A Medley of Lyrical Outpourings

Even though Heartfelt Symphonies is her first poetry collection to be published, Chinmayee Gayatree Sahu is no first time author. She pours her heart out regularly on her blog Chinmayee’s Creations. She has already published a collection of short stories titled Five Petals which I had reviewed earlier.

I have been more familiar with her short stories. So this book came as a pleasant surprise for me. Let me reproducer an extract from the Author’s Note to give an outline of the book:

The Poetry Collection is a debut attempt to showcase varied emotions that may capture the reader’s attention to moments, memories, or musings in their own life. The book is an endeavor to present a few pauses, some flows, little heartaches & a couple of heartfelt smiles that we all experience in our life journey. The book is divided into four parts. The first part comprises of two poems which are dedicated to The Supreme Power, in the second part the muse has been Nature, in the third part it is Fire and lastly, the inspiration has been various shades of Life itself.

Even though the first two poems are dedicated to two divine manifestations representing Shakti and Shiva, these are not prayers. In the first poem the poet raises valid questions that we have not been able to answer in spite of taking pride as Indians to belong to a multi-millenia old civilisation. Of course remembering Shiva after Shakti, which remind me of Yang and Yin, may be the author’s way of emphasizing the complementary nature of the diverse and the seemingly opposing elements of existence.

I feel that the author has rightly used the word symphony in the title. A symphony takes us on a roller coaster ride by way of the varied emotions it may evoke. Same way the poems take us on an emotional and thoughtful journey of multitudes of shades – hope, moment despair, nostalgia, and so on.

In the section dedicated to nature, the elements of nature not only evoke myriads of emotions, but also provide insights into nature of things to serve as inspirations. The summer sun may be harsh. But it promises not to stay for ever and it draws our attention to the transient nature of things.

the Summer Sun smiles and gives out a sigh,
its nature where change is only constant,
the harsh rays also make life possible,
regulating the life-saving water cycle,
the summer wind makes me realize,
that even this hard phase too shall pass,

Summer Heat

The author sings the songs of nature through the change of seasons. If the the magnificence of the landscapes deserves our attention so does the fragility of a dandelion. There is an urge to identify with its vastness and at the same time be vulnerable with its fickleness.

In the second poem we came across various manifestations of Shiva. Same way, in the section titled Fire, the author has attempted to portray various manifestations of Fire. If somewhere it is a symbol of revival, somewhere it is a symbol of death. The poem ‘Love Story of Fire and Ice’ could be considered as the extension of the underlying theme of harmony and coexistence of opposites as symbolized by the principles of Shakti and Shiva or Yang and Yin.

The Sun & the Moon,
Eternal lovers that they both are,
Keep holding onto each other,
Despite differences in properties,
Teach us some crucial aspects of relationships,
To co-exist in harmony despite the imbalances,

Love Story of Fire and Ice

How can the last section called life be out of harmony. I mean this section too is a medley of poems to showcase various shades of life including those that we consider unsavory. While the author cautions women who are over obsessed with the outward look, she does not hide the pain she feels when the society treats women unfairly only because they tries to look better.

I like the theme and the look of the book cover. There are so many things about the book that I would like to talk about. But I would like the reader to discover more for themselves. To do so please download the book from here.

Chinmayee’s ‘Hearfelt Symphonies‘ is part of Blogchatter’s ongoing Ebook carnival where in a lot of books are available for free download from its library. My latest book- ‘The Beauty of Sanskrit Language and Text‘ is also part of the carnival and you can download it from here.