Book of Rahim & Other Poems - Arvind Krishna Mehrotra

An exquisite, deeply evocative collection of verse by one of India’s foremost contemporary poets. Journey through extraordinary records of the everyday and stunning reimagining of history.

In Book of Rahim & Other Poems, the masterfully observant Arvind Krishna Mehrotra delivers a collection that blurs the lines between the past and the present. Mehrotra has a singular ability to treat history not as a distant, dusty academic subject, but as something as intimate and commonplace as a close relative or a familiar piece of furniture—making it feel all the more strange, beautiful, and unrepeatable because of it.

The collection features deeply immersive narrative shifts. The poet seamlessly inhabits the weary, brilliant voice of an aging Mirza Ghalib navigating his final days. He goes on to revisit the world of Abdul-Rahim Khan-i-Khanan (1556–1627), a Baharlu Turk who rose to become one of the most powerful, culturally vital figures in the Mughal nobility during the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir. Turning inward, Mehrotra uncovers lost family objects, old letters, and fading memories tied to his ancestral home in Lahore.

The result is a collection pulsing with a frayed, cinematic immediacy—a vivid emotional texture that even the heftiest historical novels struggle to achieve. For lovers of high-literary poetry, this book is a quiet masterpiece of time travel, memory, and language.