From Mind to Soul: A Review and Interview

"My feelings are unspoken without my voice." - Narinder Bhangu, In Search of Peace

I have a deep connection with poetry. I remember those years in high school and college where I would filling my notebook with thoughts and feeling creating poems. From Mind to Soul is a collection of poems written by Author Narinder Bhangu whos spirit you can feel as you read about life, death, spiritualism, social taboos, nature and more. For me, a good poem not only allows you to see the world as the poet does but it also gives you the opportunity to see that same world inside of you. When you can feel what the writer is feeling even though you have not experienced what they have, you know you are reading something special. I enjoyed From Mind to Soul and I found myself connecting with several poems. I had the chance to interview Bhangu and used that as my opportunity to further understand his love of nature and writing.

In your book you reference the connection between the soul and nature. Where did your deep appreciation for nature come from?

Since my childhood, I have been enjoying nature, away from buildings. In my college days, as a student of Botany, I connected closely to flora and fauna. Having known that the natural setups are for our comfortable, I have been promoting those. Any skew in it, caused trouble to [the] very existence of life on planet. I enjoyed rural life where you hear buzzing sounds of beetles once evening falls.    

At one point you taught English and then transitioned into working as a health professional. What was the reason for the career move?

In India, I felt a structural difference in teaching of English, not as the first language. It required not only a special skill but also challenge too. That, I very much met. In a scenario where it is taught as a first language like in Canada, you require a gradation in teaching techniques to be thorough. For the first instance, I had to put it on the back burner for now. For survival as a new immigrant in this country, I adopted the health care profession. English runs always in mind.

Do you think your career as a health professional helps you connect with the spirit, especially with other people?

In a way, yes. I interact with a variety of customers. Most of them worried about their health. I start digging deeper and try to encourage them that spiritual health is above the mental and physical health, though; I have to perform as my profession requires me to do. In the process, there is always an emotional deluge.    

Where are you most inspired to write? Why? 

I get my writing pitch most of the time in woods, in a park or close to a brook. Whenever I feel sad or strange, I pull myself to nature, listen the sounds of leaves tossing with wind and this spurs me to write poetry. Anything that touches my sensitive nerves, be it of sadness or happiness or mercy gets shaped into poetry with a purpose of getting pabulum for my mind. When you look flurries settling silently on tree branches through window, poet inside you hops.    

How old where you when you wrote your first poem? Do you remember what it was about?

I remember, during my village school days, I used to read out some religious couplets to my uncle (he was unable to read as he was blind) who would speak behind me and cram. It ignited a spark in me and I myself wrote some couplets on paper and tore it away. And that was [how] I became a poet. I started writing in Punjabi initially and then in English. 

Do you write solely about spirit, nature, environment, or do you write about other topics as well?

Restricting a poet within limits is difficult as creativity is everywhere. If you choose to write, in my opinion, you might stagger. Honestly speaking, I do not choose to write on a specific point but writing on nature, environment, spiritualism, including human relations and life philosophy comes itself. My poetry includes social taboos, and the structural shift in society time to time, refining my ultimate goal of spiritualism, raising my moral heights. I try to prove that old is gold, when we were more close to nature. I want to remain subservient to nature, a puppet in its hand.

What is your writing process like?

You cannot limit a poet. The poetic flow, as I felt, is more natural but less acquired. It sprouts from nodes of your nerves. Most often, I write small poems in my intentions to leave a didactic message, entertainment both for self and readers which is its purpose.  

How did you come to be a poet? Have you considered other forms of writing such as short stories or news articles?

I tried short stories. But those stories were real such as "Kalka Shimla Train". All my previous books titled "A Wake up Call to Save Environment", then "Life Skills: The Art of Living" and "In Search of Water" are not poetry. Somehow I did not feel as satisfied after bringing out those as after this poetry collection. It is always easy to write on mega projects but writing on small actions such as an ant moving on the tip of a leaf so skillfully, requires extra skill and inclination. Besides, I get these small actions detailed for poetic expressions. As for news articles are concerned, I do not think I should weaken my focus from writing on nature, ecology. I should be justified and fair to my intrinsic poetic flow. 

Who is your favourite poet? What is your favourite poem?

I must say poets have same mind set of having divine inclination; to observe and judge around and then shape poetry, most honestly. Among many poets, I am in a fix to decide between William Wordsworth and Shakespeare. William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is my favourite poem. Inspired by this poem, perhaps I wrote my poem "My Travelogue."

What do you want readers to take away from your book when they read it?

The purpose of poetry is to heightening the moral values combined with entertainment. It takes you a different world by offering you divine setups; opens doors to get what is the ultimate goal. "From Mind to Soul" sensitises my readers on social taboos, female foeticide rampant in certain parts of world, our ignorance towards our foster mother apart from penury, destitution and challenges of life.  It speaks about love too. This collection is like my second daughter after my own daughter. 

You may purchase your copy of From Mind to Soul on Amazon!