Preface Like the flowing river, that does not give up even in the midst of greatest storms and bellowing winds, each one of us has an invincible reservoir of strength and persistence. This book is an ode to that consistent spirit in you and me, which makes us move ahead, looks over our faltering steps and lets us discover the joy and pain of evolution. It is an accumulation of my journeys within and without: the journey of a child wishing on stars, of an adult trying to come to terms with adulthood, of a woman long lost in the societal maze of norms and her defiance, of a man's indefatigable quest to understand his own drives, of lost dreams and earned hearts, of missed chances and lucky charms, of success stories and failed thoughts, of love and lust, of gratefulness and thoughtful nights, of lost hearts and unbroken threads, of completions and abandonments, of being and becoming...it is about 'you' and 'me'.. Being a poet, I trust that poetry is a sensitive appreciation and observation of the life processes and the continuous transformations that occur in inner and outer worlds. It is a way, a medium to channelize one's unreleased and pent-up emotions in the creative direction. Every poet knows that what makes his/ her poetry readable, are not mere words but the fact that it can resonate with countless hearts across time and space. This book 'Web of Lights' primarily deals with the twin themes of construing love as an infallible light of the cosmos as well as a kind of web that fixates us to this world of senses and its relationships. The attempt here is to highlight that it is only by immersing oneself into this deep web that one can transcend it and undo its illusion. For a poet, everything is real as long as it is lived on the plane of experience. Most of the poems have been created in different ways of being and thus each of them represents a different aspect of human life: Contradictory and Ambivalent. Such then is the texture of this book... my life...and the cosmos...always changing and evolving. The idea of this book germinated in an acute desire of a little girl to be heard... a little girl who grew up ...to tell the world that even though it might hurt to love and let go, it is in the empty spaces between these two processes that we become the highest versions of ourselves. It is the I-ness that makes me understand you, we and they. Through my words, I desire to spread the message of myth of individualism and to allude how all our differences are but a matter of mere illusionary perceptions. My words are intended for the one in despair, the one who has given up, the one who is about to recover his/ her faith and the one, who like me has not bowed before the vagaries of time and nature. I write to 'become' and to understand my being and perhaps others could also feel some happiness in shared words, spaces and visions. I invite you to share this journey with me...to make me your friend...to walk beside me...and to remember that you are never alone You are never ever alone Sakshi Chanana