Filming the Poem- Mirror of Your Eyes !

"I Was Not Your Maiden Touch" (Translation of Jawaid Danish's Urdu Nazm "मैं के तेरा पहला लम्स नहीं था!")

I was not your maiden touch 

neither you my fragrance first ...

I was never your fortune

neither you my milestone,

Yet we are one life two bodies

entwined in our singularity

mates of journey solitary,

Fearless I am -

from Past present and future,

Trivial is -

fight of yesterday and morrow,

Destination, Aura, issues bygone

villainy reward, and heaven hell 

all are extant,

forgotten all fidelity betrayal

Love -a guileless passion,

for the sake of this passion

we move beyond the destination,

beforehand-

come, pause the wheel of time

to save a dream of us,

If you desire

make me write another song,

until redness wakes in my pen

I keep scribbling your name till then,

At times to gladden your heart

Sometimes to live elegantly

I write again,

You, the rain of my breathing

Me, the warmth of your brinks

brightened in my eyes are you

Me tangled in your heartbeats

My writings just live for you! 

-(c)Translated by Varsha Singh

Tranquil Attire ...

Your attire of tranquility

makes my feverish body

serene from within

after the ire of twinge !

Amorous warmth,

canoodling brinks

leaving the marks

of intimate doting !

(c) Varsha Singh

Mirror of Your Eyes!

Tonight... 

I sank inside my own eyes

unconsciously, 

through the mirror of your eyes !

Deep it was, 

immeasurable 

like the depth of ocean

surprisingly ... 

cavernous it was

which I left unnoticed 

till this time over longed !

I feel immovable now

after witnessing this profundity 

of my own eyes

which seems divine

as I peep into it ...

through the mirror of Your Eyes ! 

(c) Varsha Singh

Temptation (Translation of Vimal Kumar's Poem)

Why is this flaming desire

to touch the sky

to hold the stars

to bathe in river

to climb the peak

to pluck the flower

at this age?

Before demise

what sort of

temptation it is

to live

one's own life?

-Vimal Kumar's Hindi poem "लालच" translated into English by Varsha Singh as "TEMPTATION"

Love Imprison (Translation of Vimal Kumar's Poem)

Being a Goddess

You too are shackled in fetters

Never ever had I thought 

enchained body of an idol

within any manacle   

Devilish would

this thinking be

to seek freedom with love of thee

within the sorrowful flood  

is you

How may I hope

joy from you.

-Vimal Kumar's Hindi poem "प्रेम कैद" translated into English by Varsha Singh as "Love Imprison"

A Child (Translation of Vimal Kumar's Poem)

Like a kid

at your glance

yearning I was

craving...

voicing...

to get that toy

At this age

of getting older by days

it is still alive

within me why

a child?

(Vimal Kumar's Hindi poem "एक बच्चा" translated into English by Varsha Singh) 

Love in Fantasy (Translation of Vimal Kumar's Poem)

Remain in fantasy

it's better

stay hanging alike moon in the sky

don't land on the earth

this aura will bite you

you will be in pain

your face, your colour will change

you will not remain the same

as you look in imagination

your beauty will dust off

paying fees for the kid

paying bills for water, power supply

moving by bus for office

you will get old

one day, you would be colourless

you will not recognize your own countenance 

in mirror 

That's why I beseech

to persist in fantasy

love from there

if you come here

love will finish as well

in this passage of domestication. 

(c) - Vimal Kumar's Hindi poem "Kalpana mein Prem" Translated by Varsha Singh as "Love in Fantasy"

"Synonym-less"

I tried exploring

synonyms for you..

but you prevailed the one

inevitable...

single soul, 

dwelling in this heart

synonym-less...

alike me !

which is the beauty 

of you and me

with a sole identity !! 

(c) Varsha Singh  

My Urge !!

My urge to collapse

in presence of your absence

becomes stronger by days

when this world betrays

with its shallow ways

in guise of erroneous praise 

which leaves me distressed

in your absence, my dearest !

 - (c) Varsha Singh

Bestow Me A Visage (Translated Nazm)

If you adore me by heart sweetheart,

keep me warm in your breaths

give your melody to my brinks,

give your brightness to my eyes,

give your prayer to my devotions,

liberate me from day-night fetters,

give your freshness to my terrain,

give some life to my faith,

crush me break me,

through soft soil of yours,

remake a face,

neither mine nor yours,

without the sorrowful tears,

the clouds and rain of happiness,

a ray, a chant and a life just

as if the time has stopped here,

a song behind any mountain,

like soft, sweet melody of flute,

like slow sprinkle in ambiance,

you keep gazing me,

I stay gazing you

life's entire journey,

from origin to end of world,

nothing has happened,

the eyes have uncurled. 

Translation of Jawaid Danish's Urdu Nazm "मुझे एक शक्ल दो" in English by Varsha Singh   

The Golden Glow...

The sun comes filtering 

from my window 

draped in warmth

and golden glow

melts my frozen

chords of sorrow

forth a new day

a new morrow !

(c) Varsha Singh

Meandering Melodies !

Melodies of air

meandering in my ear

wanting to hear

the chants of my dear

which adds with lisp

within my grasp, 

the cherubic bliss !

-(c) Varsha Singh

Remembrance...

Remembrance ...

creeping inside 

my heart, my mind

like earthworm

crawling inside 

the heart of ground.

- (c) Varsha Singh

Velvety Desires!

The Velvety desires.... 

freezing in my mind!!

Hope the warmth of your heart...

melts it in my psyche..!

-Varsha Singh

Book Review: Shivam Singh’s Best Friends

By- Varsha Singh

24 years old aspiring author Shivam Singh impregnates much maturity than his real age.Through his debut novel Best Friends he proves that age has nothing to do with mature sensibility.

Beginning of this story keeps the readers in illusion of so-called regular mushy and love drenched filmy stories with lot of hot-chicks around the young boys pursuing Engineering, specifically around the protagonist and narrator of this novel, Yash Rajawat.

Yash is portrayed as a career oriented person who always desires for fame and success in his life. Being handsome, smart and rich; he lives lavishly in the heart of Hyderabad mostly with his friends and partially with his parents.

He is considered as a charmer, a guy who has dated almost all the adorable beauties around; for whom every next relationship is not be taken seriously rather it just remains  a matter of time pass. The only kinship essential for Yash was with his best friend, Ena. Surprisingly, they were not in a love relationship, but more than that; something more spiritual and eternal. In the words of Helen Keller “I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.” Both of these friends prove to be the same. Ena and Yash are the craziest friends ever. They behaved and did craziest things altogether, from throwing pop-corns on a kissing couple in theatres, to getting barged out of a bar for kicking a guy for a stupid and funny reason, in fact for reasonless reason.

These friends shared an unbreakable bond with the urge of doing absolutely anything for each other. They were inseparable ones who could literally tear anyone who dared talking crap about the other.

But their destiny had something else in store for them. After one life-changing tragedy everything shatters in their lives.

“There comes a day in your life when you really wonder what wrong had you done that your life has taken such a sudden turn and everything has been torn apart. When I look back, I wonder how things have changed in my life in a matter of days. I lost a friend who meant the world to me. That one friend whom I cherished and treasured more than anything or anyone else……” – Yash

Must say, there is an astonishing surprise in the end of this story which makes a significant mark in the mind of readers.  The conclusion fills tears in the eyes of all… tears of happiness or sorrow? Explore yourself by reading this novel which speaks too much from the heart of best friends.

About the Author

Shivam Singh is an Honours Graduate in Mechanical Engineering and at present working as a Software Engineer at Infosys. Apart from his professional life he does modelling to fulfill his hobby. By choice he is an author. This book proves his dedication towards his writing. His name is also engaged with Salsa dance & swimming. In his leisure time he usually writes in fashion blogs and reviews books. He is also an expert in languages which is evident in his skills of eastern to western languages staring from Punjabi, Hindi to English, Spanish, French. Not only that he also belongs to a versatile family and plans to engage himself in International Business study. In his various embodiments, he has achieved success and surpassed in all possible ways of life. His first creation, this book is dedicated to his best friend.

Book : Best Friends

Author  : Shivam Singh

ISBN  : 978-93-83271-07-8

Price :  Rs. 270.00

Publishing Date: July 2013

Publisher: Power Publishers

Language:  English

Review in association with www.thebookaholics.in 

Book Review: Ratan Bhattacharjee's The Ballad of the Bleeding Bubbles; A Fabulous Bouquet of Love Poems

By- Varsha Singh

“Writing since more than two decades, Dr.Ratan Bhattacharjee has earned a name for himself as a poet and a critic. His nostalgia for the lost glories of his race make him a true poet of the soil. He is a gifted poet with a humanitarian approach, fascinated by ecological concerns. Bhattacharjee’s sense of belonging to the socio-cultural moorings widens the scope and vision of his poetry.”

—Dr.Nandini Sahu, Associate Professor of English, Poet & Editor

Ratan Bhattacharjee’s poems are always an uncommon pleasure to read for all the poetry lovers. Being defined by their hospitable grace; they're easy to take in yet anything but superficial: they repay return visits, as I personally feel. After reading his poems, anyone may trace his belief that love is the utmost spirituality which must come before God as well.

After the huge success of his anthology of poems Melodies and Maladies: A Bouquet Of Love Poems the poet comes back with another sensual ecstasy The Ballad of the Bleeding Bubbles: A Fabulous Bouquet of Love Poems with two parts subtitled as Melodies Of Love and Maladies of Love.

How does this poet end up with such intensity of love and passion in his writings? Bhattacherjee clarifies his stand by stating, “These poems of The Ballad of the Bleeding Bubbles are the outcome of my interactions with men and women in reality and dreams. I talk with my characters in my poems and there are still some with whom I had an imaginary conversation. Even the most fabulous characters are all real to me. My passions and feelings are all genuine. They are quintessentially tangible. Like the frustrated people, I never take refuge in Philosophy.”  Well, the poets stand is quite thought provoking and as engaging as his poems.

Ratan Bhattacherjee writes mostly about the agonies of human life, “Legend says, / When you cannot sleep at night/ You may be lost in someone's dream/ Legend says, / When memory is liquid like milk/ Sorrow is its delicious cream. / Legend says, / When you cannot walk alone/ Your hand may be in a good friend's hand/ Legend says, / When you do not see the rivers/ They are lost in the sand.”; about tragic severance, “There is none, none at the/ End of the long road/ Waiting for me at sunset. / My bus moves fast on the highway/ and all around are gay. / There was none that night at the end of meadow/ Where the champaks bloomed in a dark shadow/ I had many moons glistening above. / There is none for me to wait with a touch of love. / When she was not there and I was alone, / In the sky above the stars only shone. / I groaned under the sorrowful chains/ None was there at the end of the road/ To carry the sorrowful load/ When I suffered from writhing pains.”; about failure, “I didn’t mean what I said/ I was always so afraid...../ When I see the wind blowing/ I am scared to discover its fury/ My life is so cursed, I never hoped/ Anything good.... I have lost faith in life”; and most vividly about love, the ever vital passion in human heart, as the poet considers it “When I loved you/ You kept silent/ Like the olive sky/ With none to ask ‘why’. / When I loved you/ You sang a song/ About the rains To wash out all my ‘pains’. / Loved you so much/ As the birds love the nest/ I was so tired/ I craved for rest. / Why I loved you/ Nobody knew/ I loved you/ A bud clothed in dew..”   

  

According to an eminent poet and academician Jaydeep Sarangi Bhattacherjee’s poems are “record blue and liquid whisper of hearts where rolling and sparkling lines become reflections of his petty little corner of mind. His theme song is deeply human and thus deeply universal.” Elisabetta Marino, the poet and versatile writer and academician of the University of Rome wrote about the poet “Bhattacherjee’s poems are a noble hymn to universal love, harmony, and brotherhood. In his compelling lines, continents meet, men and women discover subtler channels of communication, and nature ceases to be a mystery, while turning into a friend, ready to share joys and sorrows. Ratan Bhattacharjee’s words are a soothing balm, restoring peace to the troubled heart.” In the words of Dora Sales “Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee is a valuable poetic voice to be heard. He has written a compelling collection of love poems that cover many hues of love: softness, longing, desire… all written with a simple and delicate poetic touch.”

To conclude, it would be a great suggestion for the readers to delve deep through the beautiful poems of this collection without missing the spontaneous overflow of emotions, feelings, pathos, thoughts – captured well and versified.

 About the Poet

Dr. Ratan Bhattacharjee , the bilingual writer  and academician is at present the Chairperson of the Post Graduate Dept. of English and is also associated with teaching in the PG Dept of English of Rabindra Bharati Univesity , both  in regular and distance. He is the Executive member in the International Advisory Board of International Theodore Dreiser Society, USA http://www.dreisersociety.org/ His book of poems The Ballad of the Bleeding Bubbles is a milestone of poetic literature. He was formerly associated with the Indian Association of American Studies (IAAS) as a member of the Executive Body and now he is the Founder Director of the newly inaugurated Dattani Archive and Research Association (DARA), Kolkata. He edits the Journal VIEW (Voices of the Indian English Writers) He has to his credit nearly five books on British and American literature and nearly 650 articles. And 200 poems and a good number of short stories all in English.

His email id is drrb07@gmail.com

Phone : 08961688870

Address

988, Jessore Road, Satgachi, Rupalaya Apt. Kolkata-700074, West Bengal

About the book

Author: Ratan Bhattacharjee

Binding: Paperback

ISBN: 9788182534469

Publisher: Cyberwit.net

Pub. Date: 2013

Price: INR 175

Book Review: Santanu Halder's Bonsaied Rhapsodies

- By Varsha Singh

According to Edgar Allan Poe, “With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.”

Similar stature is that of Santanu Haldar, for whom poetry has never been a purpose but his all-time passion. In the words of Santanu, “I write/for no reason,/only my love for it/compels me to write always/an  urge from within,/a restless longing/I feel in genes/in my veins/to write/as I do/now.”(p.28)

Santanu defines poetry in the utmost unique and truthful way, “Poetry is like a river/ which runs through my blood/ an outburst of emotion/ which submerges me in a flood/ Poetry is a beautiful picture/ envisaged in words/ an imaginative power/ which encompasses the mind’s yard/ Poetry is a spontaneous flow/ deep rooted in my soul/an obsession,/ an addiction/but immortal on the whole.” (p.24)

Being a teacher by profession and a poet at will, Halder was born and brought up in a town named Bongaon, which is situated near the City of Joy- Kolkata, West Bengal. He has great fondness for his native land, which becomes visible in each of his creative work.

Bonsaied Rhapsodies is Haldar’s debut collection of fifty poems; in which the first eleven poems, categorized as Divine Songs are about childhood days.

In the words of Jane Yolen, “Literature is a textually transmitted disease, normally contracted in childhood;” Santanu too caught this literary disease in his childhood days.

A New Dawn (pg.11)

Look at my eyes,/ Look at my face,/ Of Sorrow or suffering/ There is no trace./ With innocent tongue,/ I cannot hurt./ Because I am little,/ Pure is my heart./ Keep me in your lap,/ And look at my eyes,/ You will find a dawn,/ A new sunrise.

It is a well-known fact that the days of childhood are the most festive, dreamy and glorious days of life. Santanu has done commendable artistry by bringing forth the festive, dreamy and glorious days of life in the most simple, effective and eloquent manner through his poetry.

Another 39 poems from this anthology are varied and related to the experiences of life, writings, journey towards destination, love, time, as well as existence.

Santanu, by dwelling through his beautiful poems in Bonsaied Rhapsodies has not found his life, but created one, for others to inspire. There is lot to witness from more of his poetic ventures in the coming time. Hope he procures many more insights in future for the aspiring readers. 

About Santanu Halder

A teacher by profession and a poet at will - Santanu Halder was born and brought up in a small town named Bongaon, near Kolkata, West Bengal. He has done M.A in English Literature and teaching university students for 6 years. A scholar, a translator,an interviewer and a bilingual poet writing in both Bengali and English, Santanu Halder has already authored three books, these are - (1) American Literature for WBSU Students, (2) Old English Literature in a Nutshell and (3) a book on translation.