Nightwalkers

About Nightwalkers: This is fine work by two poets whose work combines an enjoyment of language with formal attentiveness. Debarshi Mitra's poems synthesize the hysteria of dream visuals with a spareness of line as he conjures a 'city held by lights' where 'mannequins walk gingerly' and 'a one-eyed man grins'. An arresting mix of irony and image characterizes Goirick Brahmachari's evocation of a city that speaks 'a language of snakes and ladders' -- 'hyper-productive, genetically modified, pre-defined'. - Arundhathi Subramaniam In this rare collection of poems, Debarshi Mitra and Goirick B engage in a soulful poetic conversation around the nightlife in the city. The poems travel in diverse directions to capture every possible nuance of life lived after sunset, by people of every age, gender, and class, and articulate a range of feelings from solitude to revelry, from weariness to intimacy, and from fear to ecstasy. Together the poems are an exploration into the oft-concealed dimensions of urban existence, an act like peeping into the other side of the moon to see the undiscovered and the less discussed aspects of life in the dark: a jugalbandi that is sure to enchant the lovers of poetry. - K. Satchidanandan Book Details: Authors: Debarshi Mitra and Goirick Brahmachari Pages: 130 Year of Publication: 2022 Price: Rs 500, Hardback ISBN: 978-81-958199-9-7 (9788195819997) Preface extract: This collection is a collaborative project by two poets. Thematically, it attempts to work around the ideas associated with the term “Nightwalkers”. While the literal meaning of the title may be associated with the idea of a person who walks or sleepwalks through the night, a dated connotation is also its association with prostitutes and, in a larger sense, all deviants who refuse to conform to all that is expected of them. We also attempted to sketch the lives, in our own idiosyncratic ways, of those in the city who are subjected to various demands during the day (workplace or otherwise) and therefore look forward to the night to express themselves, perhaps in a way reminiscent of the famous painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. Night then becomes a gateway for memories to flood in, for pause, reflection and more. It is also a way of exploring the so-called underbelly of the city, to try and understand the lives of those rendered invisible by the market forces: the cab drivers who continue to drive during the night, the bartenders awaiting a night of revelry and the many others who are often absent from the public or literary imagination… In our own distinctive ways, we sought ways to articulate and mirror our own experiences, our fleeting thoughts and images. In the process, we hoped to initiate a larger conversation about the very nature of art and life in a post-truth, increasingly sectarian and totalitarian world.