How do we live when our pain does not dissipate?
Is the heart a vector, or is it woven by swift hands on the night before we are born?
Have you ever loved someone so deeply that you changed species to become a flower?
“Reading Ankur Kalra’s Ibadah, poems of love, desire, loss and passion, new and stirring questions about the soul’s journey as a beloved arise, perhaps, in the reader’s being. That these poems are written by an interventional cardiologist, someone who has touched what for so many of us is a vocabulary, a set of sensations, brings another dimension to the insights developed here. Who are we when we are not alone? Who are we when we are not with each other? I am honored to write in support of this mystical and visceral book.”
"I am a Cleveland Clinic patient and was in Cleveland for my post-heart surgery follow-up. Your poetry is beautiful and touched my heart. It was soulful for me to be in Cleveland for a ‘real heart’ check-up and find this mesmerizing combination of touching words. Congratulations.”
"Having read this book multiple times, I find its words profoundly moving in ways that defy simple articulation. It offers a nuanced understanding of selfless love, perhaps may act as a reflective mirror for few. The poems also touches on the true essence of love - poignant act of letting go, reminding us that love is the only journey in life where, even in loss, we are never truly defeated."
"His esoteric and organic insight of love, loss, pain, and passion are eloquently delivered through his poems. It is a philosophical, visceral, and thought proving experience."
Dr. Kalra is the Division Chief of Cardiology, interventional cardiologist, and associate professor of medicine at State University of New York, Upstate Medical University and Norton College of Medicine in Syracuse, NY. He is the founder of the non-profit startup, makeadent.org, a primary investigator at Krannert Cardiovascular Research Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, and director of Barry J. Maron Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center in New Delhi, India. He is also the host of the award-winning, top-ranked cardiology podcast show, Parallax.
Dr. Ankur Kalra is an interventional cardiologist. As such, he literally holds the destiny of his patients - in terms of life or death - in his hands on a daily basis. And he has used these experiences as the basis for a book of poetry, Ibadah, that explores meaning, the role of servitude, love, and loss.
The Times asked readers who work in healthcare to share the art they made during the pandemic, and we received more than 50 submissions. From painting to dance to writing to toast art, healthcare workers’ creativity reflects how they process working on the frontlines of the pandemic.
Local Voices manager Miesha Headen interviews Dr. Ankur Kalra about his poems, which bridge feelings of heartache, loss, and beguilement to the concepts of reincarnation and transcending finite pain in order to grow.
Local Voices manager Miesha Headen interviews Dr. Ankur Kalra about his poems, which bridge feelings of heartache, loss, and beguilement to the concepts of reincarnation and transcending finite pain in order to grow.
