments, the loci method, or simply 'chunking' information into manageable units (Vygotsky, 1987, as cited in Brescó & Wagoner, 2019). Hence, memory refers to something that is forgotten, bye-gone and extinct. In the eminent field of cultural studies, cultural memory has become an influential and imperative topic, that embraces the subject matter of individual and social memory.
The origin of the term' collective memory' can be traced in Emile Durkheim's work, 'Elementary Forms of Religious Life' that was first published in 1912' He wrote at length regarding the memorials of rituals and asserted, "Man is double. There are two beings in him: an individual being and a social being representing the highest reality in the intellectual and moral order that we can know by observation-I mean society" (Durkheim, 2008, p. 79). Durkheim prop ups the idea of collective representation through society and relegates a subsidiary role to individuality. In the relevant tinge, in 1925, the student of Durkheim, the French sociologist, Maurice Halbwachs presented the seminal study, 'The social Framework of Memories' proffered the landmark concept of "collective or "social memory" He writes, "it is the society that people normally acquire their memories. It is also in society that they recall, recognize, and localize their memories" (Wagoner, 2017, p. 144). He further expounded that the concept of collective memory cannot be divorced from individualistic memory (An & Hong, 2019).
Following Halbwachs, academics from a variety of academic backgrounds have used collective memory as an interdisciplinary term. Theoretical principles, historical and archival sources, oral histories, case studies, interviews, surveys, and discourse analysis are often used in collective memory research (García-Gavilanes et al., 2017). Collective memory, which occurs independently of individuals, can also organize individual memories and serves as a shared mental model for connecting people's memories through time and space. (Gagnepain et al., 2019). Zerubavel argued that Collective memory carriers may be tangible (monuments, buildings, and other material culture), which the official system can guarantee. They can be non-material (collective memory linked to everyday life), which must be accompanied by informal traditions of different social activities (Liao & Dai, 2020). Therefore, collective memory does not reflect the individual memories that are discrete and detached but it manifests itself through collective memories. Individual and collective memories are controlled by divergent dynamics, evolved through different contexts, and the product of social change. Jan Assmann is credited with being the first to attempt to "treat photographs as cultural objectives, as memory carriers." His main project was to investigate the "afterlife" (Nachleben) of classical antiquity in Western culture, which he dubbed "Mnemosyne" after the ancient Greek word for memory. Nonetheless, both Aby Warburg and Maurice Halbwachs were the first ones who introduced the term collective or social memory independently by discarding the biological theories of memories that were in vogue before them and altered the drift of the collective knowledge discourse from a biological framework into a cultural framework.
In the arts, literature and cultural memory complement one another. Both have a "transgenerational pact" governed by what is known as structural memory. They leave a common space of topoi, troops, photographs, references, echoes, apprehensions, joys, and concerns that lies underneath an expanse of culturally identifiable identity. Literature simultaneously constructs and studies memory, at times directly focusing on the remembering process (Brill, 2017). Memorialization, the retrieval of "forgotten" histories, the position of cultural development, and counter, contextual, and changing historical narratives are all addressed by theories of collective and Cultural Memory (Terry, 2013).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Jan Assmann (1938-to date), German Egyptologist, and his wife Aleida Assmann have introduced the theory of cultural and communicative memory. He presented two distinct types of memory, the communicative culture: it is constricted to contemporary times of yore that triggers personal and autobiographical recollections feature short term memory. Furthermore, it disseminates memories orally in or daily life. Second cultural memory concentrates on speech and is used in implying exteriorized and institutionalized memories that could be preserved, transmitted, and reconstructed from generation to generation which is maintained by protecting of objects: embodiments in texts, monuments, rites, celebrations, scriptures, and other media (Erll & Nünning, 2008). Jan Assmann further elaborated his concept by giving the example of Nietzsche, who asserted that in the animal kingdom, the continuation of the particular species is indemnified by its genetic program; however, in the world of human beings, the problem is resolved by cultural memory. It replenishes the cumulative conception for all sort of enlightenment that helps direct the demeanor and experience in the reciprocated structure of any society that could only be acquired and initiated in a cyclic social practice through generation (Assmann & Czaplicka, 1995).
Assmann further expounded the term "cultural memory" and designated the institution's name that is materialized, substantiated, and mutually shared in the form of fixed symbols. They could be continued and transformed through generations. At the individual level of memory, extrinsic objects play a crucial role in transporting a memory. Our mind is the principal tool of memory utilized for a constant interplay of the memories of other human beings and other things or external symbols. He has explained these 'things' concerning Marcel Proust's well-known artifacts, things of anniversaries, feats, and graphical images or landscapes. The expression of memory should not be used metaphorically but metonymically as it exhibits material association between a recollection of mind and recalling of thing. Objects are instrumental in reminiscing, and their memory could not be displayed by themselves. Various things and events may activate memory, for instance, variant texts, symbols, customs and traditions, landscapes, and feats. The outward signs like communities or social groups have a propensity of assembling memories into one unified whole by using things as indicators of memorials suchlike museums, libraries, collection of records, mementos, and mnemonics establishments (Assmann, 2011).
Hence, according to Assmann, cultural memory represents an emblematic heritage that is manifested through the memorial, rituals, objects, festivals, consecrated scriptures, repeated practices, texts like lyric or it could be epic poetry, historical accounts, and the function of different media is important which performs the role of mnemonics in generating meanings

METHODOLOGY
The present research is a qualitative study and primarily based on the analysis of Rafat's Arrival of the Monsoon. Contextually, the concept of cultural erosion and Jan Assmann's (cultural theorist and archeologist) notion of cultural memory serves as a theoretical framework for this study. For this purpose, textual thematic analysis, as well as descriptive methods, are used to explore the notions mentioned above. Purpose sampling is used for the selection of poems from the aforementioned text. The selection criteria for the poems would be based on the themes of nostalgia, cultural erosion, cultural memory, and identity. The selected poems from the poetry collection, Arrival of Monsoon are taken as a tool for interpretation.

RESULTS/DISCUSSION
This section of study focuses upon an analysis of notions of cultural erosion, cultural memory, and nostalgia in Rafat's poetry. While analyzing different poems from his collection of poetry Arrival of the Moonsoon, the elements, images, and symbols referring to cultural erosion and memory in Rafat's poetry have been pointed out by discussing their symbolic relevance. The researchers have also focused on highlighting what specific imagery concerning the depiction of culture and cultural memory has been introduced by Rafat in his poetry.
Mansoor, a researcher states about Rafat that his poetry is replete with cultural allusions In Reflections, the melody of "redarsed bulbuls" fills the air in his garden of shisham and gulmohars as he builds a linguistic monument that harkens back to antediluvian times when myths were built to give meaning to life, and in connecting with universal humanity through those myths (Mansoor, 2012).
While discussing cultural erosion and cultural memory themes, an analysis of Rafat's poetry is needed, which runs in all of his poems. The poem The Squalor is also permeated with nostalgic memories of the protagonist. He recalls a house situated on Shahalam, where his mother lived, but it is no more there; instead, there is a dry fountain. This poem evokes the idea of cultural memory. According to the poet, it is a symbol of the act that severed a continent. But it inflames the eye of memory like a mote.
In this phrase," it inflames the eye of memory" (Rafat, 1985, p. 23) memory has been personified here as a human being who has eyes. Besides, the poet also recalls his grandfather, who used to be the renowned and the most skilled bonesetter of his day. He also brings forth his memories of childhood days when he states that: In that smell of oil and lint and dung And unaired quilts, how carefree we were. (Rafat, 1985, p. 24) The lines mentioned above show that the poet's childhood was very carefree. It also refers to cultural erosion. To live in mud houses, full of dung and smell of oil, and sleep in unaired quilts refers to the culture of Pakistani society. These words' dung, oil, quilt' are images to bring the memory back. The memories of the poet also evoke the sense of loss related to the culture of Pakistani society. Once, it was the culture of Pakistani society which is losing its stability because it is no more there. The poet also mourns over this cultural loss besides memorizing his childhood days. His grandfather also stands for his cultural values because he represents his cultural roots. When he is not alive in the present, this refers to national cultural loss. This idea is in line with Assmann, who has argued that memory is not the only individual but has cultural dimensions.
Assmann has explained these 'things', which evoke cultural memories, in terms of Marcel Proust's well-known artifacts, things of anniversaries, feats, and graphical images or landscapes. The expression of memory should not be used metaphorically but metonymically as it exhibits material association between a recollection of mind and recalling of thing. Objects are instrumental in reminiscing, and their memory could not be displayed on their own. He thinks that cultural memory also strengthens and preserves the shared collective knowledge and experiences of antiquity and survives for generations. Assmann focused on the cultural memory from the Egyptians, Babylonians, and the Indians, to the holocaust in Germany. The current disputes between Israelites and Palestinians established a link between identity and cultural memory.
The poem The Medal is also an essential poem in discussing the theme of memory and cultural erosion. The poem is the emotional outburst of a widow of a soldier. It is written in a narrative mood. The widow received a telegram that broke the news of her husband's martyrdom.
It said the government was sorry my husband was dead, killed in action. (Rafat, 1985, p. 27) Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews eISSN: 2395-6518, Vol 9 His martyrdom is not a simple action it is a valuable activity to remember. She further tells: They printed his name in the papers And a photograph of his bachelor days He had died a hero. (Rafat, 1985, p. 27) The photograph of his bachelor days is a reference to the past, i.e., memory. The use of the past tense in the poem supports the idea that Rafat's main poems are about remembrance and elicit a sense of nostalgia in the reader. She further narrates how she goes to pay tribute to her husband's bravery, but her husband's death is also a loss of cultural values. Because he has died a national hero, this made him a cultural memory. Thus, cultural memory analogous to myth and has a strong link with history, and it may change over time. In any society, myths are regarded as an essential method for transfiguring historically rooted events and transmitting a massive cultural memory (Rigney, 2018).
Such is the poem The Village, which can also be cited here as the appropriate example of cultural memory, loss, and nostalgic yearnings. The poet has described the pre-war and post-war scenario in the poem, which evokes a sense of failure in the readers. It is a mourning elegy. The poet has visited a village which has presented a scene of chaos and destruction of village houses and demise of human lives. He states: Of each house are gone, giving us The appearance of tourists in an excavated Site. (Rafat, 1985, p. 29) This "excavated site" is demolished houses in the village. Once in a thriving market, people used to sit together and indulged in discussion and bargained for a piece of silk and a mango. This village, including houses, represents culture because every home with living people represents culture and values. It directly refers to cultural erosion because the poem is replete with such scenes which represent cultural erosion. The poet states, A mosque stands with minarets down, like an armless beggar. (Rafat, 1985, p. 31) The poet has used a very suggestive and appropriate image to talk about the deterioration of cultural values. These lines present the falling down of minarets of a mosque … a ritual place, which is symbolic of loss and decline of religious reverence and sacredness. A simile of a beggar has been used to describe this spiritual deterioration. Agnes Heller has also commented in the same vein that Cultural memory is perpetuated and nurtured by society or groups of people to maintain their existence. It is a source of identity construction and maintenance. In kardimarkara, a Lake Eyre area tradition, thorough research reveals that these narratives are scripture, not history. Their status as Indigenous philosophy and literature is more important than the very flimsy claim that they contain fragments of a somewhat distant past's cultural memory (Smith, 2018).
Contextually, the destruction of the mosque traces the idea of cultural memory; once, there used to be a mosque, an epitome of cultural values. The poet further states: and along the roads hastily cut down the Shishamtrees. (Rafat, 1985, p. 31) The cutting down of these 'Shisham trees' along the roads is also an act of demolishment, representing cultural erosion. The lines refer to bygone civilizations, which were representatives of culture. Besides, other scenes refer to the loss of moral values and morality.
These ravaged stumps will bear witness To a civilization just as surely, as the topless stupas and mangled buddhas. (Rafat, 1985, p. 31) The above-written lines convey the underlying idea that 'topless stupas' are representatives of eroded culture and deteriorated cultures as stupas of mosques and religious buildings are representatives of civilizations and cultures. They also evoke cultural memories of ancient civilizations. Buddha is also a historical figure whose name is associated with Buddhism, a religious belief. He was recognized with the name of Mahatma Buddha, meaning the enlightened one. He was also called the Sidhartta. The words ' mangled Buddha' refers to smash sculptures of Buddha. Buddhism entails in itself the entire civilization and a generation of believers. The smashed statue of Buddha means distortion of history and erosion of culture. It is no more than remaining hints of the glory of ancient culture and era with its history. The poet further talks about the What Asian immigrant poets regard as their cultural heritage is practically absent from the official discourses of the Western societies in which they live. As a result, they must rely on memory to invoke their vanishing history and re-establish links to their cultural traditions. What Asian immigrant poetry demonstrates is a therapeutic model of imagination in which memory is triggered through the healing force of poetry, allowing Asian immigrants to capture the dynamic energy and vitality embodied in the space between their memories and their attempts to create a new culture (Zhang, 2016).
Kitchens is also a beautiful poem by Rafat, which evokes memories, collective and personal, in the readers. The poem is about the description of the traditional place kitchen and a mythical figure mother. It offers a plethora of images that confirm readers' impression of the Pakistani home culture. The poet has talked about kitchens as a place where he has grown up amid the aromas of smoke and different spices. It is a warm place with a wood fire in December coldness. It is also a spacious place to spend winter evenings. The poet recalls all traditional food items he and his siblings used to taste in kitchens as children i.e.

And fresh bread dripping and
Everlasting bowls of tea. (Rafat, 1985, p. 44) The discussions related to different topics, i.e., births, marriages, deaths crops, were done in the kitchen. The image of the last night's curry is also a reference to Pakistani culture. But now the re-visitation to this place instills a sense of loss into the poet when he says that: Chairs are insular They do not encourage Intimacy like slats. (Rafat, 1985, p. 44) There are now empty chairs that cannot replace living human beings. An image of 'slat' also promotes the idea of cultural relevance. For strengthening the concept of memories, an image of 'clock' has also been used by the poet which gives the idea of time, time bygone and yet to come…the fleeting time. The 'clock' reminds the poet of his past life and his memories. The memory of ancient days, especially the poet's childhood, has been focused on in this poem. Besides, the reference to slat, kitchen, and mother are representatives of culture, and their absence is cultural erosion. The concept of the motherly figure we have in our minds since time immemorial has been strongly presented in this poem. The maternal figure is the second name of cultural roots of a man. The poet further states: we could not dream of coming to this site to savor our triumphs.
or unburden our grieves. (Rafat, 1985, p. 45) These lines refer to the living in a modern-day scenario that the poet is lamenting over the loss of his cultural roots because they live in speedy modern life where there is no place for this type of attachment and cultural roots. Their modern-day sensibilities cannot allow them to come here for memorization of their past and share of their grieves and their happiness.
For the celebration of their success, they have to rely on their modern setup like social gatherings. That's why he states that "the surrealistic clock clicks forward" (Rafat, 1985, p. 45). It means they do not have time to stop, think, or look back. All this detailed description evokes the idea of the loss of cultural values in modern times and the absence of this home culture in the life of a modern man, now ultimately referring towards cultural erosion. Therefore, the prevalent paradigm of 'trauma' illuminates the grip the past has over us, casting the shadow of a melancholic subjectivity that threatens to obscure our agency as (political) subjects, whereas 'cultural memory' is conceived as mediated, dynamic, creative, and influenced by the present (Simine, 2019). Here, the poet recalls the centuries-old civilizations of Mohenjo-Daro, Alexandria, and Rome. Alexandria is a port city on the Mediterranean city in Northern Egypt, founded by Alexander in 331 BC. It is the most famous city in history. In this poem, the poet has talked about their past glory and grandeur. Once, they represented different cultures and complete systems of life in them, but now only their ruins speak, and they are almost non -existent. The poet has introduced the element of time also in these lines. The idea of time showing its tricks like 'an acrobat' is an interesting and suggestive one. This image implies that the civilizations that were on their peaks in their relevant epoch have become an epitome of ruin and deterioration by collapsing down to earth. Hence contributing to the idea of cultural erosion and cultural memory as Assmann & Czaplicka (1995) has expounded the notion that sculptures and monuments trigger the idea of cultural memory.

Thinking of Mohenjo-Daro
Maghari (2020), in his study, examines the city in medieval, colonial, and postcolonial Morocco as a site of personal and collective memory. His research further explores various cultural monuments, including imperial city gates, the Mellah (Jewish quarter), North African and Andalusi documents, and historical figures, in so far as they serve as Linux de mémoire in the manner described by Pierre Nora. These facets of Moroccan cultural heritage serve as embodiments of history through memory, embedded in material and immaterial figures, and help define the country's identity as an interfaith, multi-ethnic, and plurilingual Morocco (Mghari, 2020).
Similarly, Sell (2012) argued that cultural memory would function as an "act of transfer" (p. 39), in which individuals and groups constitute their identities by remembering a shared history based on traditional norms, conventions, and practices that are often challenged. He further states that "the decisive resource for national identity consciousness" (p. 87), and the fact that shared memories determine a sense of belonging makes the "bonding memory" the first source of the instrumentalization process. The nation creates its memory, producing a narrative version of its history to create identity by using memorial places and sites of remembrance such as landmarks, libraries, ceremonies and commemorations, and various other memory symbols. As an acrobat demonstrates different tricks in showing tricks, so does time show its tricks. Time is what brings destruction and cultural erosion, from glory and splendor to ruin and destruction. Time is an indicator that brings a man back to memory. It evokes cultural memory (Sell, 2012).
The poem Sialkot is also vital in its presentation of the cultural aspect and theme of memory. This poem presents a political scene in Pakistan after the war. Sialkot was once a center of cultural activity and valuable traditions. There is also a fort which is: More than a thousand years old. Only a fraction of one corner retains the character of a fort. (Rafat, 1985, p. 64) The fort in this poem stands as a symbol of cultural values and cultural memory. Even though it is a building but it is representative of cultural values. The poet has said that bullets, arrows, and stones have been launched through this fort. There is a complete scene of destruction, as people, along with their things heaped on the carts, are walking on the lanes in this city. The poem is presenting a heart-rending scene of the social collapse of Sialkot.
The next point of concern for the researcher has also been touched upon in this poem, i.e., cultural and personal memory. The poet says that: "memories choke its brick-paved arteries" (Rafat, 1985, p. 64). It means the tormenting memories have entered into the souls of the inhabitants of Sialkot. The poet is not only memorizing his town but also mourning the loss of traditions and cultural erosion. He says: It was once the center of things.

Neglected and poetic,…
One wonders if these slow carts are nudging it again into history. (Rafat, 1985, p. 65) The above-written lines show that Sialkot is becoming a part of history because of cultural erosion and social and political upheaval. The poet also feels patriotic zeal as it is his hometown, and he feels a surge of peace and contentment being its inhabitant. This poem has presented the heart-rending scenario of tragedy and cultural erosion in Sialkot. It also is the epitome of cultural memory because of the fort as a monument. Hussain et al. (2020), in their study, indicates that Cultural memory serves as an effective catalyst for emotional connection to a place and is a critical factor in shaping one's sense of place (Hussein et al., 2020).
Sialkot Bombed is another poem related to the chaotic situation prevalent after the attack in Sialkot. This poem continues the idea of destruction in Sialkot. There were almost a hundred deaths. According to the poet, death was just a casual experience to mention in a city like Sialkot. The writer has presented the psyche of a boy there and how he memorizes the traumatic experience as: He keeps remembering pieces of meat on the walls, And the screams of the wounded. (Rafat, 1985, p. 105) The screams of the wounded and the pieces of human flesh on walls are aftereffects of bombing in Sialkot. The inhabitants of Sialkot "has a relic of that grim journey" (Rafat, 1985, p.109) which those attackers have left in Sialkot after attack… a bus, which a bullock cart has dragged. The children take it a thing to play. The poet states: Children use it as a playground they swing from the two ribs left of the rib cage that held the roof. (Rafat, 1985, p. 109) On the other hand, the attackers' planes dropped bombs in the city. The poet feels sad about this tragic loss and colossal destruction, but the children are shouting in merriment because they have objects to play with. Children are innocent by nature; that's why they are unaware of the grimness of human tragedy. The poet wants to go far away from the joyous shouts of the children. As a result of the attack, this city of culture and traditions is reduced to ashes. The poem offers the apt elaboration of cultural erosion where Sialkot, a town of Pakistani culture, has been reduced to nothing. In their book on mediation, remediation, and cultural Memory, Astrid Erll and Ann Rigney argue that "remembering" is best understood as a performative rather than reproductive interaction with the past. It's as much about playing out a connection to the past from a specific point in time as it is about remembering and retrieving previous stories (Bertens, 2020).
Rafat's most important poem to discuss in the context of cultural erosion is Stone-Chat. The poem is significant for its theme of the search for self-identity and cultural erosion. The poem has contrasted between youth and old age, between bountiful life and lack of youthful vigor. It refers to a journey as the poet has stopped for rest which takes him towards meditation. He states: In Jhelum eroded hills, where we have stopped for a moment to relieve ourselves for a minute. (Rafat, 1985, p. 140) The words' Jhelum eroded hills' are the direct reference to cultural erosion. Erosion means destruction. The poet is sensitive enough to note the erosion of the Jhelum hills. They bespeak of the centuries-old glory, and civilization Jhelum holds in its roots. The poet has stopped here to take relief but, in reality, to meditate over the present situation of 'Jhelum eroded hills'. The poet has dealt with the theme of the identity of the poet in this poem. That's why he is trying to co-re relate his situation with that of hills.
Later on, he talks about an old village woman, who is also a symbol of culture because she is about to die.
A village crone, too seemed and bedridden, to be of value, still spitting out the occasional proverbs. (Rafat, 1985, p. 140) These lines refer to the importance of that village woman as a representative of the culture. Culture also means something classic, old, having values, and belonging to something traditional. This woman has cultural values because even though she is dying, she utters a few maxims and sayings, which are the sage pieces of advice she gives to others. When the poet says she is dying, he conveys that her cultural values are also dying. After discussing that village woman, the poet has presented a conflict of his own identity by saying, "to understand this waste, I must try and know myself" (Rafat, 1985, p. 140). Here, the poet has tried to co-relate his own identity with his culture as in his view, that waste is connected with himself and the stage of his life. In other words, it means that he is brooding over his past life. His past life was full of energy and prosperity as the poet was in his youth at that time. He further states, "The poem examines the resilience of the local stonechat and the way it adapts to its surroundings as a metaphor for the poet's search of identity" (Rafat, 1985, p. 08). Now, he is leading towards his old age and death, which inculcates a sense of waste in the readers' minds. Thus, cultural erosion has become a point of meditation for the poet to think over the reality of his own life, his identity, and other things. 'Jhelum eroded hills' are monuments which, in their turn, stand for cultural memory. Not only buildings, religious relics, ideological practices, and different festivals are part of a culture, but human beings, especially the older people, are representatives of culture in Rafat's poetry. According to Assmann, Cultural Memory is an institutionalized and ritualized method of remembering the past that plays a significant role in defining and reinforcing a community's sense of identity (Szoblik, 2020).
In Rafat's poetry grandfather is a recurrent figure present in various of his poems. The poem The Last Visit is also of such strain. In this poem, the poet has narrated the last visit of his father, who might be having the last visit in his life. The poem is also about memories of bygone days on the last stage of a man's life. The poet tells us that his father has put on the best Sherwani and turban on his visit. The line "his ninety years swayed in the wind" (Rafat, 1985, p. 245) is the inclusion of the theme of memory. Now the father recalls the memorable and beautiful days of his life spent in the company of his beloved ones. Then the poet further states: Halfway there, I realized We were off to the ancestral place. (Rafat, 1985, p. 245) The mentioning of the ancestral place is noteworthy. It gives us a clue about the age and status of the person as it is an older man whose visit to his relatives the poet has mentioned. They meet uncle Feroz, who is also bedridden, and meets with the father; he starts weeping.
As we were leaving, the father stopped. Grave in the Park is another remarkable poem by Rafat. The poem is about the grave of a holy man situated in the middle of the park. In this poem again a holy man has been represented as the symbol of cultural values. That holy man was a Hindu saint in the Hindu graveyard. It was made of bricks. The poet says nobody remembers him as who he was but: Yet somebody cared enough to light a clay, lamp every night in the lamp-niche. (Rafat, 1985, p. 148) The idea in these written lines is that someone has cared enough to maintain the traditions of lightening light on his grave. The poet has also introduced light humor to lessen the grave atmosphere by saying that it seems to him that it is a grave of a giant because of the enormous size of the grave.
The word giant adds a touch of humor.
The saint was a giant who swallowed children.
His grave was the biggest I had seen. (Rafat, 1985, p. 149) The idea of a giant who swallows children and the grave to be the biggest one is the touch of humor in the poem. The poem gives the hint of memories as the poet has revisited that grave in the park after the partition when he returns to his homeland. He was astonished to know that that grave was still there, which they used to visit in their childhood, and he as a boy used to be afraid of the darkness prevailing in the surroundings of that grave. The poet expresses as: At first, I could not locate the grave.

Leveled, I thought but
It was there all right. (Rafat, 1985, p. 151) The poem consists of two essential points; one is memories related to childhood. Secondly, the reference towards a grave is an indicator of the death of human beings and cultural values. Thus, it refers to the idea of cultural memory and cultural erosion. That Hindu saint might be an upholder of Hinduism and Hindu religious traditions, and his death is ultimately the death of cultural values. There is also reference to an old woman in Rafat's poem Stone Chat." Who is bedridden to be of value," but she utters wise sayings. It means she represents traditions and cultural values, the cultural values which are deteriorating but have their importance. Assmann (2011) is also of the view that cultural memory leads to cultural identity. Therefore, cultural memory is conveyed via a range of mediums, ranging from texts and photographs to memorial sites, whose diverse aesthetic and ideological arrangementswhether synonymous with trauma or gloryare fascinating (Ascari, 2013).
The poem Reflections is another important but long poem based on different images by Rafat. The poem consists of series of abstract ideas.
Words die earlier than the emotion they were meant to convey for words are flesh and blood and real emotions only a state of mind. (Rafat, 1985, p. 68) In these lines, Rafat has compared words and emotions beautifully and skillfully but the point for which the poem has been cited is, it contains vocabulary related to cultural values. The following lines are the most beautiful in the poem.
A poem is a monument sculptured in words, it will last as long as the stone will last of the soldier (Rafat, 1985, p. 82).
The traditional value of the things in the lines mentioned above cannot be denied. Rafat has used beautiful images to talk about the poetic process by saying that a "poem is a monument." The word' monument' implies the meaning of the death of someone. A memorial is a token built in the memory of someone departed and dead. It means that piece of poetry is a traditional relic since it contains the words written in the memory of some dear one. For composing words by the poet, the poet has introduced an image of 'a a sculpture' associated with history and memory. It will be there forever on pages, in the same way, a monument in the form of stone installed in memory of a brave soldier remains. These lines are related to both concerned points of the study. One, the idea of memory, and secondly, cultural memory as a monument and sculpture are cultural relics, and they are linked with cultural memory. Both are installed in memory of some dear ones, and sculptures are made of historical, mythical, and legendary figures to make them alive. Next, the poet states in another passage: A tree is permanent not in itself, but in the multiples, it lavishes on the autumn air. (Rafat, 1985, p. 83) The poet states that tree is included in those natural things which are permanent by nature. After its plantation as a plant, a tree remains permanent forever because it spreads all around with its branches. In this way, it generates several other trees from it, thus giving birth to multiple trees. It also lavishes even in the dull and drab atmosphere of autumn because it knows how to survive. Hence in this interpretation, the tree represents the culture and cultural values which are permanent by nature. Its presence also gives the idea of cultural memory. According to Antze and Lamberk (2016), cultural memory has become a significant idiom in the construction of identity, both individual and collective, and a place of struggle as well as identification (Quan, 2019).
Rafat's language has an important role in presenting his ideas about his language. Several researchers have expressed their views. For instance, Assia Djebar, a Francophone and postcolonial Maghrebi poet, emphasizes the critical importance of language (Tamazight) as the embodiment of a community's collective memory in her work Vaste est la jail, as well as the interconnectedness of identity, cultural memory, colonial legacies, and postcolonial studies (Cheref, 2019).
The mound is also an important poem to talk about the depiction of culture and civilizations. The poet has talked about thirty feet high mound, which bespeaks the presence of the old civilization 500 years old. This poem is also an analysis of a historian who observes this mound and presents his views about this mound. The poet states: indicate the skill of the craftsmen. (Rafat, 1985, p. 18) In the poet's opinion, that ancient town probably has good civilization because there are fragments or pieces of things available that are very valuable. These fragments or pieces are pottery (may be engraved and painted) and different types of tools usually kept in museums. They are tokens or relics of the past glory of civilization. They indicate the craftsmanship of different artisans. The presence of different colored glittering beads and ornaments talks about their artistic nature. According to the poet, these ornaments refer to their peace-loving nature. There are also sculptures and artisans.
Another Mohenjo-Daro, To the unpracticed eye. (Rafat, 1985, p. 18) There are no slim bricks which are also evidence of its antiquity. There is only one temple left which in its survival represents that cultural heritage. There is also 'a banyan tree ', which means centuries-old civilization and culture in its act of giving shade. In this poem, the idea of an amalgamation of culture and cultural memory can be traced because finding out the cultural roots of an ancient civilization and its glory is also digging up old memories. Thus, the poem is also a fine example of cultural erosion and cultural memory. These monuments evoke the idea of cultural memory.

CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis and discussion, it can be ratiocinated that an idea of cultural erosion and cultural memory run in the majority of his poems. Rafat's poetry presents diverse images, objects, monuments, symbols, relics, rites, and objects, bygone grandeur, and glory of the past civilizations evoke the idea of cultural erosion. The close analysis of the poems also provides evidence that Rafat's poetry provides the notion of cultural memory: for instance, different memories related to childhood, pre-partition scenario, ancient civilization, historical monuments, temples, recollections of youth, departed people, rites, and scriptures, the objects like trees, vegetated world, homes, war, historical objects, family life, and many other images imply the idea of personal, collective, and cultural memories in Rafat's poetry which emblematic of heritage as expounded Assmann. They all serve as mnemonic, which conveys cultural meaning and act as tools for identity -index.

LIMITATION AND STUDY FORWARD
The present research is limited to the textual analysis of Rafat's Arrival of the monsoon in light of cultural theorist's ideas only. Future researchers can analyze Rafat's another poetry collection Half Moon from post-modernism and post-modernist stylistic techniques perspective.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.