Author: Harshita Srivastava
Pages: 68
Year of Publication: 2020
Price: Rs 200
ISBN:
978-81-949985-2-5 (9788194998525)
 
About the Author
Harshita holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Loreto College, Kolkata, and is pursuing her Master’s degree at St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata. Through her writing she wishes to, in her words, “bring out the extraordinariness of the ordinary… During these tumultuous times, as each individual crosses out dates on the successful survival through each day, I want my verse to poignantly engage readers into a tiny hopeful portal that I constructed during the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic.”
 
About the Book
In her preface to the book, Harshita writes:
“The little observations that this volume contains, span 70-odd days in the life of all individuals who existed during this coronavirus crisis (added to this global crisis was another blow in the form of the cyclone Amphan on 20 May 2020 which, for us in Bengal, brought about immense damage at a material as well as an emotional level). For once, the 21st century witnessed an experience which can truly be called universal, without any religious, political or cultural faction. It is on this note of a collective catastrophe that I made it a point to pen down something each day which has a natural underlying tone of being trapped or stuck. Even in the apparently personal reflections, I believe that the context will bring about a sense of relatability. Each poem explores a specific observation and I hope these observations will record the essence of history beyond concrete facts and figures.”
A review of the book can be read here.
 
Contents
Acknowledgements / 6
Preface / 7
 
Before
A Few Miles Away / 10
Will You Never Turn Around / 11
Turning the Hourglass / 12
Attempts / 13
Paper Planes / 15
Rainy Nights / 17
Blur / 18
Before Another January / 19
Nandini-Prometheus Dialogue / 20
Half-Eaten Moon / 23
Corona Diary / 25-61
Beyond
Colours Frozen in Icicles / 64