BENGALURU: Poetry has always served as a gateway to the manylayered soul. At times, it resonates the writer’s efforts to encapsulate the essence of entity, navigating the labyrinth of life. Woman In Me, by the anthology of poems by Dr Chandra Vadhana who writes under the pen name Dr Cee Vee, is in her words, the progeny of “a mind that travels through the wilderness of life, love and moments”.
The poet eloquently dovetails diverse experiences of feminine consciousness and succeeds in making these moments universal for the reader. Each layer of poetic petals is neatly enfolded by the sepals called Life, Womanhood, Romantic Love, Missing, Moments, Sorrow and Places and Nature.
The first poem ‘Enigma’ serves as a prologue to the arduous endeavour to expose the enigmatic self. She then proceeds to portray her baffled soul caught between extreme emotions. The pervasive thirst of the poetic psyche and the desperate attempts to quench it by surpassing the monotony of daily life are quite evident as we flip through the pages. For the poet, love is a penance, focused and devoted, something that the lover most often fails to reciprocate with the same intensity and honesty.
Some lines speak volumes about the double standards of society that compartmentalised femininity and masculinity. ‘Gentleman Love’ is a didactic dramatic monologue as the narrative voice goes on to educate the silent listener on the vitality of respecting femininity. Nature metaphorically represents human life and the poet’s journey outside, to nature, also becomes a part of the soul searching.
Journeys, people and monuments that made a lasting impression on the writer’s mind also find a space in her work. All proceeds from The Woman in Me go to non-profit organisation Prayaana Labs working towards women empowerment and skill development in developing countries. Her previous work The Girl in Me, also available on Amazon, was published in 2019.