LET THE NIGHT DESCEND AMID THE FALLING METEORS AND FULFILMENT OF WISHES! By Kunal Roy

বইয়ের নাম: উল্কাপাতেই রাত্রি হোক।
কবি: শ্রীতন্বী চক্রবর্তী।
প্রকাশনা: গীর্বাণ।
দাম: ৭০ টাকা।

She is talented enough to tackle discreetly the different dimensions of life. She knows how to make hay while the sun shines. She is acquainted with the art of blending the fantasy with the real ethos of this present hour. She is Dr. Sreetanwi Chakroborty who is not only enlightening her students with the pearls of her knowledge but also herself as she always loves to embark on the lovely journey of creativity and its allied affairs! 

  This is her first book of poetry which has really advised me to think twice before I begin my journey. A different kettle of fish! A sleek book. Yet contains poems of immense depth and significance. Ranging from 'কেমন আছো আফরোজ' (How are you Afroz?) to 'ড্রপসিন' ( Dropsin) to 'এখানে এখনো অসময়ে বিকেল হয়' ( The dusk descends at an unusual hour here, even today) to 'প্রেম' (Love) to 'উড়ন্ত পরী' ( The Flying Fairy) to 'উল্কা পাতেই রাত্রি হোক' ( Let the night descend amid the falling meteors) to her last composition 'স্বীকারোক্তি' ( The Confession), each has a personal touch which finally melts into a universal appeal. There is no pretention. There is no digression of thoughts. The poetess is courageous enough to depict the truth that Afroz and she have become united amid all odds. She loves him. She takes care of his every step, every moment. She feels synonymous with him. She never retreats to ask him: 'How are you'?, though Afroz is no longer physically present in her life. The 'unseen presence' is often stronger than it is conceived to be! In 'Dropsin', she is an observer of an anonymous individual. She notes his every tiny moment and whips up her imagination to delineate the possible truths of the person whom she sees and evaluates every day. However, there is a warp in the story of the 'unusual setting of dusk' and \"Love\". She is romantic here. But her profound sense of romanticism is not devoid of reality. She travels, beholds the sportive mood of the nature and her ambience. She asks her beloved: \" Are you able to see? The dusk sets at an usual time here, even today\". A question. A curiosity. A desire to hear from his beloved. All such vistas invariably spark off the token of love for each other. On the other, \"Love\" has not been an emotion in its conventional sense in her life nor crooning a corny number in a voice sunk below the whisper to breed a sense of flawless melody as the sun manages to set behind the mangroves! Ipso facto, the two lines \"You are well today\" and \"You are really well today\" sum up the true essence of love. A lovely emotion imbued with the strains of anguish. There is perhaps an underlying current of desiring his arrival once more in her life. Moreover, in one of  her short poems in this present anthology like 'The Flying Fairy', the poetess is quite assertive and appealing in her approach as she boldly utters: \" Have you been the only lover?\"/Framed a sense of flawless game\". Such expressions show that the showering of this immortal feeling is not an instance of monopoly. Yet there is a welcoming touch to look back and revive the golden memories of divinity. A series of assumptions are noted in the title poem. The poetess pens, views, assumes to be with her beloved. She awaits to create, to annihilate to appease her readers. 'The Confession', her last poem in this collection encapsulates the necessity of admitting every nuance of love. Her limpid attempt satiates the arid tongue and the parched throat! The unspoken words are frozen today. We know \"colour is often a paradox\", but her poems are ambiguous, interesting and an all time favourite read in the accepted sense of term. She has not played with the words but used them logically to spread the magical effect among all and sundry! After all one cannot simply ignore the smallest of the small things like the car running at a dizzy celerity, the golden sunshine, the flying meteor promising to touch the core of earth and the memory - laden lanes and bylanes. The list is perennial and beyond the conventional epithets! She takes the flight of fancy but tied very much to the terra firma of reality! 

 Each poem marks its own distinction. Rhetoric abounds in her poems. Symbolic, intense, inspiring and a chain of pure thoughts. Brevity is the soul of creation. There is no question of pruning her phrases and clauses. The reason is obvious. The fragrance will melt into oblivion. A lovely collection with all the essential qualities! A perfect read for the genuine poet lovers!!

                                    - Kunal Roy.