IMPRINTS

  FOREWORD ‘A Pinch of Salt’, by Rajni Chhabra is a hallmark of modern poetry. She writes in English as well as Hindi, Rajasthani, Punjabi and Siraiki. Her books have been translated widely into more than a dozen Indian dialects. She is also a milestone in translation work and has translated more than 22 books from Rajasthani, Hindi, Punjabi and Nepali. ‘A Pinch of Salt’, is her 22rd book in the series. As a lecturer in the Department of Education, she has authored a grammar book for the Board of Secondary Education.   ‘A Pinch of Salt’, is a bunch of flowers in the garden of Modern English poetry. A pinch of salt when added to any vegetable increases the taste and flavour of the food.  Its presence is felt, though not apparently visible. This book multiplies the theme and thoughts in a wonderful way to entertain worthy readers. She does not provide only the facts a modern poet usually presents, but makes the readers think about the situation, imposing some question...

PRELUSION A PINCH OF SALT  It gives me fathomless pleasure to share my third English Poetry book , 'A Pinch of Salt', with Poetry lovers all over the world. " Writing a book of poetry is like dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo," said Don the critic. Poetry is the world's premier human eloquence, a sheer spontaneous out flowing of sentiments, from the innermost recesses of heart and should be felt in heart of voracious readers. Poetry touches every inch of habitable earth and acquires cultural conquest. It is also cultivating culture. As for me, poetry is the opening of door, on hearing the knock at the door of mind. While retaining deep love with treasured memories of past, I don't dare to ignore present and cherish hopes for a vibrant future for society as a whole. For me, poetry is reviving past; additionally an instrument of social change, re awakening and attempt to transform attitude of generation towards better. When, I ...

     COMPLEMENTS FROM JUD BOWNESS     The rarest gifts are those given with from the honesty of truth.      The greatest care is to share those gifts with all those we meet.      The purest path is not the one we follow,  but the one we create      The finest reward we receive is to open the doors so others may find we are all the same.      The poet is the flag that waves in the wind of opinion, pointing to directions of calm and storm and           is  only raised by those who wish to know the direction of change.          Rajni Chhabra you give the gift of unity. You make a path to follow and most of all, you open           doors  to the world around you. Becoming a doorway, your poetry enlightens, educates and         surfaces points of view that otherwise would be lost by a w...

Brahma Kamal   Blossoms of happiness  Don't bloom daily In the courtyard of my heart Sometimes Blossoms from cactus Render me pleasure Sometimes I enfold joy in my lap By reviving memory of  White* Brahma Kamal And eagerly I keep waiting For * Brahma Kamal  To bloom. Brahma Kamal: As per Hindu mythology, Brahma Kamal is a celestial flower that blooms only for a night in a year

  Flight Young, innocent birds  Are trained to fly By their parents "Remain confined to cage With folded wings After learning how to fly" Why to instruct them, like this One who is capable of High flights Will surely fly and reach  destination With his guts  And determination Be assured Will never forget His mentor His source Originator of His force.

Connection with Roots   Dwelling in city Apprehension of wilderness Still in heart persist Reveries of village With its beautiful dwellings Cool Rustling breeze Cuckooing of Nightingale In grooves Pure, cool water In rivers With a murmuring flow Heart gets eager  Reviving these memories. Lentils boiled on On low fire of  Earthen stove Fluffy flatbread Baked on burning fire-wood Matchless aroma Reaching nostrils Instigated appetite Entangled in  complications of Urban life  Exhausted with fatigue of Entire day Before gulping two morsels of food Many a times Appetizer is needed. Children eat  Thrusting eyes in TV Nobody is there To narrate them Stories of fairyland Air fetched from AC and cooler Is no match for natural air Sleeping on terrace is not possible We fail to view twinkling of stars And moves of the moon While ordering food In a posh hotel You, still, place order for Smoky sizzlers * Tandoori roti * Dal Makhani *Dal-baati churma *Makki ki roti *Sers...

Abode of Happiness Sparrow Furnishes her nest Fetching straw by straw A bit of cotton Some threads, too Are gathered by her After incubation Responsibility of sparrow Does not come to an end She gathers grains  For her darlings And feeds them Putting grain in their beaks Sparrow enjoys Bliss of motherhood. She introduces them  To the world outside Teaches them to fly In vast sky Cycle of life Keeps on moving like this With the passage of time Strength of sparrow  Decreases With advent of dawn Birds take flight Their mother stays alone  In the deserted nest. With sun-set Birds return to their nest Holding grains in beak To feed their mother Such a relation flourishes In the world of empathy Nest tinged with love Becomes abode of bliss.

New Trend Rivers used to be carriers Of pure and cold water Sweetness of that water is Ever fresh in our memory * Pyau were managed  For travellers Now, We are not offered *Gudh-Dhani affectionately And water free of charge. In changed environment It has been replaced by Bottled water Pay for it and drink This is story of Our new trends. * Pyau : water stands, with earthen pots full of water to provide water to travellers who were thirsty.   * Gudh Dhani:  sweet made of molasses and rice crisps  

 Art of Living  At any place At anytime Uproot it and Plant it afresh  On a new ground * Bichhu buti adjusts  And blooms again With its colourful glory. O, That! We could also learn This unique art of living. *Bichu buti or  stinging nettle  is plant that grows wild in the hills especially in Uttarakhand.

 Milestone Since centuries Standing unabashed By roadside Like a mum ascetic Bearing with innateness Blows of storm, thunder Scorching sun Chilly winter Autumn and Spring Neutral in all circumstances Not having grudge with anyone Whether someone summons us  To come along or not We show right direction to Strayed travellers We are milestones We are your guide. RAJNI CHHABRA Multi-lingual Poetess & Translator

A Pinch of  Salt  I appreciate Presence of a pinch of salt  In glass of water Though apparently invisible Makes it presence felt.

  Own Life-Style Someone keeps tears sustained in eyes Someone lets tears flow like river Someone deems breathing as life Someone treats living heartily as life Someone is tempted by playful gestures of butterflies  And keeps intact these memories in mind Someone conjures these bright colors of butterflies on canvas And shares these pleasant moments with whole world Everyone has own life-style Someone appreciates his privacy Someone likes sharing publically.

  Wall A partition wall is raised In the house-courtyard When hearts nurture rift Helpless mother Bearing pang of separation With whom to stay Where to move Squeals of infants On the other end of wall She forcibly  Curtails her eager steps But, will she be able to stop Flight of her mind Flying on wings of mind She wanders  Across the wall In sleepless nights Conjuring dreams Renders support  To her baseless life. RAJNI CHHABRA

 Strayed Travellers Strayed travellers  Often used to seek guidance From  Unfamiliar persons Moving on the path And they, too, gladly  Managed time  To guide them. Nowadays Nobody becomes your guide Nobody requests for guidance And nobody guides you Everyone is concerned with self On an unfamiliar path In an unknown city There is no fear of Getting path deviated Google map protects all Showing way to  Strayed travellers. Rajni Chhabra Multi-lingual Poetess & Translator  

Butterfly ********  O! Butterfly Don't move with a lofty proud gait Don't roam about in orchid  Fearlessly God knows when Someone gets attracted Towards you And your innocent styles And you without any fault With your bright colors Get confined  In pages of books To entertain someone. Rajni Chhabra Multi-lingual Poetess & Translator

MURMURING RIVER *********************  Murmuring river Humming in her own mood Swaggering, smiling  Was flowing I beckoned her to stop  And interrupted Why are you in such a haste Where do you intend to go Are you going  To keep promise with someone The river hesitated a bit Shuddered and blushed I aspire to meet sea That is why I am flowing I warned her Have you ever mused Merging with sea You will lose your individuality Your sweetness Spontaneity and sappiness But that lovelorn river Did not stop flowing Lost her attribute of sweetness Merged in hard water Embracing the sea And put an end to her synaphea Her own sustenance. Rajni Chhabra Multi-lingual Poetess & Translator

 POET ******* One who sustains in him Sufferings of others And strings in words Sentiments and sensations Is named as Poet A bio-scientist can Explain very well Physical attributes of a flower What sort of soil, manure and water  Are requisite to make it flourish Poet has a passionate concern  To elaborate fragrance and hue of flower. Those who were massacred in Riots by terrorists How many houses were set ablaze  How much destruction was caused How many lives were put to an end Every morning, every evening Maintaining account of this is Job of Government and media Life of how  many innocent persons Has been devastated Listening and grasping their Sobs and sighs Depicting their pathos  In his compositions  This is profound liability of a poet This is proof of his identity. Rajni Chhabra Multi -Lingual Poetess & Translator

   RAJASTHANI POEMS  :   MEETHESH NIRMOHI ENGLISH TRANSLATION: RAJNI CHHABRA I ENTRUST YOU WITH  In a setting golden evening Bare feet sunk in Cool, soft sand That indescribable sensation While descending from Peak of sand dunes I entrust you with it. I entrust you with Moist, rainbow coloured feelings A poem has sprouted Just as grass of desert Grows up with a meager amount of water. A poem has flourished In process of ascending and descending From sand dunes. That fragrance of desert Has diffused on dunes. From its treetop has bloomed A hue cycle flower. I am entrusting you with it. She is ushering your name Since long. Up-swinging like deer Descending from slopes of dunes Calling me from behind She has reached up to me She has flourished With her own might I have turned back To fetch her along Holding her hand. From buds of that fragrant desert Is audible cosmic sound. I entrust you with that.   2. WARNING Moving along-with Twenty first Century Wher...

WALL This partition wall has been erected by us only Abode has been divided, along with courtyard and *Tulsi Thane Not bricks and mortar, it has been built by applying  Ruined brotherhood and sodality Heavy hearts of sisters Squeals of infants And the milky smile Tears- smeared vociferance of mother  World of unaccomplished dreams of father. Hatred, anger, disdain and reproach Oozing from clumsy hearts of brothers and their wives.  Amidst these familiar figures Trying to probe hearts, my own Lifeless, but still tossing Throbbing sensations. Indulged in prayer  Let this wall fall. *A tulsi thane is a traditional terracotta pot used to grow a tulsi plant (holy Basil) My English Transversion of poem 'Deewar, originally composed by literary icon Mithesh Nirmohi Ji RAJNI CHHABRA Multi-lingual Poetess & Translator

 Blurb for BHULA HUA SA YAAD KUCH Men who are truly great, in particular if they are artists, often find themselves at odds with this world, and sadly enough, this world knows the art of doing away with its artists, while it loves to live on with their art. A man thinks of suicide only when he finds any compromise with life impossible and, men of conviction do not compromise. Vincent Van Gogh was a great artist, who remained unknown in his life time, but ‘shot’ into fame after his suicide. Anurag, a celebrated Indian poet, whose poetry is imbued with spiritualism and mysticism, in his Hindi work ‘Bhula Hua Sa Yaad Kuch’ records the emotional upheavals and the mental condition of Van Gogh in the last three days of his life, based on his breathtaking research to reach the truth by accessing diverse sources including Holland Embassy in search of information about the great artist. The book ‘Bhula Hua Sa Yaad Kuch‘ is a commendable work of Hindi literature which brings to Indian r...

  ANY WORD RESONATING WITH LOVE   While cleaning and dusting the room, I came across an old diary. Deem it as a co-incidence only that the page that opened in front of me had a heading in bold letters,' Any Word Matching with Love'. On the very next page, my attempt to  draw an incomplete sketch of a flower-----the memory turned fresh. On reading the first line---It was my last meeting with her --a smile bloomed from inner depths. As if some old story has turned new. A few minutes ago, everything was normal, but in a wink of an eye, under the spell of a word, picture or line, I don't know myself, where was I led.  In the same bus, we had moved from the same city. Our destinations were different , only our path was same. Her way covered my city. I presumed that we will be co-passengers for sometime. I did not convey anything to her, but secretly nurtured a wish that she could halt at my place if she wished. Next two days were holidays. None of us was in a hurry. ...