Neelam, a pure sapphire, is born in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Neelam Saxena Chandra is a scintillating writer, a talismanic poet, a brilliant author and a bureaucrat. Moreover, she is an IES officer. She has authored 7 novels, 9 short story collections, 37 poetry collections and 15 children’s books to her credit. More than 2000 of her stories/poems/articles have been published in various international/national journals/magazines etc. She is a bilingual writer; writing in English and Hindi. She holds a record with the Limca Book of Records -2015 for being the Author having the highest number of publications in a year in English and Hindi. She has won a prize in a poetry contest organized by American Embassy & Arushi (awarded by Gulzar sahib), award by Women’s Web for fiction writing, award in a National poetry contest organized by Poetry Council of India, 2016, award for writing for children by Children’s Book Trust, awarded a prize for her fiction by Women’s Web, etc. She has received, Sohanlal Dwivedi Puraskar for children’s literature by Maharashtra state Hindi Sahitya Akademi for the year 2018, Humanity International Women Achiever Awards 2018, Bharat Nirman Literary award in 2017, Premchand award (Twice) by Ministry of Railways, Rabindranath Tagore International Poetry award, Soninder Samman, Shabdshree Samman, Freedom award by Radio city for Lyrics along with other awards and honors. She was listed in Forbes as one among 78 most popular authors in the country in 2014. Her poem was also placed at no 7 in a contest organized by NAMI (NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness, USA) in 2021.
Neelam’s “The Lost Mint Taste”, an anthology published by Author’s Press. The cover page is arresting and easy on the eye. This anthology contains 50 poems on varied themes. The opening poem of the book “Of Royal Disposition” presents her practical turn of mind embellished with Queen’s manners even though her filiations were on their uppers. Moreover, the poet rightly tells how she achieved success in life through her dedication and determination.
Another poem ‘My Companion’ beautifully written, the poet presents her love for tea. Ever since she fell in love with it, her mind began to shower imaginations. Till date we have seen that many poets in the literary world have written poems on rain and things related to it. She has also written a masterpiece about it. That is ‘Letting Go!’ in which the poet describes her experience of a rainy day. Abandoning all worldly pleasures and comforts, she descended the stairs, jumped into the pool of muddy water and fulfilled every desire of her heart.
Another poem, ‘Towering Tree’ will always fascinate readers because of its metaphorical meaning. In this poem, you will find the depth of the poet’s poetry. For me this poem is nothing less than a masterpiece. Surely it will convey different meanings and be able to grab the attention of its readers.
Apart from her undeniable talent, which she has presented impressively. One more poem, ‘Love’, in this poem the poet has used figure of speech to compare two different things very artistically. It is the last line of the poem that impresses the most. The poet rightly concludes the poem with this verse,
‘What’s important is the existence of love;
Not of the people passing on the same.’
Another poem ‘Betel Nuts’, indited on the fruit of areca palm and its adverse effects. In this poem, the poet used inspired imagery which strikes hard at the root of sense of thought. Through this poem the poet wants to convey a message to the readers that by chewing betel nuts, their lives will be affected by almost incurable diseases.
One more poem, ‘Wandering Singer’, in this poem the poet wrote a superb poesy note when she saw a wandering singer who brought joy to many lives without taking a single penny. Another poem ‘Weeping Tree’, the poet’s love for nature is reflected in her poetry. The poet exquisitely describes what she see the whole nine yard in a poet way. The superb flow of ink and to be twin in its meaning is the real asset of her pen. Her poems have real depth.
‘Love and Divinity’, indited in the memory of Ram and Sita, in this poem the poet tried her best to show devotional likings and tried to weave a significant part of their life in a word-focused arrangement. ‘The Love Story’, written so nicely on the tale of Radha and Krishna, it is a benchmark of love. The whole universe was yearning for Krishna but he was yearning for Radha. They met and fell in love when they were very young. Radha Krishna used to meet and dance in a garden known as Nidhivan (Madhuban) in Vrindavan. I suggest all the readers to read poem no. 21 to 26 and enjoy the tale of Radha and Krishna heartily.
Another poem ‘Poetry’, in this poem the poet rightly said,
“Poets are made up of words
And the words keep beading.”
This verse shows what a fascinating insight she has about poetry. The whole poem reflects her poetic nature. The poet fall into musings in every situation and comes with garlands of poetry.
One more poem ‘To You, Daughter’, the entire poem reflects mother’s love for her daughter. Parting from the daughter, the pure words of the mother’s heart are artistically depicted in this poem.
Another poem ‘Poet’s Eye’, the poem revolves around the train and the poet’s thought. The thought of the poet irritates her and creates a bizarre situation, take her into darkness, compares her boarding into darkness. Eventually the poet comes back into life again and enjoying nature as well as boarding. Further readers will discover for themselves how beautifully it is crafted while going through the poem.
One more sublime poem is titled as ‘The Journey’, the poem is so nice and the poet rightly said,
‘Indeed, life itself is a mirage
And we, weary travelers in the land of nothingness.’
In this poem, the poet’s imagination turns into a daydream. It is the special part of her pen that regularly makes the readers to be inspired by her thoughts. It engages the senses to deepen the readers understanding of what is happening. How beautifully the poet compares her life to the journey of the flowing stream.
Elegy titled as ‘Fifty Two’ written on an emotion that really is very painful and lamenting. Fifty Two, it is a very scary number for the poet when her father left this ordinary world. The poet compared it to haunted Burma Bridge which has a long history.
Neelam Saxena Chandra has put this anthology in good shape, arranged all the poems in a wonderful manner. She has a strong grip on diction. Each poem has the power to captivate poetry lovers. She has made an excellent use of imagery in this anthology. Through this anthology readers will take a literary journey of creation, imagination and reality. I wish Neelam Saxena Chandra all the best for the publication of this anthology and hope that it will continue in the future. I am delighted to write a review of this anthology because of poet’s poetic status. I dedicate this verse to the poet,
Of thy pen, I’m a fan,
On which words art raining,
A dream of thy musings,
I keep in my mind.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
KHURSHEED AHMAD WANI IS is a poett, Reviewer, Author, Teacher , hailing from Batagund Langate and can be reached at khursheed1605@gmail.com
