This is not a dream

♦ FIRAQ GORAKHPURI: THE POET OF PAIN AND ECSTASY (Roli, Rs 395) by Ajai Man-singh is a biography of Raghupati Sahay, better known as Firaq Gorakhpuri. The book gives a comprehensive account of Firaq's life. We see him in the role of a son, a father, a husband, a teacher and a political worker who participated in the swadeshi movement. Mansingh's portrait of Firaq is unbiased. He is neither too reproachful while describing Firaq's habit of "wife bashing" nor too sentimental while describing the death of two of the poet's children. The book describes how Firaq, tired of the restrains of Urdu poetry, set out to revolutionize it. He turned Urdu poetry into "a vehicle of his felt experience". The book is important because it helps understand Firaq's contribution to Urdu poetry and Indian literature.

♦ ATMOSPHERIC EMBROIDERY (Hachette, Rs 399) by Meena Alexander continues to dwell on the theme of dislocation, in the vein of her previous body of poems. She writes in "Dwelling": "where the ground shakes/ I set my tent." As a person who has lived in several countries including India and Sudan, she lyrically expresses her inability to articulate her experiences and sense of dislocation, in poems like "Night Theatre", "Tarawad" "Elemental". She describes in the poem, "Atmospheric Embroidery", "In Boettie's embroidery, in his mapping of the world/ Everything is cut and coupled''. Alexander's life is like Alighiero Boettie's Mappa - her experiences of changing homes, of relations lost and found, of various cultures and her memories of different times form the cartography of her poetry. The deft use of contrast enriches her poems. In her descriptions, she effortlessly shifts from her past to her present and from the mythic to the real. This volume of poems has to be savoured slowly.

♦ BHANGARH TO BEDLAM: HAUNTED ENCOUNTERS (LifePositive, Rs 225) by Deepta Roy Chakraverti narrates 12 real-life paranormal experiences of the author. One does not have to believe in ghosts to enjoy the stories, which draw on Wiccan philosophy, science, mythology and history. Roy Chakraverti manages to conjure an eerie atmosphere. The descriptions of darkness and silence almost render them tactile. Her first story, "Bhangarh's trapped souls", revolves around the Bhangarh Fort, which is considered to be one of the most haunted places in India. While this story is thrilling, her experiences at Indira Gandhi's house fails to convince. Anybody who likes ghost stories will enjoy this book.