Chaipatti – Ehsaas Bhari Chuskiyaan by Mohan Paliya – Book Review: A collection of 44 poems, Chaipatti truly has the best hindi poetry I’ve ever read. His intriguing way of writing, the perfect usage of words, and his sense of understanding life and situations just made it all so perfect and so relatable. In every word of his book, you will find the topics and emotions that we usually tend to ignore.
To tell you how I came across this book, so I recently met the author in a bookclub and happen to get a copy of his book (lucky me, lol). For days we discussed various poems in the group, knowing his views, his reasons, sharing our opinions and much more. At that point, I was sure I am going to read the book, just didn’t know he’d be sending me one. And I definitely do not regret the time I spent reading it! It is definitely worth every second I spent.
Chaipatti consists of 44 beautiful poems, related to topics like love, friendship, society, heartbreak, devotion, women, army, family, loneliness, and so much more. And it’s so hard to choose any one favourite from all of these. They all carry such beautiful emotions, the purest kind of love one can never has for anyone, the way he presented the position of women in the society, he may have just earned a fan!
But if I still have to name some of my favourites, they’d be Vaishya, Kumkum ka Rishta, Meri Patni, Bal Mazdoori, Mujhe Accha Laga, Kya Ye Wahi Hindustan Hai, Maa, Barsaat ki Boondein, Agar Waqt Mile Thoda, Kya Tumhe Sachmein Yaad Nahi, Kahan Par Bolna Hai, Vo Apna Sa Lagta Hai, Mar Kar Ek Din, and so many more.
And because I’d want literally everyone to read this book (all those who can read Hindi atleast), here’s me sharing some of my favourite lines from Chaipatti.
छोड़ कर माँ का प्यार,
पिता का दुलार,
छोड़ कर अपना पूर परिवार,
वो मुझे अपना संसार बना लेती है।
मेरी पत्नी अपना हर दर्द,
मुस्कुरा कर छिपा लेती है।
Then he wrote another set of these beautiful words and probably these are my personal fav:
टूटने से मेरे बात बिगड़ जाएगी,
और जो टूटा मैं तो शायद,
मेरी हर एक रात बिखर जाएगी।
And this is going to be my favourite forever. The depth of these lines cannot be understood by everyone. You can understand this only if you can understand that type of love, the insecurity of love, the feelings you have but can never express without breaking yourself. It’s just commendable.
Then there’s this poem where he wrote:
आदत में नहीं
मुस्कुराना इन होंठों के,
शायद इसीलिए तकलीफ भी
मुझे अब मेरी करीबी सी लगती है।
OMG this just makes me feel like crying. When I read this poem (मुझे मेरी ज़िन्दगी), I felt a rush of emotions in my heart. It takes a lot to read emotions and not to feel them yourself. And slowly I feel like I’m loosing the control I once used to have.
Oh, there’s this another one that I wanted to share, it goes like
खुद की बहन को सम्मान,
किसी और की बहन को
माल कहते हो,
शर्म करो थोड़ा
तुम खुद को इंसान कहते हो।
And at this point, I don’t thing I need to explain why I loved his work so much, like so freaking much! The author, Mohan Palia, carries that certain respect for women that one can expect and that’s totally visible in his work.
Turns out, this was my first Hindi poetry BOOK and I wasn’t confident in myself if I’ll be able to complete it anytime soon but I did and I am so grateful I did. It’s one of the most precious reads of this year for me and I would love it if you would also get the copies and give it a read. I can assure you, you will not find a single poem in the entire book that would disappoint you in any manner.
Till the next review, stay tuned to Read With Sonal!