A moving debut: Pratikshya Panda’s poems trace longing, loss, and the beauty of remembering.
New Delhi [India], July 16: In a world that often demands clarity and resolution, Pratikshya Panda’s debut poetry collection, Whispers of the Blue Ghost, offers readers something far more precious: an invitation to linger in the delicate spaces where longing, memory, and identity intersperse At just the beginning of her literary journey, this young poet from Gaisilet, Odisha, who is currently pursuing her studies at the University of Delhi, has written a book of poems that touches the heart because of its simplicity and relatable emotions.
Whispers of the Blue Ghost is not simply a book of poems; it is an immersive landscape where grief shimmers like a reflection on water, always moving, but never fully graspable. Through simple yet striking language, Pratikshya captures the tender ache of remembering what has slipped through our fingers. Each poem feels like a whispered secret, a fragment of something once whole, now reshaped by time and loss.
The collection’s emotional resonance lies in its vivid imagery, echoing through the pages to create an atmosphere that is both ethereal and grounded. These elements become more than just images; they are vessels for the poet’s exploration of how loss transforms us, how memories refuse to fade completely, instead lingering in the hidden corners of our minds.
Readers are already loving the collection for its subtlety and its free-flowing verses that feel both effortless and profound. Many have praised Pratikshya’s thoughtful ruminations on grief and identity—reflections that refuse to rush toward answers but instead linger in the questions. It is this gentle honesty that makes her poems feel like a companion to one’s own private aches.
Born and raised in Gaisilet, a small town in Odisha, Pratikshya’s poetic sensibility is deeply rooted in observation and reflection. Her surroundings, the rhythms of everyday life, and the quiet moments spent in nature find their way into her work, adding layers of authenticity and intimacy. Though young, she writes with the maturity of someone who understands that grief is not always loud and dramatic. It can be gentle too, arriving in echoes and silences.
“Sadness can be beautiful too. It can be interpreted in many ways, looked at from different perspectives, and it can be processed and expressed through poetry, if one has the aptitude for it,” says Pratikshya about one of the many inspirations behind her work in this book.
Beyond her poetry, Pratikshya is a literary enthusiast and storyteller at heart. Her passion for stories extends beyond the page, finding expression in her love for movies, nature walks, and moments of solitude that inspire her words. It is this openness to the world that gives her poems their lifelike texture; they are dreamlike but never detached from reality.
In Whispers of the Blue Ghost, Pratikshya demonstrates that the act of remembering is not just about holding on, it is about making sense of what remains when everything else has faded. Her poems remind us that the past is never truly gone; it lives on in fragments, in dreams, in the spaces we least expect. It is an idea that resonates deeply in an age where we often rush to move past our pain, to bury our losses under distractions and noise.
In poems that feel simultaneously real and dreamlike, Pratikshya examines the blurred lines between presence and absence. There is an almost mythic undertone to her work, reminiscent of ancient tales where ghosts whisper through cracks in the walls and rivers carry secrets downstream. The “blue ghost” of the title is never named outright, but its presence is felt in every stanza as grief that shapeshifts, sometimes sharp as a blade, other times distant and soft as a shadow at dusk.
What also makes this collection compelling is Pratikshya’s ability to evoke these universal experiences through language that remains accessible. Her words do not hide behind complex forms or overly ornate phrasing. Instead, they reveal themselves gently, like a wound that aches but also reminds us we are alive. There is a raw honesty in her lines, a courage to sit with pain rather than rush toward healing.
There is, perhaps, a quiet radicalism in Pratikshya’s choice to dwell in this fragile space between memory and forgetting. She does not offer easy answers or neat resolutions. Instead, she leaves us with questions that linger long after the final page.
For readers seeking poetry that feels both deeply personal and universally resonant, Whispers of the Blue Ghost is a brilliant debut. It is a testament to the enduring power of words to transform sorrow into beauty, to turn absence into a kind of presence that stays with us in unexpected ways. Readers continue to find comfort in its subtle beauty and the way its free-flowing verses offer room to breathe, reflect, and feel seen.
As Pratikshya Panda continues to explore the written word, one can only imagine what quiet worlds she will invite us into next. For now, Whispers of the Blue Ghost stands as a promising beginning. It’s a collection that urges us to sit with our thoughts, to listen to their whispers, and to find solace in the gentle ache of remembering.
Find the book at: https://mybook.to/whisperoftheblueghost
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