3 Review(s)

This collection spans a lifetime of events, the poet's personal and those affecting the course of history. It takes us on a journey through the poet's thoughts and his ideological battles. The task of a poet here is described in his own words; “by giving form to thought I stood on the side of that which I held dear”. The poems thus are a reflection on life's myriad moments and here the disturbed conscience of man remains in the words of the poet, “poetic instants”. A few of the poems are honest salutations to people he valued, Prof. Chowffin and Prof. S.K. Rudra, versatile, caring and protective teachers at Allahabad University. His poems on Bombay acutely capture the sense of alienation in a big city and the all-encompassing urban life. Political, social and historical events that shook the globe find resonance in this collection in a kaleidoscope of verse. The hills of Kumaon, where the poet spent his childhood, form the backdrop of his poetry. If poetry is the language of the heart, the nature poems take us to where his heart is; “Saryu at Bageswar”, a song to the river in the Himalayas urging: Mad music flow on, Rolling your vista over the stones, Over the twilight scarves, over pebbles that are eyes, Flow on sad river…….. Flow: And take our solitude to the sea.