About Me & Introduction

What’s the first thing I remember about England?
Probably the lights at the airport lounge. At first
sight, not only were there more than enough to light up an
entire city, but the halls were absolutely spick-and-span,
much more than I had ever imagined. Come to think of it,
there were many aspects of Heathrow Airport that exceeded
my expectations: the polished floor was not only elaborate but
very clean; the air was fresh with a light hint of fragrance,
probably being wafted from the duty-free; the baggage
retrieval and all the formalities were done in a controlled
manner as opposed to the chaos that I had generally been used
to. After baggage retrieval, the Immigration Officer asked me
nonchalantly: "I see you're joining us from India: what is the
reason for your visit?" The emotionally worn-out side of me
just wanted to say: "I've got nothing to go back to", but the
rational side of me won the inner battle, and I ended up
saying: "I'm here for my studies", a mere half-truth for
convenience sake.
 

​

I came to England in 1958 with my younger sister, when I
was a teenager. My mother and my elder sister had already
moved to England a year earlier. The above is an account of
the first thing I remember after travelling from Calcutta
Airport to Heathrow. I remember that day so clearly since
that was the biggest journey that I had ever embarked on,
literally and emotionally speaking. Believe it or not, we were
actually not fond of change! However, when actions are
driven out of dire necessity, then it becomes a very different
matter.

We moved out of India due to our family being hit by
financial difficulties due to the political and socio-economic
scene in Bihar (India) at that time. Any governmental change
would affect us particularly hard since my father worked
directly within the political sector. One such change occurred
that triggered off a series of events which resulted in him
losing his position. We had to sell off our possessions in order
to keep our house, then losing the house and finally relocating
to England. The whole ordeal was hard to endure since we
essentially ended up with starting from scratch. However,
moving to England is a decision I've never regretted since it

gave us shelter, job and funding for our education. We began
to feel that England was our second home. So, I've always
viewed my migration as leaving one home and being
welcomed to a new home: “When the Lord closes the door,
He always leaves a window open.”

Whilst the past is not something that I like to visit all too
often, I do believe in finding the hidden lessons from these
tough conditions. Personally, I think that we are put into a
difficult situation to learn a lesson from it, and then to do the
hardest thing of all: be grateful for it. I am grateful to have
gone through financial hardship in India since it has not only
revised my relationship with money, but it also provided me
the chance to start anew, and to raise my own children in a
prosperous country: to give them the opportunities that I
myself never had. It also gave me the experience to remain
calm in the face of adversity, and the confidence to face
difficulties that life would throw at me. So, I took it as a
challenge to not only find the lesson, but to write it down in
a beautiful format: in the form of poetry.

​

As a teacher of Maths and Science and all things logical, it's
quite ironic that I would be so gravitated towards poetry.
However, poetry, I felt, was the appropriate medium to
express myself, specifically traditional poetry with a set
structure. Some may say that it stunts creativity by adding
restrictions, but I like to think of it like solving a puzzle i.e. to
get it correct rhythmically, following a rhyming scheme whilst
not compromising the tone, pace and quality of the actual
narrative, and writing to a reasonable standard. In a sense, all
of the stars needed to align for this seemingly impossible task,
which is probably why it has taken more than 20 years in the
making!

"From Home To Home" is a collection of poems that reflects
the beauty that I see in the world, and all the lessons that I've
drawn from it. Like most art-forms, writing poetry is more of
a compulsion that comes from within whenever inspiration
strikes, not something that is premeditated or planned neatly:
it's a mess, an entanglement of thoughts that I had to carefully
iron out into something that resembles a poem, on topics that
are close to me. It wasn't until I had finished writing my
poems and begun curating them into a book format that I

realised that my seemingly random assortment of poems
could actually be categorised into the following "themes"
which make up this book:

1) My Romance with England: I've always loved the
inherent beauty that the different landscapes of England
has to offer. The archaic architecture of castles speaks to
the traditionalist in me, and the culturally diverse and
whimsical ethos of London speaks to the eccentric artist
in me. England relates to most of the facets of my
personality, so much so that it is impossible not to be
inspired by it. Hence I've dedicated the first seven poems
to England (1. “My England, My Home" to 7. “The Sea
Beach").

2) The Seasons in England: The weather seems to be a
pretty big deal to all of us in England although if we look
at it closely, it is probably the best in the world. Such close
examination can dress the same place you've seen for years
in a different way and reveal new aspects of its character.
In a way, this section is an extension of the previous
section. The poems 8. “Spring in England" to 13.
“Snowfall" make this category.

​

3) My India: Even though I have practically spent more of
my life till now in England, my foundations were laid
originally in India. In this section, I have chronicled the
key memories that have gone on to shape my core outlook
on life. I have also touched upon the concept of "Seasons"
again, to contrast its sight in India with that in England.
The poems 14. “A Tropical Sunset at Sea" to 17. “The
Burst of The Monsoon" reflect this.

4) Childhood Days: As a school-teacher, education is
paramount to me. I have seen many of my students go
through the arduous journey of adolescence with the
added complexity of earning a stable education at the
same time. However, they still managed to turn out to be
strong, multi-dimensional individuals who have extended
the core values they learnt from their education into their
lives, with a potential and a promise to change the world
for the better. Poems 18. “Childhood Days" to 22. “True
Education" are offered to these students.

5) War: Whilst personally I have not witnessed any war, I
have had first-hand accounts from friends who have. They
were mainly involved in the Indo-Sino war that broke out
in the 1960s. Their account of what transpired there
moved me, since it takes a certain type of mental fortitude

and loyalty for one’s country to be involved in it. These
values are the likes of which I hold in great esteem and
what I aspire to have. Poems 23. “A Soldier’s Dream
Maiden" to 25. “A Soldier’s Dilemma" are in honour of
these war heroes.

6) Lessons from Animals: I have always found animals to be
very innocent in nature and there is always a lot we can
learn from them. Poems 26. “My Pet” to 36. “The
Donkey Ride” are devoted to them.

7) Stories: This forms a large portion of the book as it is the
collection of lessons that I have been taught by one of the
greatest teachers: Time. The lessons are mostly framed in
a story format so that they can easily resonate with readers.
Originally, many of them happen to be famous, ancient
fables for kids; however, the core message remains relevant
and important to both children and adults alike, even to
this day. Poems 37. “The Loyal Scarecrow" to 45.
“Compassion" shape this section.

8) Miscellaneous: This section is part-philosophical and
part-social. These poems happen to be topics that I have
always wanted to give my opinion on, be it in a satirical
sense or in earnest. However, they do not fall into any of

the categories mentioned above (poems 46. “Music" to
54. “Poetry").

As mentioned earlier, hardly any planning was done in the
beginning, as I was simply eager to write something; the only
aspect that was deliberate later on, was the number of poems. I have written exactly 108 poems since this is an auspicious number
in Hinduism. This book contains the first 54 poems, and the
remaining will be in the second book. Whilst this book
concentrates on how one can experience this world outwardly
and practically, the second book focuses on experiencing the
same world inwardly and spiritually.

Finally, I must mention how deeply indebted I am to my wife
and family, and to my friends, relatives and well-wishers – all
of whom have made valuable contributions to all aspects of
my writing. It is partly under some pressure from them that
I am releasing some of my writing in the form of an anthology
of 108 poems, spread over two books.

​

​