'Is Bar Tumhare Shahar Men', (This Time in Your City) is a collection of 60 poems by Dr. Manish. The book is published by ShabdShrishti Publications. Foreword of the book is penned by eminent writer Shree Ramdarash Mishra.
I received this collection and started reading it. I found it as a compendium of many emotions, love, in all its forms, being the dominant one. Poems bring out many aspects and colours of life. The poet has explored various themes in this collection. The most prominent theme which surfaces frequently is love in its joy, sadness, pain and memories. Love also seems to transcend the body and becomes metaphysical. Sometimes love engulfs the person and finishes him/her.
The poet on the onset of the book in his very first poem recalls the duty of a poet like Plato or Sidney. He desires his words to be wherever they are required to be in public, polity, life and love. The universal theme of giving voice to unsaid, unheard and speechless is very much evident. The poet wants his words to perform various functions at various times as words are the hope coming from Pandora's Box. Words are thr crux of argument, balm to wound, voice of suppressed, and also a tool to bring a revolution etc...
At some place philosophically the poets tells that revisiting past is very difficult as all the back doors automatically closed as soon as one passes through them. It also looks like that we also like to keep them close due to rat race of progress. Looking back again and again brings a pause in one's forward journey.
On reading various poems, the poet seems to present a life incomplete or in wait of someone. Most of the poems bring out an emotional condition, poet's recollections of a beloved. He remembers her as a girl, as an advisor, as an inspiration and as a hope who brings meaning to his life. His beloved silence contains epics even if she doesn't speak. Such lines are impregnated with deeper meaning. Here she is like Imagination of Coleridge. She combines, carries, nourishes and stands like a mountain or deep sea. The height and the depth of enormous objects make them out of reach or difficult to understand. The poet's thoughts flows from individual to universal and the girl represents every girl striving for a meaningful dialogs. Here poet also wants to escape loneliness.
The beloved in these poems is a symbolic to all emotion driven humans who wants to recognize but never afraid of the return to her inner world. The poet misses that creature who has left him or gone far after exercising great influence. Poems also bring out the technical aspect of the age and the influence of mobile on relationships.
Poet also wishes to 'let go' everything like people who left, dreams that passed, time that flew, days that gone by but let everything go is very very difficult. The poet here wants to capture moments to go back later.
The poet is ready to use modern diction and for that he has used words like 'chudel' unlikely for poetic use as a classical value.
On reading the book it looks as if the poet is on a journey and he wants his readers to take the journey with him. His poems actually present a casement to look through now this can be the casement of soul, body, heart, house, society and so on...
I wish that the readers should read the book to feel themselves and take the journey with the poet.
Anuradha Sharma
Associate Professor
Gujarat
