Water has Many Colors is Kiriti Sengupta’s search for home. As a monk, tired of seeking the divine elsewhere, looks within and finds his way back, Sengupta follows a trail of breadcrumbs strewn in his path to move back to his cloister. If we see through the black humour in these poems, we will know the poet is weary in his critical gaze and all he needs is rest. But resting is possible only in the midst of nature, or specifically, in the tenderness of Bengal’s mud and grass. Having authored eleven collections of poetry and prose, Kiriti Sengupta is aware of ways to captivate his readers. There is not one dull moment in this collection. He experiments with various poetic forms. Each poem exuberates a voice and tone distinct from the other, and each is accompanied by illustrations and visual indicators.
The collection begins with an invocation to life and water: ‘Water has many colors,/ smudging pebbles/ along its path’ (‘Spectrum’). The journey has begun and will end only when life crawls back to the womb: ‘Pearls find a way/ back to the oysters’ (‘Rosary’). This motion establishes circularity to existence. And throughout, the journey is a commentary on education, popular myths, movie actors, household chores, and parenting. Sometimes, the tone is cynical, but mostly, passionate and nostalgic. When Sengupta speaks of important issues, he employs sarcasm, as in his political commentaries. He mentions, officials fail to preserve Tagore’s Nobel Prize (‘Santiniketan’), the bullet marks at Jallianwala Bagh stand spectator to the hullabaloo of contemporary life (‘The Bottle’), and pandemic-induced isolation showcases political mayhem and religious bigotry (‘Boris Johnson in Isolation’).