Noise Cancellation: poems

Jhilam Chattaraj writes of the challenges and rewards of teaching, writing, loving and connecting across distances in a universe of apps and absent ringtones. Wry, affectionate, delicately-modulated and determined to 'sing sunward, ' these poems in praise of food, love, longing and literature map the recurrent and ancient human need to "tap the air / for the sweet wound of knowledge." - ARUNDHATHI SUBRAMANIAMNoise Cancellation - with its urgent and sometimes visceral evocations - is written largely using a well-tended couplet form. The parallel lines here allude to and offer contrapuntal dualities of our current fraught times - the pair and play of yin-yang lyrics reflecting the presence of too much vacuous noise that drowns out our interior reflective sounds - the contradictory ironies of fact and 'fake news' where "jarring neurons map an ambush" - the menace of 'cancel culture' and rumour-mongers as "ears pour nude noise / on palms that swell and spill." Jhilam Chattaraj is an intelligent poet and critic, an exciting young voice to watch out for! - SUDEEP SENJhilam is truly a poet rooted in the pain and reality of our turbulent present. And finding the words to nail it, she provides what good poetry should; relief and sanity. 'Sari' leaves you softly musing on forgotten feelings. In 'Final Feathers, ' the lines, "Season after season we mapped/winged massacres along war lines," leave you gasping for breath. This poetry without being didactic can delicately wring your heart, reopening old wounds, forcing you to look at the truth in the face. Jhilam has a lot to give us if we are capable of taking it. - VASANTH KANNABIRAN

NOISE CANCELLATION envisions a sustainable consciousness. A way of life where attention is paid to everyday details instead of constant digital alerts. The rich aroma of potatoes in poppy seeds, the beauty of block prints, the pain of a homeless dog, the dilemma of online classes, the joy of growing plants and holding a fistful of wet earth, the sweet and sour waters of Ugadi Pachadi - these become the core of poems, nourishing the mind, body and soul - weary of the unavoidable chaos of the present world.