Mappings by Vikram Seth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dear Mr Seth,
How shall I review
This set of poems written by you?
While some of them talk of the ways,
You took (and so did I!) in the Oxford days,
There are others that talk of how you felt,
When you saw how people in Indian slums dwelt
With an empty stomach filled with empty hopes,
With their lives tied down by Poverty's ropes.
You talk of life in India after Inglistan
Of mangoes, marigolds, Panipat and paan,
Of experiences I eventually shared,
The feeling on staying away from all those who really cared!
And then there were some that talked of
Falling deeply, and irrevocably in love,
Sometimes with a person, at times with a place,
And at other times being caught somewhere between Straights and Gays,
Mr dear Mr Seth, please do allow me,
To tell you that it isn't your orientation but your poetry,
You words that carry such enormous weight
Truly define you as both Stray and Great!
Stray because your poems show how far you've travelled,
How many places you've been to, how many mysteries you've unravelled
Through the things you've seen, the people you've met.
You've written about the sights you have seen and things you have said.
Yes, these stray wanderings, unmapped or mapped,
Have created so many poems that have trapped
Me on and off and on again
While sunshine, thunder, wind and rain
Lit my windows and darkened them
While people around me muttered, "Ahem!
Don't you have work to do, missy?
Why does that little book keep you so busy,
When you're moving out and we need a hand
To safely transport your stuff across the land?"
And despite their chidings, I sat coiled like a cat
Oblivious to the bare walls of my empty new flat,
With your book in my hand, my dear Mr Seth,
Reading the words of a man who is truly Great!

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