I Want to go to Haldwani and Other Poems

I Want to Go to Haldwani and Other Poems

Satbir Chadha is a poet with her heart in the right place; kindness and humanity are her second names.

Ten years back, when on the coldest day of the year 2014, January 9, I suddenly lost my mother, I was devastated, and fell into a deep abyss. To scramble out of the abyss, I wrote poem upon poem on/about my mother. One day, I received a call.

“Aapney to rula hi diya.” This was from Satbir Chadha, who was not even a Facebook friend then. She had read one of my poems on my dear mother, and in a touching gesture, wanted to get in touch.

When I read the title poem in this collection, I also blurted out, “Aapney to rula hi diya.” I cannot stop myself from quoting a few lines from it.

I want to go to Haldwani
I want to travel the broken road
To explore the cracks and crevices
The patches swept away with the torrent
To bleed for the pellets loosened and swept away
Thrown out of their homes and crushed
Little ones crushed under huge rocks
To weep for them,
They’ll never get back home

It’s sad the hills weep every year.

My Last Day on Earth is also a poem that spoke to me in candid tones.

There are happy days and sad days, fulfilling and frustrating days
But the best days indeed are Acceptance days
I may yet be at the end like the helpless human I was at birth
Or I may jingle and jig and prance into the dark
Violent or peaceful when the heart beats its last
Nothing will matter no rhetoric or art

I’m glad to live every day as my last…

I know I shall accept what my Creator has planned
I’ll be just as helpless as on the day I was born.

In Hope is a Thing With Feathers, she speaks for every woman and every mother.

patriarchy of centuries, small minds of men, their obsessions ambitions their history of oppression
That’ll be their own sorry cage, they’ll be trapped in the cliche
While women will forward rage
Hope is a woman
Only woman is hope
We’re in good hands as long as we have our mothers
As long as God makes women, and till He makes mothers,

In the Goodbye Poem, she is at her spiritual best. After a lot of dilly-dallying, she is finally able to bid goodbye to all those sumptuous eatables that her palate loved.

I’m glad for my intense relation with the matters of the flesh
I’m satiated now and totally at rest
To begin my journey on the spiritual quest
Though no god forbids what your taste buds love
For the flesh is finally grass and grass ends in flesh.

What can one say about the following poem where she talks about me, mentioning my books, and other writings? Aapney to rula hi diya are the only words that once again spring to my lips!

Driving along the Lidder
[Thinking of dear friend Santosh Bakaya]

At every corner, I think I may be passing by an old Relic of a house
Or find a pair of lovers under A Skyful of Balloons
Crooning into each other’s ears
Or rhyming Victorian verses
Such games the mind plays
Memory and reality merge into a humongous virtual cloud
Blowing in my mind
Or are they blowing in the wind
Across the river Lidder

Satbir Chadha

If I had to use a few words to describe her poetry, it would be by using a line from her own poem, Arboglyph
Like the rose bush in the hills.

How I wish her poem, A New Anthem for the World, could become a reality in this hate-ravaged world!

Profound, pure, and philosophical; her poems ooze a certain pristine charm that can erupt only from the inner depths of a compassionate heart. Read for yourselves and find out, you will be enriched beyond words, friends.

I Want to go to Haldwani and Other Poems

Author : ‎ Satbir Chadha
Publisher : ‎ Authorspress (17 March 2024)
Binding : Paperback
Available on : Amazon

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‘An Indepth and Perceptive Study of Satyajit Ray’s Heroes & Heroines’

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Satbir Chadha’s latest novel is Hills and Lakes, published by Virasat Art Publication

Available on Amazon and Blue Pencil

About the Author

Santosh Bakaya ( 177 Posts)

Dr Santosh Bakaya is the author of three mystery novels for young adults, and a book of essays titled Flights From My Terrace, which was recently published as an e-book on Smashwords. Her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad Of Bapu has been published by Vitasta Publishers, Delhi, India in May 2015 and has been receiving rave reviews from everywhere. Although a Political theorist, with a doctorate in political theory, it is literature which has been her first love. She was awarded the Reuel international award for language and literature 2014 for her long poem Oh Hark!, which forms part of the Significant Anthology. Many of her poems have figured in the highly commended category in Destiny Poets, a UK based website and many are part of international anthologies. Right now, she is giving the final touches to her satirical novel, tentatively titled Sanakpur Shenanigans.
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