Rati is one of the most distinct voices of her generation, primarily because of the rich reverberations that her poems evoke. Well-versed in mother tongue poetry and Indian classical music traditions, she went abroad to study Western Poetics and her poems became an ‘echo chamber, a philosopher’s mind, a heart and an ethereal vision’, mapping the terrain of sound and even the soundless void called ‘anhad’. This deep philosophical enquiry, an urgent quest, tracing tears in the heart of things is something that sets her poems apart. Uniquely attentive to the subtle echoes and shades of things lost, thoughts fading away or still blooming, every now and then, she comes up with a powerful reflection: ‘There is no documented history of all this —/ things people said to one another/ once upon a time’. And the control of diction with which she says it all in one go is also superb. The ironies of life captured in sensuous images and a row of witty juxtapositions get her a little metaphysical too. Even this ‘bit of the moon’, this ‘kalamkari’ makes her poetry a magic mirror, breathing in ‘hypnotic films,/ dream — a cliche’,/ dream-like texture,/ gentle, morbid. — Anamika, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award for Hindi for 2020
 
I'd Like a Bit of the Moon is a lyrical diagnosis of the poet’s desire to connect and her apprehensions about connecting with life and realities around her. Honest, gritty, and evocative images in this collection celebrate an urban yearning for the moon, that is, a life away from the metropolis, and a reckless urge to think of the ‘undergrounds that open’ if we don’t keep ourselves sanitised. On the other hand, the poet is also tied to these bundles of 'technicolour fables' in the city, as this is where stories are born. — Paulami Sengupta