Ummeed Se Banate Hain Raste

The poems in this collection by Santosh Kumar Chaturvedi bear witness to the existence of a creative opposition against forgetting. Wherever there is opposition, with all its creativity, there will inevitably be crossroads of ideas. From Socrates and Buddha to Muktibodh, Dhumil, and beyond, the creative spirit of the opposition has seen itself creating these crossroads and being formed at these very crossroads. In every era of lack of options, it has created alternatives and demolished the fortresses and monasteries intoxicated with power. Poetry has the eye to see things differently. Most of the poems in this collection exemplify this. Poems like Nail-Kabje, Garbage, Postmortem, and Pasang sensitively highlight the importance of labor that remains invisible under the pressure of the visible. An entire invisible environment flashes before us, holding the heavy paraphernalia of visibility with its own labor. Not everyone can tread the uncomfortable and challenging path of poetry. It wasnt without reason that Ghalib said, If the eyes dont drip, then what is blood? Every poet, great or small, has to build their confidence at every step, in every era, to break free from the all-consuming shell of worldliness and face the world. Santoshs poet currently possesses this confidence, which is a reassurance for Hindi poetry.