Scent of Rain: Remembering Jayanta Mahapatra

‘Scent of Rain’ is about remembering Jayanta Mahapatra, the poet’s poet. The poet uses contemporary language to enrich his characters, increasing the credibility of the voice in his poems. His words always belong to the modern lexicon. The poet using that wording comes across as authentic and of the real world, not a mythical creation. His voice shifts from shorter fragmented to breaks into continuous lines at times. Along with the other elements of the sense of place, the feeling of identity helps give order, structure, and value of time in his works. Ashwani Kumar, the editor of ‘Scent of Rain’ rightly mentions ‘The beauty of Scent of Rain’ lies in its anonymity, fragility, and vulnerability to Amar Mundi (love of the world), a defining motif in Jayanta Mahapatra’s life and poetry. And it speaks in the sacred language(s) of the earth. No wonder, it smells like the human body and god’s flesh too.’ In all 189 poets share their poems in this anthology. These tribute poems are actually literary gems stored in a memory archive. Even the translated poems are also contributed by the poets themselves. This handsomely produced book is published by Red River and a must buy for poetry lovers.

It's not just a poetry collection. It's a treasure-trove of creativity, memories, nostalgia, love, respect and longing. More than 190 poets have paid their tribute to the great Indian poet Jayanta Mahapatra, who passed away in 2023. It has excellent art work by Jatin Das and Jayant Parmar. Ashwani Kumar's Introduction to it is fascinating and sublime. This is indeed a unique volume on Indian Poetry in English.