MellowDrama

Chitrika Bhargava’s  Letters to Me and You  is a collection of poems dealing with the intricacies of love and loss. Though the love poems do make up the larger part of this book, there are a few letters here as well. The poems, like I said deal with love, loss and everything in between, the four letters (more like short notes) are written to different people from different stages in the author’s life (I presume)- an old love, a forever love, to a younger self by an older, wiser self. They send out a strong message in self-love, acceptance and moving on.  Though the themes are nothing new here- love, longing, desperation, hope and discovery of self- I think what Ms Bhargava does achieve with her book is a gradual maturity in her subject as well as its execution as the book progresses. The poems are divided into four sections- Ever mine, Remnants of Yo u, Me and You .  They all take a start from their respective titles, for example, I personally fo...

Exasperated mothers Trying mothers Mothers who have too much on their mind. Mothers who think cake counts as a meal. Mothers who worry too much. Mothers who fly away so that their kids might follow. Mothers who stay put so that that their kids might get a solid platform. Mothers who love without being ever seen or heard. Mothers who let their children know they are there and theirs. Mothers who feed. Mothers who eat. Mothers who bleed. Mothers who get readily cut up. Mothers who become fathers, storytellers, advisors and sounding boards. Mothers who never get asked for their preferences or opinions. Mothers who are teachers. Mothers who are learners. Mothers who mother and mothers who smother. Tired mothers. Fresh as  a daisy mothers Yummy mummies, sporty mummies Mummies with tummies Tummy filling mummies every girl who becomes a mother lives life on the edge of a sword always on the verge of forgetting who she is and yet not having that luxury of forge...

Aeroplane ------------------- I listen to their sound as they fly above me in the sky that my apartment building owns Listening hard for the noise of one that will bring you over a distance of about 3000 kms It is strange how we became friends over shared journeys Some on which I brought you along And others on which you took me with you Permission was not sought, granted or denied I smile at a certain memory here and At a shared anecdote there, as I look at the lights of the aeroplane That seem to mock at me As yet another flight has taken off some 3000 kms away and landed here Closer to me But you have chosen not to take it In that you have also chosen to stay afar, at a distance That I am unable scale Unable to reason with So that it would let me be with you In that you have chosen to go back to being a stranger And as has been between us Permission was not sought, granted or denied Netra ------------- I marvel at your small little body As you run with...