Different Shade of Green

The poems in this collection were written over a period of nearly a quarter of a century. Many of them have been published in literary journals. They express a wide range of feelings and emotions ; and speak of human relations, family bonds, unfulfilled love and longing, disability, gender ambiguity, environmental destruction, ethnic tension, and hope for a better world. Rajib Chocroborty was born in Manipur, the Jewel of India ; and raised in Meghalaya, the Abode of Clouds aka The Scotland of the East, which has a matrilineal society. After his schooling his family moved to Kolkata, the City of Palaces. This early exposure to the cultural diversity of his country has made him an ardent advocate of pluralism and gender equality. Most of the poems are in free verse but the reader will also find traditional forms like the sonnet, the ghazal, the limerick, and the haiku. There are allusions in some poems to literature and Indian mythology, which are explained in the footnotes.