About the Book

Discovering Life, a Poet Within is a beautiful flow of thoughts, observations and reflections about the mystery of life by a former senior army officer. His urge to unravel this mystery, so close to our hearts, yet so distant, deepened when he ventured to share his thoughts in his first book, Seasons of Life, Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Soldier.

Spurred by wide acceptance and readability of his first book, his quest continued with a renewed vigour and has now found an expression in this book. But this time in a totally new language, the preserve of the literary wizards, the forbidden domain, the artistic domain of poetry. This book is a collection of 100 poems, all on different topics, all about various facets of life, all with a subtle message and all in the first person. The author feels that, this was not done with a design, but has emerged to be so. Perhaps, instinctively.

The book traces the intricate web of emotions and various facets of life like, the sublime feeling of love, misery and pain in life, the dilemma of conflicting thoughts, the nature and its cosmic manifestations, stretch of his poetic imagination to crystal gaze into this world and the world beyond, and finally the memories, what these hold for us in store. Each of these themes has been expressed beautifully in many of his poems. The Author feels that there is a poet residing within each one of us, waiting for an opportune moment or a trigger to surface.

Overall, the frank and free flow of thoughts coming straight from the heart and expressed beautifully strikes a chord. There is so much to pick up from this book.

About the Author

Maj Gen Purshotam Vig, AVSM, VSM (Retd) was born in the picturesque township of Baramulla of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, he was commissioned in the then Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers of the Indian Army in 1964. A qualified engineer, he acquired high-end qualifications both in the technical and executive channels including Masters in three varied disciplines.

He held key appointments including as a Major General in the operationally-active scenario of the Northern command. He is a rare combination of an intellectual mind, a keen observer and an ardent adventurer. His wide range of reading and observations about life have found an expression in his writings. He is an established author of a highly readable book, and now this book, in poetry. His achievements in varied fields are a rare mix and a source of inspiration.