Satbir Chadha's latest poetry collection I want to go to Haldwani and Other Poems is a unique and poignant volume of poems by a poet who is deeply sensitive, who has a way with words, and whose heart and mind are in the right place. Satbir Chadha displays in her poetry a sagacious understanding of the core issues humanity confronts, like women's predicament, societal constraints, environmental concerns, the loss of green spaces and growing urbanisation, hatred and violence and the need for peace and harmony in a strife-torn, war-ravaged world. Her poetry is an expression of the pains and joys, the challenges and hopes that fill our lives from moment to moment. Among the beautiful lines from her poetry that touch the heart deeply, some are given below:

These lines from the poem "I want to go to Haldwani" voice the anguish of the silent hills, constantly abused by man in his endeavours to plunder nature's treasures and the resultant environmental destruction leading to devastation and misery:

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It's sad the hills weep every year
Pools of tears and blood
These stalwarts of millennia
Have been pricked and axed
Torn and bled
Shorn and burnt
And now they can't hold up any more.

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The poem "Abroglyph" beautifully underscores the interconnection between pink roses and love, and between love and hope for the world:

But the pink roses will always be a reminder of love
True love that gives hope to the world
Fresh pure and untrammelled
Like the rose bush in the hills.

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Likewise, the poet opines with great conviction that brute power is sure to fail as it only unleashes destruction; on the other hand, the only hope for peace lies in the 'dove with soft feathers' in her poem "Hope is a thing with Feathers":

Men make wars mark territories kill for power and make women slaves
To strangle or rape or squeeze for labour but finally they fail
They cause suffering and pain and poverty and disease
Only the dove with soft feathers can bring about peace.

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In "A New Anthem for the World," Satbir Chadha again reinforces the need for a new anthem for the world that can be found in brooks, flowers and birds:

We need it more now
Splashes of hope splash splash
Hugs of gurgling bounteous brooks
Smiling pink and orange flowers
Song of hope from twittering birds
A new anthem for the world
A new anthem for the world.

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The poem “Writing Brings Us Friends” is something so heart-warming to which all poets and writers can relate very well. It is a poem that talks about the spirit of camaraderie, the instinctive connect most writers feel with one another in a difficult-to-explain way:

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The ball rolled on and as many people read the book
They connected to what was written, both men and women
Several wrote or mailed me, some met me and came over for a hug
Suddenly I had friends all in all corners of the world.

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Also, look at how the cycle of death decay and regeneration is tersely summed up in the following lines in the poem “And Hope Within a Dark Deep Grave is Laid”:

From old decayed bones buried long ago
New life evolves and new forms grow
From all forms of rotting crumbling decay
Fragrant beds of blooming flowers are raised

The poem "Catharsis" depicts the deep pain of the family and the community at the death of a soldier:

First came the trunk and the hold-all
Then the body in an army truck
The slain soldier wrapped in the tricolour
Deposited with due honours in the family courtyard

The poem also describes how the community mourning with rituals acts as a cathartic force "to come to terms with death's blows.”

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Another beautiful poem that adorns this lovable collection is "Memories":

Memories are happy leftovers of happy meals
Eaten on the family table pampered by Moms
Shared with siblings younger and older
The littered crumbs now crunching in the mind

The trilogy of poems on women from Indian mythology that talk about a Ganika and Kubja are intensely woven and thought-provoking poems. And the concluding poem of the collection "I Want to Go to Haldwani again Version -2" nostalgically recreates the longing and sense of loss for an old world order, now existing only in reminiscences:

Everybody loved everybody and cared for everybody
All were 'apne hi yahan ke' we never feared anybody
...
Our lives were aligned to nature to the sun and moon
To the winter summer and fal and the precious monsoon
We ate home grown veggies and freshly plucked fruits
Sharing half ripened mangoes and the tangy tamarind .

 

On the whole, I want to go to Haldwani and Other Poems is an extremely readable collection that has the strength to enrich our bookshelves as well as our inner selves. Look forward to more soul- stirring poetry from the pen of the gifted writer, Satbir Chadha.