Ishika Bansal is a budding poetess, a student of Class 9th at G. D. Goenka Public School. She is a brilliant scholar who has been awarded a 100% scholarship for her contribution to English Literature. Her maiden book ‘Treads of Life’ was published in 2019.

My Diary and Other Poems is her second book which is an anthology of 47 poems. She has dedicated the book to a senior poet, Rajiv Khandelwal who has been a guide and mentor in her poetic journey. He always inspires her to become a great poet.

The first two poems in the anthology, Words 1 ad Words 2 is about the relevance of using words in an individual life. As the lines indicates:

They are spontaneous
Hilarious, miraculous
Can be harsh and discourteous
Are inspiring, surprising
Life-changing, sporadically depressing
Sometimes shattering, at times daring.

The third poem in the anthology, My Diary is about the habit of writing diary. It is a 15 lines poem consisting of 1 triplet and 3 quatrains with a rhyme scheme of abc abcb. An other poem, Our Works Last Forever is an 11 lines poem of 1 triplet and 2 quatrains with a rhyme scheme of abb abab abcb.

Poems like, My Hustling Class, Childhood, A Creation, That How I Am, Where Am I, Sleep Addicts Me, Impression, An Apology For My Handwriting, Mom, My Worthy Han d, In Search of More, One Grade Up - My New Classroom, Zero Period, It Make My Day to Laugh, A Birthday Present For a Friend, Frenemies and These Supporting Shoulders- Happy Father’s Day are subjective in tone revealing various aspects of her life.

Some other poems including, Each Day, New Light, Be an Actor Not a Reactor, Hardship, are philosophical in nature. In poem, Clothes Don’t Make a Man, she says:

Our dressing sense can hide the real us for some time
But our words reveal us inside out
When our words are stronger than our voice
Then no reason for sure is left to shout.

There are some poems which seems to be like an instruction viz, Find Out ‘Me’ Time, Trust Your Instinct, Be an Actor Not a Reactor, Embellish Up Your Future and Lets Nurture Her Together. She wrote two poems on harsh realities of life, A Sneak Look Outside and The Other Side of Today’s World.

In her poems, the poetess has revealed her emotions, desires and gratitude towards her life and important people related to her. In the anthology, she has discussed her school life, her resolution, goal and aspirations of her life in the form of verses. It is quite obvious that mostly she writes on personal themes, as an elder I would sug gest her to write on myriad issues related to our existence and survival on this universe dealing with some religious, social, cultural, and emotional themes.

In the collection many poems are written in free verse only some poems have rhyme scheme. The poet has tried to show her innermost feelings on some themes which are mostly subjective in nature. All these poems are also reflections of her creative mind and sensitivity.