The poems capture the author’s emotions in a unique way.

The author frequently asks engaging questions, which help the readers to connect with the tenor of the poems and reflect on them.

This poetry is also an allegory of the poet’s consciousness. For example, in the poem ‘If Thou Hadst Become Hot Summer Of Darling May’, he makes allegorical use of the sun, rain, humming birds, and the garden.

Again, in ‘The Sun and the Moon’, he talks about how both the sun and the moon fills his mind with bliss when he looks at them.

His work has an allegorical, literary, and a symbolic significance, which helps us embark on a beautiful journey through the mind’s eye of the author.

The tone of the poems reveals a sense of self-introspection and serious realization by the writer, who seems to make profound observations of the happenings around him.

However, he is not all despondent and forlorn, but full of hope for a brighter future that awaits.

We also note the author’s usage of archaic English here.

His treatment of the language consists of old English words like thou, hadst, thy, thee, etc, which gives a lyrical tone to the poems.

Titles of the poems also reveal much about the writer’s love for nature. Poems like ‘Spring Love’, ‘Summer Is Mere a Dream’, ‘Winter’, ‘The Rainy Season’, and ‘As I Wander To Seek Beauty’ tell us how mesmerized he is by the nature around him.

He sees nature in everything—the daffodils, birds cooing, humming of the bees, gardens sprouting lovely flowers, the fountains, and the hills. He admirably expresses the simplicity and tranquility of nature.

He also asks everyone to come forward and do their bit in the development of the country.

In many poems, emotions like love, pity, and mercy have been dealt with in a sublime manner.

Imagery is a key theme of his poetry, where the poet has invoked nature and its different aspects as symbolic to the mood described in the poems.

Some Suitable Words is a highly recommendable book for all, an insight into the deep thoughts, which come out through nature’s beautiful depictions and creative introspection.

Let’s look at some lovely lines from the poem ‘Winter’:
Now, Winter, Spring’s colonial bride
Steeped into ornaments—
White snowflakes, and bare trees.
And waits awhile to capture her domain
While the dying year passes by.

(Reviewed by Sukanya Sur)

Each of these stories have been woven with so much emotion and love that the readers will be left awed by the expertise of the author.

Let’s discuss a little bit about my favourite stories in the book.

The first story would be, “Golper Chchole”.

In this story we have a young entrepreneur who is trying to start a new division in their publishing house all by herself. Besides this, she is also a caring girlfriend who is constantly on the lookout for great stories that can be turned into scripts for her boyfriend, who is a film maker by profession. In this process, she comes across a book that seems to have some personal connections with her family. Unable to contain her curiosity she sets out on a mission to search the enigmatic author and what she discovers in the end may not change her life in her anyway, but it definitely changes something inside her heart, it teaches her something about the vulnerability of life.

This story is beautiful, not because it has some great morals or some great characters. It is the art of storytelling that makes this story a standout piece for me. The revelation that comes in the end of this story is startling and sobering all at once.

The second story that I would like to discuss here is “Chchondo”, undoubtedly, the best story of the anthology.

This is a love story between a dancer and a tabla player. Yes, love can be of all sorts, but the way the love story develops here is awe-inspiring and honestly, it just makes you ache for a relationship this pure and this true, because how many people are lucky enough to get connections like these?

This is a fairy tale told in the backdrop of a harsh and real society. Yes, true relationship is way beyond physicality. It is about respecting and being respected.

The other story that is remarkable is “Obohelito o Oporiharjo”.

In this story we get a young girl who develops a deep bonding with her father’s employee. After all, you never know where you find your true friends. The man accepts the little girl as his own daughter. Everything is lovely in the family, but what secrets is the man hiding from his adopted family? What lies behind him? The girl grows up slowly to go missing from home one day, but her uncle is confident that he can bring her back. The uncle succeeds, but part of his past comes back with the girl. Again, superb writing skills and an excellent plot.

Authors like Bhattacharya and books like these make readers like us hopeful about the future of Bengali literature.

(Reviewed by Priya Das)

This book contains the success stories of 17 renowned doctors, namely Virendra Sarwal, Ashok Khurana, Lingam Vijaya, Muralidhar V. Pai, Krishna R. Murthy, Suresh K. Pandey, Jyotirmay Biswas, Barnali Das, Mahipal S. Sachdev, Praveen R. Murthy, Anita Panda, Jas Kohli, Dhanashree Ratra, Sarbjit Singh, Vidushi Sharma, Vinay R. Murthy and Sundaram Natarajan.

It is indeed a must read for all those young people aspiring to become doctors.

It also restores the general public’s faith that all the doctors are not corrupt and insensitive.

The book is also a reminder that doctors are humans too and so often they sacrifice their personal lives to attend to ailing patients.

The book talks about 17 doctors who had their fair share of struggle and went through ups and downs.

Their lives posed myriad barriers as they worked hard to reach their goals but one thing that was common to them was that they did not give up. They continued to fight through the worst of situations. Even when the world was against them, they kept holding on to their dream.

And they all worked hard and put in a lot of effort to get where they are today. Nothing in life comes without a price.

They paid the price through immense hard work and now life is paying them back with success and happiness.

I feel that the book is not only an inspiration for to-be-doctors but also for other students from any stream and subject.

Because the point of the book is the struggle behind every success, not just the struggle to become doctor.

The book also contains quotes and advice for the medical students. It warns them of the pros and cons.

It is the best feeling in the world to give someone a life but then there js sacrificing of personal time, family time, vacations, and yes again, there’s a lot of dedication and hard work required.

It’s a full package and a complete punch of knowledge and motivation.

The stories are bound to stir hearts and motivate souls. Every journey is aspiring in its own way.

For the doctors, the hurdles were strong, but the will power and self motivation was stronger.

Overall I’d like to rate this book 9/10. It was a  good and satisfying read after a long time.

(Reviewed by Soumashree Mukherjee)

It’s a book of undeniable depth and knowledge.

The author has gone into candid and minute details. It is like a mirror showing the truth.

Some of the details in the book will even shock the most sturdy.

Usually, history is taught in our schools in a very generalized manner, often a glorification of people. But rarely are we told about the dark side of history.

This book is like an eye opener, a rude awakening. A book that makes you question Gandhiji’s work as a ‘freedom fighter’, a book  that shakes your faith from its very foundation.

Although the book focuses on the Barak valley, the narration links the region with the happenings around the country before and after independence.

The book touches upon topics such as the Sepoy Mutiny, formation of the Indian National Congress, role of Gandhiji in Hindu-Muslim riots and the Partition of India, the dark side of the leaders, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and the aftermath of British rule in India – especially on Assam, the Barak Valley.

The book also throws light on the origin of Muslim religion in Bengal, the effect of China and the greater India’s relation with Bengali people.

It winds up with the story of how Barak Valley, such a tiny region of such a big country, played a major role in bringing back Hindu-Muslim unity after the Partition of India.

A must read for people who are interested in history and want to know more about the Barak region.

Overall I’d rate this book 9.5/10.

(Reviewed by Soumashree Mukherjee)