Book Review: Being Radha by Amruta Nerurkar

Being Radha

Poet: Amruta Nerurkar
Genre: Poetry collection
Publishers: Cyberwit.net

‘Being Radha’ is a lyrical journey of Radha. With this poetry/ essay collection, the poetess has thrown light on various phases of the life of a woman, who is in search of her identity. This is a collection of 18 poems along with related essays that depict the life of Radha. Love is profound! And so is the search for an identity. Majority of the people are unaware of the identity crises faced by Radha. However, this phase of her life is beautifully explained by the very first part of the book: An overture. The poetess has done a commendable job in portraying all the emotions of the human mind. “Human mind is a wonderful Kaleidoscope and there is no emotion alien to it”- as quoted from the book itself, explains everything. There is more to this book. Part two of the book highlights the period when Radha started fantasizing about Him. This section specifically touches the heart. Her love for Him was unconditional and boundless and that made her realize what she wanted. Love is not always about ‘Happy ending’. It is about the depth and the intensity of the relationship between people. Radha’s life was not a walk in the park. But her resolute and audacious instinct for acceptance of her love made this love story immortal! The poetess has indeed emphasized on this essential point!

The cover of the book could have been made better. The title is apt and only after reading the blurb, one is able to associate it with the content inside (that is a very positive comment as this instigates the interest to find out what is there in store for the readers). The use of vocabulary and language is splendid. Although I also felt that for not-so-avid-readers, the language will be comparatively difficult to comprehend. The poetess’ selection of words to describe the emotional turmoil, is remarkable. The general rhyme scheme followed in most of the poems is XAXA. For those who are well versed in the story of Radha-Krishna, the book is relatable. Even for the new readers, there is something new to know about, in every poem.

However, there are certain drawbacks too. There are vocabulary errors along with several punctuation mistakes. Time and again, in the essays, one can spot missing full stops or wrong capitalization.

Overall, a light read and enjoyable work of literature!
Best wishes to the author!

Buying Link: Amazon