Rhyme and reason

So you thought chartered accountants only wrote books of accounts? Well, here's one who also has a book of poems to her credit (forgive the pun). Sharada Sunder, who recently released The Illegitimate Tree, her collection of poetry, narrates an account:

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My poetry is really my observations of life and how it touches me. It is about love, pain, divinity, spirituality and all the things that have affected or inspired me. These are things I just had to write down. But I don't really write complicated high-funda stuff. My poems are simple, easy to understand. It is just a simple expression of emotions. This collection consists of poems I have written over a long period of time and through them, you'll notice how my writing, understanding and awareness of the world and myself have developed.u00a0u00a0

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Debit credit

I've been a professional accountant for a long time. I've also been writing poetry since my teens. All this while, I had been balancing my writing with all my job commitments. Then last year, I took a sabbatical for my daughter's tenth standard exams and I thought why not use this time to compile all my poems and find a publisher. It was not easy finding one.

For one, poetry is not for the masses and then again, I am not a well-known writer. I must have tried almost all big publishing houses, but they were not very encouraging. But Himalaya Publishing liked what I had written and agreed to publish it.

And although I am writer now, I don't really regret studying or working as a chartered accountant. These are two extreme sides of my self and I've really enjoyed my journey from one to the other.

The bottomline

Now that the book is out (it took a little less than a year), I haven't decided what to do next. I hope that people read my book; it's a pity that poetry has such few takers. I hope to write prose soon; I already have an idea, let's see how it goes. I've always believed that we are guided by a bigger force to do big things and that force will soon show me the way.

Fragrance Of The Night

Dim lights dance
Flickering from a lone strong candle
The soft silk pillow
Rests on flowery seductive linen

A bunch of wild jasmine rise
Soothing aching bone and brain
The ancient gown hugs the body
Invites romance for the dance

Memoirs gush through the night
Weaving through fragrance and flame
The wick finally surrenders
To the dew of dawn!