POEMS

I have always been drawn to poetry as a medium of expression. If there were just one genre of literature for me to lose myself in, it would have to be poetry. I never had to think about it in a structured manner. Maybe I was just born that way. By birth, I don’t mean destiny or uncontrolled variants; on the contrary - I must acknowledge the tremendous influence/privilege I have had throughout, thanks to both of my parents, who are scholars in multiple languages. Whereas my mother is a Sanskrit professor and has widely/masterfully translated canonic texts in the language, my father even without formal trainings has carved a unique space for himself in the literary space - his numerous books are testament to his unparalleled command over Odia, Sanskrit, and English (along with Hindi, Bengali and Maithili).

My earliest poems from childhood days were tributes to “Mother India”, infused with love for socialism. One poem from my pre-teen years which I still hold dear to me, was a proposal to Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Later on, some poems had shades of romanticism - albeit one that mixed unhesitatingly with socialist realism. I guess the third and ongoing phase embraces the conscious realism with a dash of postmodern, yet circumstantial, angst. I am not sure if any of this reflects the corresponding worldly times, but it won’t be a stretch to admit that they do honestly reflect my own shifts, or rather, continuum.