Book Review – Ek Sunhari Raah by Kumar Anupam ‘Dev’ at Evincepub | Criticspace | Online Book Reviews

Poetry always comes as a breath of fresh air and brings peace and solace to all the ones who have an interest in reading poetry. Poety since time immemorial has always been “a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (as Wordsworth once defined poetry). The same holds true when one reads “एक सुनहरी राह” by Kumar Anupam Dev which is a beautiful collection of poetry and has an interesting capture of the thoughts and artistic abilities of Dev as a writer. Every poem has in itself a message of positivity, a ray of hope, an attempt to take the reader from the dark zones to lightened up feelings. Even in this time when poetry is more or less a forgotten form of writing or perhaps less favored, the poet has not only written poetry but also tried his hand at ghazal writing. It turns out to be one great marvel which would not only be favored by the present audience but would also stand the test of time and become an area of interest for the coming generations. 

Through the medium of poetry and using words to his best craft, the poet manages to touch and bring the reader’s emotions to life by making them connect strongly with his poetry. Showing the hallmarks of a true artist, at times the poet keeps his poems unnamed and let’s the words play with the imagination of the reader and unconsciously, the reader also attempts to give the poems names as per his perception.

The book cover appears to be from the autumn season with a path not walked on much. This, for a moment reminds of “The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost. Such kind of an image gives a certain serenity and peace at the very sight. The reader is assured that certainly the content to follow is only going to further give relaxation to him.

One of his poems which is clearly dedicated to his sister and how much she means to him is perhaps one of the most beautiful poems of the collection. A few lines include,

“सच में मेरी शान है बहना।

हाँ मेरी पहचान है बहना,

मेरी तो संतान है बहना,

ताज में जो वो मान है बहना।”

In a few poems he also mentions his own name as if he is addressing himself. This is also a technique which was used by writers in the earlier times.

His poem “वक़्त” is most remarkable. The poem is short and brief but the poet has managed to describe the nature of time in quite detail and the fact that it keeps changing and influencing people’s lives at the same time. He has done all efforts to personify time through the lines:

“उसको देखा ना छुआ मैनें कभी,

फ़िर भी सुनता हूँ चला ही जा रहा है।”

 And

“सामने आता है तो परवा किसे,

जाते-जाते आँख नम कर जा रहा है।”

At the times, the poet creates his own metric style and uses the literary device of refrain at certain places. This shows the fact that he has read through the classics and displays their influence. 

Dev uses different images in his poems at times which concretize the image he has been trying to create. These images add to the vividness of thought and brings the words of the poems closer to the mind of the reader. The language of the poems is of the level of every possible reader and it appears to appeal directly to the heart than to the mind. The non-hindi readers can also give the poetry volume a try and read through the poems.