Musical Marvels of Self By Dr. Ujjwala Kakaria and Rumpa Ray Ghosh

The book was gifted to me by the author in one of my Poets Choice Poetry Book Club meetings, held at Poetry Love and Cheesecake Cafe, Juhu in Mumbai. The journey from the moment the book came to me and the moment I opened its first page was long - as we both, myself and the book, prepared ourselves to engage into sharing each others thoughts and emotions. 

The book, being a medium of the voices of two separate individuals. Me, the reader, being at the receiving end of it and yet mutely, without using words, conversing with the book about my experiences as I voyaged onwards into the pages till the very end,.... was exciting. 

Dr. Ujjwala Kakarla's poems gave me a whiff of the winds of Hyderabad. The pages I found most interesting were Pg number 10, 12 and 15. 

Rumpa Ghosh's pen spoke of a child learning to hold the pen and fascinated by its nib and structure and color and the way she held the pen, exploring every nook and corner of the art of writing. What I liked about her work was the Tanka section and to be more specific - Trust , the poem on page 98. 

The cover page of the book is intriguing. It is an ignition to invite the readers curious mind as to what 'marvels' exist in the book which I am unaware about? The color scheme is un-earthy and contradicting life. The feel of it being a dry desert gives quite a feeler about solitude in the essence from which the poems might be coming. After all it is related to the 'SELF' .

In a nutshell, the poems are not born in this book via experimentation. They are drilled in the psychology of the authors via life's experiences. With respect and gratitude to them for sharing it with me - 

I crave leave from this review and bring it to an end. 

Eternity And A Day

The first most striking aspect about the book is its presentation.. its done in a way which is sensitive to the moods of a reader, realizing the ability ( testing their patience)  of a reader to dwell on a single page - depending on the thoughts that that page is carrying the burden of.

The cover design, pardon me, for my nonchalance in leaping into the book directly before commenting on the cover -  is so perfect that drove me ecstatic to see what lied within without a moment wasted.

The title of the book : Eternity And A Day - when I read it - came across exactly the opposite of what the poet meant as he verbally expressed its meaning inside. Where the author implies to add a day  after eternity has passed... to me, it came across as - a comparative where ... eternity conflicts with a day as though a day can hold within itself eternity and vice versa. 

I simply finished the book in full within an hour literally. I think the poet mutely expresses his respect for the readers time and values it heavily. He understands his poems are such that they simply need a touch, that's all, for the essence of his thoughts and motives to spread afar.

I attended the book launch too of the poet. It was at Thackers in Mumbai on 29th October 2017 Sunday  and was eloquently done gracing the guests with an enjoyable evening with exchange of muses.. his mother who is a singer also performed melodiously in the show despite her sore throat.

I'd like to quote few excerpts of the book :

"Man aches when he learns -
he is a slave to nature

A mere vessel in the scheme of eternity... "

Expresses the poets surrender wherein elsewhere in the book he himself speaks of -
one knows grief due to having tasted laughter and joy in the lap of sorrow.

Another  such quote is  -

"woman is the best thing that happened to man.
she speaks and soon,
how soon he forgets the boredom of work
and takes pleasure in gazing at cows"

this one taps the wit of the drunken poet who uses a simile, wherein,
he is associating a woman to a cow.

hats off to Kartikey for gauging the flow of the emotions within the reader
 and inserting perks of jokes
to keep the reader going..

Few other words that will string a chord within you can be found on page - 52, 54, and 58.


With this I end this review and wish the poet the very best!!