What do you think?
Rate this book
Rhapsody Road: Poetic Journeys Through Dreams | Memories | Nature of Time | Life’s Fleeting Moments | Illustrated Poetry Collection | Love Poems | Photography
The poems of Ravi Shankar Etteth beckon the reader to a strange luminous world that stays tantalizingly out of reach. The experience is, as he says in his introduction, like waking from a dream and thinking you were really there, and longing to go back to that world. Except that you can never revisit the land of your dreams.
From the quotidian to the ineffable sadness of whiling ‘springtime away on false lights, deep wine and fickle friends’; a lament for autumn with its falling flowers; memories of things that have never happened; and a startling take on Michelangelo’s ‘Creation’, there is little that escapes the poet’s vision. With its biting wit and a singular understanding of the ephemeral nature of life’s experiences, beautifully illustrated by the author, Rhapsody Road is a collection that you will find yourself dipping into time and again.
From the quotidian to the ineffable sadness of whiling ‘springtime away on false lights, deep wine and fickle friends’; a lament for autumn with its falling flowers; memories of things that have never happened; and a startling take on Michelangelo’s ‘Creation’, there is little that escapes the poet’s vision. With its biting wit and a singular understanding of the ephemeral nature of life’s experiences, beautifully illustrated by the author, Rhapsody Road is a collection that you will find yourself dipping into time and again.
132 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 19, 2019
1 person want to read
About the author
Ravi Shankar Etteth
13 books38 followersOne of India’s most famous cartoonists and journalists, Ravi Shankar Etteth published his first book of short stories The Scream of the Dragonflies in 1996. He then went on to write five novels, The Tiger by The River, The Village of Widows, The Gold of Their Regrets, The Book of Shiva and The Brahmin. They have been translated and published in eight international languages. His books cut across all genres like literary fiction, horror, crime and spirituality and periods like feudal Kerala, Nazi Germany and the Magadha Empire. He also collaborated with artist Paresh Maity on a coffee-table book on Kerala. Etteth is now working on his sixth title, Killing Time in Delhi, which he says is a “a novel on the shenanigans of Delhi's super rich”. A Bollywood film on The Brahmin is also in the works.
Ravi Shankar worked for Indian Express in the 1980s, and later as the Creative Director of the Observer Group. He joined India Today as Art Editor and went on to become its Managing Editor and, later, Editor-at-Large. He also edited the India Today Group’s afternoon paper Today and launched the lifestyle magazine India Today Spice. He was briefly the CEO and Editor and Chief of Voice of India and Millionaire. He is now a columnist and Consulting Editor with The New Indian Express and is based in New Delhi.
Ravi Shankar worked for Indian Express in the 1980s, and later as the Creative Director of the Observer Group. He joined India Today as Art Editor and went on to become its Managing Editor and, later, Editor-at-Large. He also edited the India Today Group’s afternoon paper Today and launched the lifestyle magazine India Today Spice. He was briefly the CEO and Editor and Chief of Voice of India and Millionaire. He is now a columnist and Consulting Editor with The New Indian Express and is based in New Delhi.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 27, 2025
"Rhapsody Road" by Ravi Shankar Etteth is a mesmerizing collection of poems that will transport you to a world of dreams, memories, and the fleeting nature of life. The poet's words are like whispers from a distant land, beckoning you to follow him on a journey through the realms of the human experience.
What struck me most about this collection is the way the author weaves together the ordinary and the extraordinary, the mundane and the sublime. He writes about the passing of seasons, the beauty of nature, and the fragility of human connections with a depth and nuance that's both poignant and profound.
The poems are beautifully illustrated with the author's own photographs, which add an extra layer of meaning to the words. The images are like snapshots of moments in time, frozen forever, and they perfectly capture the ephemeral nature of life that the author writes about. The poems are like fragments of conversations with oneself, where the speaker is grappling with the mysteries of existence, love, loss, and memory.
The poem about Michelangelo's "Creation" is a masterpiece, where the author reimagines the famous scene with a fresh perspective that's both startling and thought-provoking. Similarly, the poems about the passing of seasons, with their falling flowers and fading light, are like elegies for the passing of time.
What I love most about "Rhapsody Road" is the way it invites you to slow down, reflect, and savor the moments that make life worth living. The poems are like little time capsules, filled with the essence of the human experience, and they'll stay with you long after you finish reading them.
All-in-all, "Rhapsody Road" is a stunning collection of poems that will resonate with anyone who's ever stopped to think about the mysteries of life, love, and mortality. It's a must-read for poetry lovers, and Etteth's beautiful illustrations only add to the book's charm. So, if you're looking for a collection that will transport you to another world, look no further than "Rhapsody Road"
What struck me most about this collection is the way the author weaves together the ordinary and the extraordinary, the mundane and the sublime. He writes about the passing of seasons, the beauty of nature, and the fragility of human connections with a depth and nuance that's both poignant and profound.
The poems are beautifully illustrated with the author's own photographs, which add an extra layer of meaning to the words. The images are like snapshots of moments in time, frozen forever, and they perfectly capture the ephemeral nature of life that the author writes about. The poems are like fragments of conversations with oneself, where the speaker is grappling with the mysteries of existence, love, loss, and memory.
The poem about Michelangelo's "Creation" is a masterpiece, where the author reimagines the famous scene with a fresh perspective that's both startling and thought-provoking. Similarly, the poems about the passing of seasons, with their falling flowers and fading light, are like elegies for the passing of time.
What I love most about "Rhapsody Road" is the way it invites you to slow down, reflect, and savor the moments that make life worth living. The poems are like little time capsules, filled with the essence of the human experience, and they'll stay with you long after you finish reading them.
All-in-all, "Rhapsody Road" is a stunning collection of poems that will resonate with anyone who's ever stopped to think about the mysteries of life, love, and mortality. It's a must-read for poetry lovers, and Etteth's beautiful illustrations only add to the book's charm. So, if you're looking for a collection that will transport you to another world, look no further than "Rhapsody Road"
Displaying 1 of 1 review