Gopa Bhattacharjee’s Two Poems

Gopa Bhattacharjee is a bilingual poet. She writes on myriad themes, versifying and playing with the most ordinary things to invest it with meaning and give it a delightful twist. Her “Yards of liberation” speaks volumes about the quintessential Indian sari and the feelings associated with it from a women’s perspective. It becomes a statement of assertion and ownership of one’s identity and body. Through ’Red Ballons’ she depicts a childlike joy…which the ‘city dwellers’ have forgotten to enjoy as it flies overhead and they are lost in their dark worlds.

1. Yards of liberation

Whenever you drape a saree

Feelings of liberation are beyond explanation.

Magically covering up your secret lards

Confidence is built with these six yards.

Powerful, sexiest and elegant

You own your body, that’s significant.

One should be able to handle those stares

Stop judging what others say

It’s you, yourself that caters

Others’ opinion hardly matters.

Drape it with dollops of enthusiasm

Discover true liaison with conviction

Life as we know is beyond expectation

It’s the six-yard that builds aspiration.

So, whenever you feel life is colourless

Drape a colourful six-yard with willingness

You can express a little more or a little less

Who cares? You know, you are the best.

Cheers to femineity, poise and grace.

2. 47 Red Ballons

“47 Red Ballons Took a Flight ”

The title whispers, igniting delight

In the azure sky wafted and glided

Her journey is a testament, unfurled

Packed with self-esteem and pride

Visible to everyone, never to hide.

Anonymous to the city dwellers below

Lost in their world of grey streetlights

fallen and dejected, dragged down

What a pity was the sight!

But oh, the ballons could have brought

a smile on their faces, hope in their senses,

Wish they gazed upon the majestic sky

To witness the ballons soaring upright.

47 red balloons, a symbol of journey

head held high, can never be denied

47 red balloons, a symbol of grace

inspiring us to find our own little space.

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