“Songs of Three Lands” – Dr. Vikas Sharma’s Bridge of Language, Culture, and the Soul
When poetry becomes a confluence of languages, cultures, and emotions, it stops being just art—it becomes a legacy. Dr. Vikas Sharma, known by his pen name LaghaV, is the recipient of the 21st Century Emily Dickinson Award by BookLeaf Publishing for his groundbreaking poetic work, Songs of Three Lands—a rare collection that seamlessly merges Hindi, Urdu, and English verse in one heartfelt journey.
Based in Bareilly, India, Dr. Sharma is more than just a poet—he is a thinker, a healer of words, and a chronicler of the mental and emotional landscapes we often leave uncharted. With Songs of Three Lands, he invites readers on a voyage across the spiritual and linguistic terrains of his inner world—what he calls “a journey through my mental universe.”
This tri-lingual anthology is not only a poetic experiment but also a cultural tapestry. Every poem offers a distinct flavor—grace in Hindi, elegance in Urdu, expansiveness in English. Yet, what unites them all is the raw vulnerability and philosophical depth that Vikas infuses into his writing.
“I didn’t want to choose between languages,” he says. “Each one holds a different part of my soul. Together, they tell my story.”
While most collections are bound by form or geography, Songs of Three Lands defies both. It blends the introspective solitude of Emily Dickinson’s legacy with the collective emotion of Indian oral traditions, offering readers poems that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant.
His poems traverse themes of longing, mental health, identity, and healing—with verses that are not merely written but felt. One might find a Hindi poem about silence sitting beside an English poem on resilience, or a ghazal in Urdu capturing heartbreak with devastating grace.
The award committee acknowledged Songs of Three Lands as a “rare lyrical endeavor that merges linguistic diversity with emotional consistency,” praising it for its “ability to carry a singular emotional weight across three distinct tongues.”
Beyond being a literary achievement, this book is a bridge—between inner turmoil and outer expression, between regional languages and global readership, between the poet’s heart and ours.
In an age that often urges compartmentalization, Dr. Vikas Sharma’s poetry celebrates wholeness. It reminds us that we don’t need to pick one language to speak our truth, and we don’t need to hide parts of ourselves to belong. We are, in fact, many lands. Many songs. And infinite stories waiting to be told.
📖 Book Title: Songs of Three Lands
🏆 Award: 21st Century Emily Dickinson Prize
📍 From: Bareilly, India
📷 Instagram: @vikas_sharma1583
