Dehradun, July 28 -- Book Review

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Abundant Sense

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Deeragh doha arath ke, aakhar thore aahin,

Jyon Rahim Nat Kundali, simti kudi charhi jahin

Couplets comprise a few letters, but hold abundant sense,

As the crouching acrobat, Rahim springs atop the fence!

This iconic two-line verse - of which two significant words 'abundant sense' also give the volume its eponymous name - is, in many ways, reflective of each of the 144 dohas that form part of this offering. A 'Doha' literally translates itself into 'two lines' but as Chandan Sinha explains in the introduction, there is something very special about the structure - the lines rhyme, with each line having twenty- four phonetic units called 'Matras': hence, not all couplets are doha...