Recently I went to a special place with my friend and I was moved by the beauty of nature. Here are a few snaps for you.
Enjoy these beautiful poems I came across this week:
Current read:
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. It's a beautiful memoir with such rich writing. Totally recommending even before finishing this one.
Review of Sea of Poppies:
Title: Sea of Poppies (Book 1 of the Ibis trilogy)
Author: Amitav Ghosh
Genre: Historical Fiction
Page count: 528
This is a powerful tale of the Opium Trade Triangle between Britain-India-China. I have had this book on my TBR for years now, as I got this copy in my university days but was waiting for the right inspiration and mindset to dwell into this powerful world of Ghosh. Sea of Poppies is the first book from the Ibis Trilogy set in Indian waters before the first Chinese Opium war. The story revolves around a Poppy Farmer's widow, An untouchable ox man, A fallen Rajah, An American born sailor trying to escape racism, A Chinese Opium addict, An American girl who became native Indian and a son determined to fulfill his mother's dying wish.
Each character is unique with its own vocabulary and rich emotions. The book has everything- betrayal, rape, rescue, friendship, voyage, trust, village atrocities and a lot of water. This is a long and slow book, each character telling his/her side of the tale in small patches; each character is marvelous. Book takes an interesting turn when all these characters somehow end up at a place, floating on water forced to choose what they want out of life.
I think readers who like huge books with multiple characters, will love the book.
My rating is 4/5 stars.
A special poem for: Devika Mathur
Devika Mathur is a published author and a wonderful writer.
I would love for you all to read this poem of hers:
Now, a special poem for you, Devika:
How do poets write only of important things?
Could I? Of men touching me with hands of sawdust and grease
you know the feeling;
of Syria, Lebanon, groves of blood and olives,
magenta streeted towns emptied of bodies
(and the bodies left are empty)
erupted architecture and
mourned empires soon to be forgotten.
I have banished the thought of their pets.
Shall I write of disease and all those
incurable things that one half of the world
believes could never happen to them.
What does one say about the ripe fanatics
surrounding us, so close now
we could even tango, we could
stick our tongues out and lick
the poison off the hairy ears of these
folk who wield their crafty tool tyranny.
Shall I waste ink on the zombie electorate
corpus of hate, serving the company of
outliers to the olden systems of love.
How men with beards are more likely
to disappear here even as these mega prized cities
slip violently to sea, a little more each year.
Let me write of the thing that stays
let me write of the unimportant moon
~ How Do Poets Write?,Karuna Ezara
Parikh.
Hope you all are enjoying new beginnings.
See you next month.
Sending love from mountains,
Kajal.