Twelve city poets release anthology ‘Verse-a-Tile II’

Nagpur: Twelve city poets came together for the release of their anthology ‘Verse-a-Tile II on Monday evening at an event which had many of their admirers and friends in attendance. The book was released by Ramesh Borkute, a trustee of Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan, Vibhagiya Kendra which was also the venue for the event. Admiring the fact that all the 12 write in English language, Borkute said, “Poets have the liberty of style.They can put forward their views with profound, humorous or angry words.” Drawing attention to the current social situation, he also suggested that poets had a special responsibility and should motivate and guide people with their writings.
Presenting an introduction of the anthology, Supriya Chaudhary, former principal of a city school, said that she was impressed with the vast expanse of emotions that the poems rode on. Sharing pleasant memories of previous three releases of similar anthologies by the same group, she said the poets were adding newer dimensions to their creativity.
“For those who enjoy poetry, this collection will bring a delectable gourmet spread of poems to be savoured when you are in a vacant or pensive mood,” she said.
The book contains verses penned by Dhruti Bedekar, a former Air India employee, Supantha Bhattacharya, associate professor with Hislop College, Sulabha Chakravarty, an event manager for environmental programmes, Pronoti Chuckerbutty, former principal of PWS College, Cosmetologist Farhat Daud, writer Tapti Dey, Vaswati Dutta, retired professor Ambedkar College, retired government officer Jyoti Kumar John, Richa Mohunta Kothari who now resides in Mumbai, freelance writer Anuradha Paul, Manjushree Sardeshpande, teacher at R.S. Mundle Dharampeth Arts and Science College and Maths and science teacher Lata Thergaonkar.
All 12 poets are part of a group named Minstrels which has been in existence since 80s. Chuckerbutty, the founder member of the group, who has also edited the latest book along with Tapti Dey says that though all the poets write in English language, their themes are Indian.
“The poets who feature in this anthology are all very successful professionals in their sphere of work. They write poetry to give expression to their emotions and touch upon various subjects that trouble the society.”
Quoting from the writings of author Kamal Das, Chuckerbutty added, ‘the language I speak is mine…….It is honest and as human as I am.’
The poets read out their poems from the book which has been published under the aegis of Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan and is priced at Rs100.