A review by booxoul
Yosemite of My Heart by Lalit Kumar

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

4.5

Poems and travelogue together, now that is a combo made in heaven, isn’t it? Precisely, fine words and fine escapades are what we all desire in life. To have them together in a single frame, all waiting to be devoured, ah, now that is the true-blue juice of life for me peeps. “Yosemite of My Heart” by Lalit Kumar is his tryst with nature in the form of his rendezvous with it, coming face to face with a part of his soul too. Passionate about nature, Lalit has a way with words since he has turned his adventures and jaunts with nature so aesthetically into pieces of poetry that it is difficult not to get caught up in the whirlwind of emotions one might experience while reading through different pieces at any given point in time.

Celebrating nature, piling his experiences for us through such aesthetically and poetically tasteful modicum is something which, for me, made this book much more than just a mere confluence of a poetry anthology meets travelogue. The titular piece itself- “Yosemite of my Heart” is not only an ode to the beauty of the place itself, but it also reflects a brilliant PoV in the form of Lalit’s metaphorical vantage towards the alluring beauty of the place. Comparing the various facets of the place to different musical instruments in an altercation felt almost visual, to be able to perceive his paradigms for the place.

I totally adore the fact that all of his visualizations in the various pieces written had this uncanny ability to draw pictures identical to his narrations, in my mind’s eye in immediate succession to his rendition. Coming to another favourite of mine from the book- Of Beats, Bohemians and Bukowski, well, this one I tell you is truly classic, what with its rich and eloquent choice of vocabulary. A dedication and a well-deserved shout-out to the Beat Generation, this one is a class apart when it comes to classifying its poetic devices, linearly. A well-written piece, I’d say.

Time is a False Measure-ah, now this one is such a beautiful piece of reflective writing that it will surely be difficult not to get sucked into its magical aura. In fact, a piece of it is something I have jotted down and put on one of my vision boards, turning to it whenever I am in a meditative, pensive mood of sorts. Every single piece written by Lalit felt like a bird song, original yet compelling in its own shell, waiting to be unravelled, coyly bidding its time in that place. A captivating anthology, you have to go for this one.