The Roots Of Love

Colonel Kanchan Bhattacharya was born in Kolkata and spent much of his childhood living in different parts of India. As a child he read voraciously, devouring Greek, Roman and Norse mythology, science fiction and Russian and American literature. The 1965 Indo-Pakistan war motivated him to join the Services and in 1970 he was commissioned into the Corps of Signals. He served until leaving as a Colonel in the end of 2000. Subsequently, he taught electronics and communications engineering as Head of Department and was honorary faculty in Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla University in Raipur, Madha Pradesh, from 1995-1997.

Apart from writing poetry, Colonel Bhattacharya enjoys sketching and cartooning, and in 1990, he edited a book of cartoons about the Army. He loves to spend time with his grandson, travel, and has a special fondness for driving alone. This is his third book of poetry.

Teaser:

Teaser:

White Zinc Red Rouge

As white as I can be on death
Memories of us would be red
Kept in clandestine cellars of wood
Of ether; in a mesmerized mood.

I may knock with the winds upon chimes
May touch you with the softest rhymes
Phoenix-like; ashen white, an oxide I think
Red rouged lips; or as fair as zinc.

Looking for the decametre of incense
In your eyes; in sum total – raison d’être
Silent chimes; stillness; waiting long; say
Something; say nothing; eloquence.

White of zinc; red of rouge; summer
Moods; love; thieving despair