By: Humera Sultana
Published by: Magnifera Publications Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi
Edition: 2017
Price: Rs. 150/-
Reviewed by: Dr. Mohammad Aleem, Editor, ICN Group
It was the last year when I received a book, “Musings” by Humera Sultana through my friend, Danish Khan, Editor, Indian Muslim Observer. It was an amalgamation of good thoughts experienced by the esteemed writer herself. I enjoyed her book immensely.
This year, another book, Whispers of a Soul has come out, which is a collection of poems. She writes in the preface, “I have often felt that none of my poems has been composed; each of them has been written in a state of inspiration, an inspiration that I never knew had already germinated in me and sprouted with a gracious whisper.”
This slim book has been very creatively divided into many sub-chapters as Poems of Love, Life, Beauty, Spirituality, and finally, Death.
All sections start with a beautiful sketch by very versatile and creative, Leena, which makes the theme of that particular section alive with a new kind of artistic impressions and meanings. However, this is the first book of poetry by the poetess, but she has succeeded well in bringing out it with a solemn pace, gravity and depth.
Take an example:
In the Soil of my heart
I sowed a seed called Love
Tilled it with sighs
Watered it with tears
Sprouted out a bud with an urge
To blossom into a flower
She has such command over her art that with equal ease she moves from one theme to another. The complex themes like Poems of life, love, spirituality and finally, death have made this book quite interesting, serious and thoughtful.
When the heart cries
The eyes look on
It weeps and shrieks
And mourns and grieves
It whines and whimpers
And howls and bleats
It bellows and roars
And snivels and squalls
It sobs and wails
And leaves a trail
The eyes look on
Take another example of her mastery over this art:
You see those graves in the graveyards
They say they are graves of men
Men who ruled the world
And men who served the world
Men who toiled on the soil
And got buried under their spoils
The poetess lives and teaches English literature at Imam Muhammad Ibn-e- Saud Islamic university, Riyadh. She had completed her education from Hyderabad, India.
This slim volume has around forty short and long poems. But its shortness doesn’t come in the way of its importance and reach in the complex world of the English poetry.
This book has been published by Magnifera Publications Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. Eager readers may buy this book from the publication house by placing their order directly on its official email id: magniferapublications@gmail.com. It is also available on Amazon.in
I congratulate Humera Sultana, who despite of living in a much closed society like Saudi Arabia, where there is little scope for women to express openly her feelings, she dared to bare her inner thoughts of mind and heart through pen and paper before the world. I hope that she will keep writing good poetries and make enrich the world of English literature in future also.
