Book Review: A Poetic Journey Through Mother-Daughter Bonds

Mother-Daughter Dialogue 

Authors: Dr. Paramita Mukherjee Mullick and Sankalpita Mullick 

Publisher: Penprints 

Rs 150/- 

Pages: 64(paperback), 2024 

ISBN 978-819679322-7 

A beautiful collection of poetry by a mother and her daughter. The treat is really in the poetry and the concept of sharing the same space, by a mother and daughter, with the emotions and expression of both complementing each other. The hostelite daughter vents her chagrin in poignant poetry, and the mother ghost walks through her house, missing the child at every turn. 

They start with food, typically Indian style, and Sankalpita writes, 

‘MY LOVE IS CONTAINED IN FOOD’ 

Quote: “The biryani I ate with my parents doesn’t taste the same 

When served on cold metal mess plates 

The rice sticking to the sides  

And the eggs never quite fried right, and the meat always conspicuously absent” 

While Paramita writes, 

‘THE KITCHEN IS NOT THE SAME ANY MORE’ 

Quote:” Mixing the grated cheese, chopped green chillies and garlic in the pasta for you is a different joy…. 

The chutney tastes bitter without you… 

The pav-bhaji masala lies idly on the larder….” 

The daughter’s food and the mother’s spices, have both gone bland, such touching lines. 

Both poems brought a smile on my face and yet, the eyes almost brimmed with tears. More as I read Paramita’s poem 

‘YOUR ROOM’ 

“Your room waits for you my child 

A mother’s heart waits for you 

To come back from hostel 

And spread your sunshine around” 

Sankalpita waits for the telephone to ring in the poem THE PHONE RINGS, clinging to it like the perennial umbilical cord,

“I wait impatiently to tell you good morning before class and good night before bed.

No matter how our day’s been and what we have said”. 

So on through the book, they both write on the topic, THE PUREST FORM OF LOVE 

Paramita’s little grandson nestles up to her with the love that’s beyond dimensions, and the same baby holds on to his aunt’s phone with rapt attention when he spots Sankalpita’s face on it, just this is so valuable showing the loving bonds in the family.  

Paramita speaks of Diwali,  

“In this city of dreams 

Only remnants of Diwali lights are sparkling faintly 

But for a mother whose daughter has come home 

There is Diwali in my heart” 

Then the sea is ever present too, as Sankalpita says, 

“I look at the turquoise blue sea and  

I transform the beauty into poems”  

Then she shares that THE SEA BELONGS TO ALL, and we understand, for Mumbaiites, the sea is a permanent emotion. 

They talk of festivals, of love, of the wait for each other’s phone calls, it makes for very interesting reading, yet I wonder what will the conversations be like over passing of time, when the daughter is in a career, when she becomes a mother, and the other a grandmother, as they both grow in different ways, yes, I wonder, and I’m sure those verses will be another delight.  

I end with the mention of Sankalpita’s poem  

‘WHERE IS HOME FOR ME’ 

She says a king chose to live in hell rather than heaven, for his family was in hell, and then she says 

‘So then I knew where home is for me’. 

A slim volume, but full of emotional experience and the joy of a family, I congratulate the authors and the publishers for bringing out this lovely book. 

Satbir Chadha is the author of the highly acclaimed book, “For God Loves Foolish People”, for which she was awarded the Reuel International prize. She is also the founder of the NISSIM International Prize for Literature, awarded every year to upcoming writers of English prose and poetry.