Review: Iridescence

Author: Abhishek Gupta

Publisher: Half Baked Beans

Pages: 67

Format: Paperback

Rating: 4.5/5

Iridescence is a photo-poetry book filled with beautiful, breath-taking pictures combined with poetry that’s straight from the heart. Abhisek Gupta has weaved magic with his photography skills and the poems are an icing on the cake.

Whoever said a picture speaks a thousand words clearly hasn’t read Iridescence. Life is a  mixture of colorful hues. Some days its a bright yellow light shining down on you, on other days its a dark, starry night. The book showcases different pictures taken by the author at various conjectures of his life along with his feelings at that point of time. It’s interesting to read where the picture was taken and what state of mind the author was in. This shows that regardless of us being different to each other, we all stumble across certain points in our lives that are relatable and it makes us feel that perhaps we’re not alone.

In the words of Dr.Subhash Chandra( Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha) who wrote the forward to the book,” It is your story as much as it is mine; it is every person’s story. Delve into it to know you are not alone and to reinvigorate the iridescence of your soul”

The book is divided into two parts and is a blend of multifarious emotions running through our veins. I have a couple of favorite poems from the book one of them being Soliloquize.

The world is not the same,

Every day is a new game,

Like lanterns in the sky,

Consistency doesn’t lie. 

Through the above poem, the author talks about how each day is completely different from the other, how time has changed us and continues to do so. In the poem ‘We aren’t the Savers’ the author poses some serious questions. The world, as we know, is not the same anymore. It’s unfair, cruel and uncompromising. In the midst of it all, who is going to be our savior?

We can convince the grime,

To sterile our opportunities,

To immaculate our potential,

We have faith in god,

Because he turned our life this way,

And still we say,

We are actually not the savers. 

Iridescence takes you on a journey of self-discovery, it makes you ponder and reflect. A photo-poetry book you can go back to when you’re happy or fall back on when days seem rough. The combination of pictures and poetry makes it a delightful read.