Poetry often feels like the heart’s unspoken language. When I open a book like Boondon Si Baatein by Meraj Hasan ( meem), it reminds me why people turn to poems—to feel the subtleties of life through words that resonate with the pulse of our emotions. ‘Boodon Si Baatein’ is a downpour of emotions in couplets.
As a poet with a published book of poems, ‘Always Questioning Life,’ I think I somewhat understand the craft of weaving thoughts and feelings into a few lines. However, couplets are to poems what a short story is to a Novel—a lot tougher and crisper.
Having reviewed a few books of poems like ‘Antrang Satrang’, ‘Mosaic’, ‘Khyaalon Ki Tapri‘ and ‘Ummedon Ke Pankh’, I find ‘Boondon Si Baatein’ quite different in its expanse and exposure. Meraj Hasan has created something immersive and expansive, crafting couplets that linger deeply within the soul, each feeling like a window to a different emotional world.
Boondon Si Baatein celebrates the art of the couplet. Like a droplet of rain, a couplet carries weight despite its small size. It distils an emotion, a story, into something so concise that every word and pause holds additional meaning. With such limited space, the poet has no room for excess or misses. Meraj Hasan skilfully uses this constraint to his advantage, making each line potent with feeling, nuanced and rich—and yet leaving a lot more to your interpretation.
As the title ‘Boondon si Baatein’ suggests, these aren’t just raindrops on a window—they are droplets of love, longing, loss, and the brief moments of joy found between them. Each couplet offers a snapshot of emotion, and yet, taken together, they flow like a river, linking memories, heartache, and hope in a fluid, seamless current. It is more like a dammed river overflowing with a monsoon of emotions, forcing us to open the gates to avoid flooding the mind.
One of the most remarkable things about ‘Boondon Si Baatein’ is how the couplets move you, sometimes gently, sometimes with an unexpected force. A line may make you smile in recognition, and a few couplets later, it may cause you to pause and reflect on its deeper meaning.
Boondon Si Baatein’ doesn’t give everything away at once. Instead, it invites you to ponder, reread, and see how the thought droplets connect across the pages. It’s a book you could rush through in an afternoon, but to do so would be to miss the pleasure of genuinely soaking in its emotional journey full of insights.
At times, the metaphors of rain, droplets, and monsoon clouds may feel like they’re holding the poems together, but in reality, they form a natural chain—a necklace of moments strung along the thread of time. Each couplet, polished and delicate, shines on its own, but together, they create a necklace of human experience that’s both universal and deeply personal.
Meraj Hasan has grouped the couplets into three sections, but like rainwater, these emotions spill over, crossing boundaries. Themes of love and separation, reunion and loss, weave in and out of each part, creating a collage that feels interconnected rather than divided.
Meraj Hasan’s voice is calm, controlled, and observational. The poet finds beauty in both the sweetness and the pain of relationships. An underlying sense of acceptance—an understanding of life’s dualities—gives the collection a sense of balance, even when the emotions run high.
I love ‘Boondon Si Baatein’ for not being weighed down by pessimism. It feels practical and grounded, with a positive undertone. The couplets acknowledge the pain and struggle of life, but they also offer moments of clarity and hope, reminding us that with every storm comes the promise of renewal.
This is a book to be savoured, revisited, and cherished. ‘Boondon Si Baatein’ may be a collection of raindrop-sized couplets. Still, together, they form a downpour of emotion that will leave you feeling refreshed and connected to the poet’s vision of life’s fleeting, beautiful moments.
As an aside- I do find the illustrations used in the book unnecessary or rather interfering. They constrain the reader’s imagination- by giving some clues and almost trying to help decipher the meaning.
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