VINIKA VISWAMBHARAN
NT BUZZ
After three decades in the Union Civil Service, Anil Bhattacharya has traded balance sheets for verse. The former National Savings Commissioner, who retired in 2012, is set to release his debut poetry collection, ‘Symphony with Nature’.
The collection, completed in about a year, features poems on various aspects of nature, accompanied by Bhattacharya’s photographs to add authenticity and engage readers. His connection with Goa goes back nearly fifty years, when he first came to the state and married Teresa Menezes, a local. Although he spent most of his career in New Delhi, Goa remained a constant influence, with its rivers, sea and coconut palms inspiring many of his poems.
Originally from Calcutta and born in Delhi, Bhattacharya now lives in Altinho, surrounded by trees and plants. He writes whenever something in nature catches his attention, such as a butterfly, flowers, fish or the sea.
Bhattacharya says the fast pace of the capital left little room for writing. It was only when he retired and returned to settle in Goa that he began putting his ideas on paper. “I always thought I would write poems on nature and connect it with human beings,” he says, adding that he chose subjects such as the sun, moon, rain and sea.
What began as a personal exercise developed into a manuscript with encouragement from friends and his wife.
‘In Symphony with Nature’, nature is not just scenery. Bhattacharya describes the poems as a “conversation” with the elements. “I speak to the sea and the trees as if they were friends. We humans have been toxic but I tell the sea, ‘Don’t worry, I will do my best.’”
In the poem, ‘In Saga of the Coconut Tree’, the coconut palm becomes a witness to environmental change, while ‘King in the Basket’ turns the everyday sight of a coastal fish catch into a reflection on local sustenance. The poems also touch on concerns about human impact on the environment.
He plans to continue writing about nature and hopes to explore Goan heritage and culture in future collections.
