Review of "Musings of a Wanderer"

Author: Shreya Chatterjee        ISBN:9381205006

"Musings of a Wanderer" is Shreya's first published work. This collection of poetry by Power Publishers is a slim volume at 96 pages and very conveniently priced at ₹100. She has written since her school days and her poetry has been published in magazines and blogs. Like most Indians, she is bilingual and writes both in her native tongue Bengali and English. Without further ado, lets talk about her book.

Shreya has captured everyday emotions with a simplicity and depth that is both touching and surprising. Touching because you would have experienced the same feelings some time or the other and her words hold the potential to evoke buried memories. Surprising, because at times, what she writes is so straightforward, one wonders why didn’t no one think of putting it this way before. E.g. while writing about her mother’s abandoned slippers,

“Perhaps they even

Had a rest outside the temple steps,

But who knows for how long.”

from ‘Her Foot Friend Played Hide and Seek’. Here, she beautifully crafts an ordinary image that conveys the tirelessness of a busy homemaker. Similarly in ‘A Quiet Stroll’,

“A stroll

By the quiet river,

Nibbling at

Grass strands.”

Many of her poems are based on the onset of monsoon. And almost every one of these is heartwarming as, though she chooses simple words and writes a short verse, she manages to draw a vivid image for her reader. E.g.

“My window weaving a new tale….

When a gush of wind drenched me wet…” from ‘A Shower at Night’ and

“A laughing face,

I rush outside,

To welcome

My first shower

In love with

Those once a year,

Raindrops.” from ‘In Love with Raindrops’

Though the above lines express the joy of the poet at the first rain of the season, melancholy is more pervasive a theme in this collection. I wonder why this would be so in such a young poetess. Although, I must confess that this surprise comes forth from an optimist and joyous soul who rarely pays homage to pain. Based on this collection, it is of course beyond my judgement to know whether sorrow is a dominant theme in all her work or it catches the fancy of the poetess’ pen alone. Shreya underlines this distinction in her work on the back cover of the book when she defines herself as a “writer by profession, poet by will”.  Her poems have not been grouped according to themes or tones. So the interplay of joy and sorrow can be a refreshing read or a bumpy ride depending on the readers’ mood.

“Even they speak

A volume of words

With their downcast eyes.” from ‘Downcast Eyes’ and

“Your silence

Softens

The sore toes

The aching heels.” from ‘Curiously Silent’

As you can make out from the above lines, the diversity in themes truly makes them expressions of a meandering traveller on the journey of life. In the anthology, there are love tales in ‘Two Cups of Coffee’, ‘Behind the Blinds’ and ‘Breaking’. There are tales of warriors and cries of the natives in ‘Warrior’ and ‘Voice’. There are also some poems that encompass social issues, these are the ones which captured my interest first out of the lot. The plight of child labourers is captured in ‘Child Labors…’

“I cry out at her glittering face

‘Books would FEED me

-But NEVER within hours’. ”. Indeed how true that is.

A dutiful women caged in her home in ‘Queen of Our Land’

“Given to the whims of an insolent husband

She wore a painful smile-

Scrubbed and polished,

-Kept things spick and span.”

Or “I am light that stays invisible” in ‘To Be a Woman’.

On the whole, the book is an interesting and different read. For all lovers of poetry, Shreya is one to watch out for. May her poems never get shackled by eight-letter words and nor the emotions so abstract as to be beyond the understanding of anyone but the poet.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda. Participate now to get free books!