Ranu Uniyal, a teacher of English, is here with her latest anthology of poems, in Hindi. Her poems, which she dismissively says are ‘just things I wrote’, are something of a portfolio of a traditional artist, shy and mild mannered, but with the promise of high artistry and an unfaltering grasp on her material and tools.
There are poems about the different stages of womanhood, life in the streets (and within the mind), passing seasons, and of course the landscape of the heart. In her wide sweep of ideas, she reminds one of the nineteenth century Urdu/Rekhta masters who left us literal biographies of their towns—local and universal at the same time. And her choice of words and images sometimes takes her closer to the bhasha tradition, and this is especially evident in Siyasat ka Khel with echoes of Nazeer.
Saeeda Ke Ghar, a slim volume, is a lyrical diary of a mindful person in these deeply disturbing times of ours. The very first eponymous poem begins harmlessly enough—fluidly describing a typical teenage scenario of shared meals and simple joys in small town back-lanes which take the ugliness around in their stride.