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Both these books are worth a

read!
By - TNN Purba Dutt Aug 17, 2015, 15:07 IST

! " # $

Book reviews (Getty Images)

Book: Free thoughts & other felonies

Author
Author: Balram Cheruparambil

Publisher: Virgin Leaf Books

Price: Rs. 95/-

Balram Cheruparambil definitely has a way

with words and a keen sense of
observation. In simple, everyday language,
he manages to imbue the mundane and
prosaic with a poetic hue. You will hardly
find anything profound or pedantic in his
book Satire-Free thoughts and other
felonies, and yet, you will stop mid-
sentence to turn over a particular thought
or line in your mind. He makes the
commonplace sounds like a nice place to
be and inhabit. In a tongue-in-cheek poem
on how sycophancy is such a desirable trait
in today’s world, the poet in The Naked
Truth, observes, 'The man who rules is
always right, To say otherwise is not very
bright, If he claims that day is actually night,
Walk about with torches,your way to light.'

Nothing highfalutin, but the bald message

conveyed is unlikely to be lost on anyone.
Balram also has a sense of humour, and
humour would indeed seem to be his
strong point. The more comforting aspect is
that he doesn’t feel the need to be
politically correct. In a delightful poem on
the lungi, he remarks, 'The lungi plays its
part with exquisite flair, While ventilating
the wearer with abundant fresh air.' Even
when he’s writing on subjects that are
morose like old age, he prefers to make
light of it. 'Roar all the way into your grave,
On a Harley, grinning and brave, And when
death finally comes for you, Your middle
finger should be his view,’ he jocularly
suggests in the poem Grow old in style.

Balram has a childlike need to rhyme, but in

his case the effort does not seem laboured
or contrived. This particular booklet has 80
poems, from topics as far afield as true
love,morality, martyr, rain to silence, hartal,
opium dreams and the father of the nation.
The best part, however, is that each piece
compels you to stay awhile and dwell in it a
little longer.

Book: Mystic Warrior-A poetic novel

Book

Publisher
Publisher: - AUTHORSPRESS

Price
Price: Rs. 195/-

This one is serious and, if I may say so,

pretty loaded too. The story told in verses
is gripping right till the end, and has the
excitement and edginess of a racy page-
turner. Essentially, a tale of good versus evil
in what is an evenly poised battle, the
author takes you into the bowels of
darkness and despair and near-
hopelessness to finally deliver you to a
place where hope still struggles for
supremacy.

Mathiast is a vampire who takes an orphan

into his care and prepares him to fight
Thebos, who’s all evil and dark. The entire
sequence of events,from his adoption to his
indoctrination into the world of magic,
spells, occult and mysticism, and, finally, to
the long-drawn battle is eloquently scripted
and laid out. You can take it one verse at a
time, but chances are that you will want to
finish this poetic novel at one go because
each end will leave you curious about what
unfolds next. In chapter 31, where Nafrees
explains to the protagonist the message of
each element in Nature, you will be moved
by the beauty of the words and the imagery
they conjure.

To wit; 'I have infinite moods and forms, I

possess myriad names and norms, I can be
soft as a baby’s kiss, I can rage like a
demon’s blitz,' he says about the Wind.
From the prologue to the epilogue, the
poetic novel keeps you hooked, and the
episodes play out like a movie in your
mind’s eye, replete with struggles, gore,
defeat, victories, deaths, and, finally, hope.

Both these books are worth a read.

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End of the article

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Book review: The Seduction

of Delhi
By - TNN Vinita Dawra Nangia
Aug 6, 2015, 00:00 IST

! " # $

Book review: The Seduction of Delhi (Image Credit: Amazon

Title
Title: The Seduction of Delhi

Author
Author: Abhay K

Publisher
Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages
Pages: 94

Price
Price: Rs.299

Abhay K’s poems serve up a Delhi,

resplendent with character, torn asunder by
marauders, patch-worked back several
times with belief and faith – and above all
saturated through with the touch of time
and history.

The poems give an insight into the past and

present, interweaving the two effortlessly,
evoking emotion and passion, glory and
melancholy, irony and compassion – a
healthy, topsy-turvy, khichdi kaleidoscope
that is the very essence of a city that
survived several marauders and attacks to
retain her dignity and glamour. The very
first poem has the poet donning the skin of
a city --

Delhi

My smell,

my nakedness

entices

hordes of human flesh

from faraway lands

Traders,

emperors,

marauders…

Delhi, in her myriad forms and shapes and

smells, a city that seduces with her heaving
sensuality and mystique. And through it all
the poet-diplomat walks recording his
response to the milieu, coloured by his
sense of history. The thoughts and history
are lightly offered, without falling prey to
heavy polemics or historical discourses.
The poems with their staccato rhythm and
stream of consciousness reflect the poet’s
thoughts as he meanders through history
and the city, much like the River Yamuna
that flows past, observing, recording,
moving on…

Yamuna

Withdrawn and sulky

I flow past Delhi

like dark silver

caressing the city shores,

draining darkness

from Delhi’s soul

To the Delhiite who becomes immune to

the history around as he traverses through
the rigor of everyday life and the traffic
mayhem of roads, the book affords a
chance to look around afresh – and
discover charms hitherto unnoticed. For
instance, the Qutab Minar, which many of
us pass by often without stopping to look at
it or consider what it symbolizes, is
serenaded thus by the poet --

Qutub Minar

Soaring

poetry in the sky,

unrivalled flight

or a feast;

a toast to time,

a tower of victory

or a calligraphic feat.

The book is an excellent read for those

caught in the capital’s legendary traffic
snarls. Read these reflective, lightly teasing
poems as you glance at Delhi through the
Open App
car window – you are sure to find a connect
and a smile. Perchance you may be reading
this as an autorickshaw swerves
dangerously close to your car –

Delhi Auto Rickshaw

Green on yellow

triangle on wheels

criss-crossing Delhi

as a kite soaring against the wind

carrying the city on my wings.”

Or maybe, just as a red-light topped flashy

car of bureaucrat flashes by, you may like
to remind yourself of what the bureaucrat’s
life really is like –

Bureaucrats

Cornered in cramped cloisters

loaded with dusty files

subordinated with conduct rules

tamed with annual appraisals,

we bureaucrats shine outside,

inside incarcerated inmates

ever-seeking atonement

Author/politician Pavan K Varma says in his

Preface to the book The Seduction of Delhi
“is written with the eye of a poetic observer
but the passion of a participant. Abhay is
transparently in love with the city, but his
emotions never allow him to lose the
objectivity of a poet for whom empathy is a
means as much to pay tribute as to make
the sharp, scalpel like critique.”

Not just history, events, people and

monuments, but trees such as neem and
jamun find their place in Abhay’s poetic
journey too.

Jamun s

Gems of black ellipsis

litter pavements;

astringent flavoured,

every monsoon, painting

Delhi tongues –

purple

The Seduction of Delhi is Abhay K.s fifth

collection of poems. He also has written
two memoirs. Abhay K has received the
SAARC Literary Award for his contribution
to South Asian Poetry and been nominated
for the Pushcart Prize. He is also the lyricist
of the Earth Anthem and SAARC Song.

Abhay K is India's First Secretary in

Kathmandu. A collection of poems inspired
by his stint in Nepal -- The Eight-Eyed Lord
of Kathmandu is forthcoming. He is also the
editor of CAPITALS- A poetry anthology on
the capital cities of the world. His Earth
Anthem has been translated into 24
languages.
End of the article

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