- Congratulations on your new book titled “When Time is a Magic Jar”! How did this book come about?
Thank you so much.
This book got published in February 2025.
The thought of bringing out a book had been a lingering wish for quite some time, since some of my friends often asked me about my next poetry collection.
Still, some years passed by as I am rather slow with my writing. When I lost my father in 2022, I felt the need to dedicate my poems to him. It was he, who had inculcated this love for literature in me since childhood.
Finally I met Dibyajyoti Sarma of Red River at the Pondicherry Lit fest and found him to be very unassuming, transparent and dedicated to his job as a publisher.
I spoke to him, submitted my manuscript and it was almost a year later that ‘When time is a magic jar’ was born
- What is the focus of this book? What can a reader expect from it?
This book is a collection of forty four poems written over a period of time. The different themes of poems in this collection focus on human emotions, society and the way it treats people. It brings up poems that revolve around the theme of urban nostalgia, love, loss, longings, betrayal, memories, autumn of age and death. It also carries poems that speak of homelessness, feminism, rape and global crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, the effects of Ukraine war and the horror of genocide taking place in Gaza.
- How will you place this book in the context of your two previous books “Echoes” and “How Not to Remember”?
Echoes (2017) and How not to remember (2019) are my earlier works. The third book has come after a span of almost six years.
Within this time, I have also evolved as a poet having written on many platforms, having experimented with style and getting exposed to the works of many poets whom I had not read earlier. Finally this book was born in February 2025 carrying poems that have been previously scrutinized and published by different e mags and anthologies. So I might say, that it is a more matured work than my earlier works.
- How has been your experience with your publisher Red River?
Red River takes care of the poets and authors who they publish. Dibyajyoti Sarma himself is genuinely invested in each and every book that comes out of his publishing house. In this context I must mention Dr Semeen Ali who did a brilliant job as a poetry editor for my book and chiseled the poems to perfection, while keeping me in the loop.
- What can we expect from you in the future?
I have been fortunate enough to get informed poetry readers and they have been generous in showing their love for my work. I have written short stories, travelogue, personal essays, film reviews as well. I would love to publish a novella/ novel in future. It is still at an embryo stage.
Poetry will remain my first love and I guess I will continue to return to poetry with pain and passion.