GARGI SARKHEL BAGCHI

 

 

A Thousand Colours, One Light

 

The Ganges hums to meditative hills,

Kerala’s backwaters mirror ancient wills;

From Rajasthan’s sands of molten gold,

To Himalayan peaks where legends unfold.

 

The monsoon stirs with fragrant grace,

While mango and marigold interlace;

This land a prayer the heart gently keeps –

a vision that wakes while the cosmos sleeps.

 

Diwali lamps, like fireflies, gleam,

Holi paints hues in every dream;

Eid’s crescent smiles, and Christmas bells

ring through the dusk where wonder dwells.

 

A hundred tongues, a million songs,

Yet each to the same deep core belongs;

Bhakti hymns and the dhol’s fierce call,

Echo oneness, embracing all.

 

From Kathak’s poise to Garba’s spin,

Every pulse holds the world within;

And in each gaze, each hand, each sigh,

Beats one breath beneath the sky.

 

Behold the lotus, divinely spun,

each petal different, yet wholly one;

Flaunting India’s spirit, serene and free,

and the timeless creed: Unity in diversity.

© Gargi Sarkhel Bagchi

 

One Flame

 

We are born of one dust of sunlit glades,

yet varied landscapes adorn us in diverse shades.

In Kutch, the salt plains shimmer white,

in Assam, the tea-leaves murmur green delight.

The same rain hums two lilting ragas:

one in Ganga’s song, one in Godavari’s sagas.

 

Our prayers ascend like kites in flight,

each tugging at the selfsame light.

some in voices old and new,

some in songs heartfelt and true,

some in silence – hands entwined,

wordless hymns of humankind.

 

The tabla speaks, the veena replies,

a shehnai laughs, the flute sighs;

their notes, like birds in dusky air,

cross borders none can hold or spare.

The farmer’s foot and dancer’s heel,

the weaver’s thread, the poet’s quill

all blend and beat the nation’s will.

 

O land of ours, resplendent, whole,

you wear each colour, yet one soul.

What is India but a garland fair

of hearts twined in love and prayer?

And when night folds the fields in flame,

the stars of Kashi and Kochi proclaim:

though many fires in darkness gleam,

we are, forever, one golden dream.

© Gargi Sarkhel Bagchi

 

GARGI SARKHEL BAGCHI

 

GARGI SARKHEL BAGCHI is the winner of the ‘Reuel International Poetry Prize 2022’, ‘Indian Women Rising Star for Literature 2023’, ‘R.P. Sharma’s Poetic Present for Poetry Rendition 2023’, ‘National Chanting Bards Award, 2023 & 2025’, ‘Poiesis Award for Excellence in Literature 2023, 2024 & 2025’, ‘Panorama International Youth Literature Award 2024’, ‘WE Illumination Award 2024 for Language, Discourse, Participation’, ‘WE Gifted Poet Award 2024 for Magic of Poetry’, ‘Reverend Dr. Komal Masih Award 2024 for Best English Poetry Rendition’ and the ‘Distinguished Poet Award 2025’. Her debut book of poems titled “Two Cents For My Thoughts” was launched at the prestigious Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, and won the ‘Rama Chowdhury Memorial Award for the Best English Poetry Collection 2023’ and the ‘Panorama Golden Book Award 2024’. She is the editor of ‘Book Reviews’ at the prestigious Yugen Quest Review literary magazine. Gargi’s writings have been featured in innumerable national and international publications. She has instituted two awards, one in honour of her late grandmother – ‘The Minati Banerjee Memorial Award for the Best Woman Poet / Writer’ and the other to honour her mother – ‘The Madhumita Sarkhel Award for the Best Book by a Woman Writer’. A university topper in the field of ‘German Language and Literature’, Gargi was one of six in the world to receive a fully funded DAAD scholarship to complete her second Master’s degree from the esteemed Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. The thesis she wrote there was published by GRIN Publishing House, Munich, and is available on Amazon globally. A German language educator for over 20 years, she is engaged full-time with Deutsch-Uni Online, Munich for students worldwide. Her strong German background enables her to translate stellar literary works into German, for instance, the prolific writer Jawaid Danish’s award-winning play “Yes, My Son Razi is Autistic”.