Brief Report of a Poetry Book Launch
The book Mother-Daughter Dialogue
was launched in Delhi on the 27th of April, 2024. It is a one-of-a-kind
book by the mother-daughter duo Dr. Paramita Mukherjee Mullick and her daughter
Sankalpita Mullick.
The book has been published by Penprints
Publication. The venue was the cosy and comfortable ‘Prithvi Fine Arts and
Cultural Centre’ owned by the bureaucrat, filmmaker, artist and poet Sangeeta
Gupta. She not only hosted and moderated the launch but also released the book
along with Dr. Sunil Sharma and Dr. Sangeeta Sharma both of whom are renowned
literary personalities and academicians.
This book is a compilation of 30 poems on
several emotions and what the mother and daughter feel about each emotion.
After the felicitation of the honourable guests by Paramita and Sankalpita, they
were introduced by Sangeeta Gupta. They both talked about how they
conceptualised this book. The young Sankalpita, a law student and a budding
poet who had written a novel when she was fourteen years talked about how the
book has gapped the distance between her mother and her, since she stays far
away from her parents in a hostel. She read out her first poem in the book
about how food tastes bland when she is away from her parents. In response to
that Paramita, a well- loved poet, a literary curator and scientist, read her
poem where she expresses how her kitchen seems to be empty when her daughter is
not home.
Then Paramita read her poem on the purest
form of love where she describes a little boy, her niece’s son who searches for
his aunt Sankalpita whenever he comes home. In response to that Sankalpita read
a poem on the same emotion.
Dr. Sunil Sharma who had mentioned about
the book previously on social media had said, “Dialogues --- so crucial!
Dialogues of an iconic Mother-Daughter duo, the best literary ones!” highly
praised the book and said this relation transcends the personal to the
universal. He then did an experiment where he read a poem, “Your room” from the
book and requested several others in the audience to read the same poem. The
same poem sounded so different when read in different voices.
Dr. Sangeeta Sharma while talking about
the book gave examples of such mother-daughter writings from her vast
repertoire and praised the book. Sankalpita ended the event with a bouquet of
her poems. This young poet was highly praised by Dr. Sunil Sharma who mentioned
that her metaphors are unique.
The audience consisted of highly acclaimed
poets, people who love poetry and some artists. There was friendly interaction
between the audience and the mother-daughter duo.
This book was initially launched at the
Kolkata Book Fair on the 20th of January, 2024. This fair is the second
largest in the world after the Frankfurt Book Fair. This launch was hosted by
Penprints Publication and was a gala event.
There was a wonderful online discussion by
the mother-daughter duo, Paramita and Sankalpita about the book on Women’s Day
this year moderated by academician, Sreetanwi Chakraboty.
This eleventh book of Paramita and the very first with her daughter Sankalpita is a joyful celebration of verses from a mother to her daughter and vice versa and a must read for all.
