okay so illuminance writer and the poet
has been given 15 minutes of time in a
room full of adults and young adults and
I’m a little scared because there’s
sudden throwback to childhood where we
have to get together that you know
pretty sure most of you in this room has
been through this if I family
get-togethers and some relative of the
other way kamikaze dance just one song
or just in one song
so this is probably that feeling right
now but fortunately for you I’m not
going to be putting you through that
kind of torture I’m not ready to talk
about something which is very very
special to me poetry and romance but
before I start talking to you about
poetry I have to have a confession that
I need to make and I believe that I am
NOT a great poet
I believe that still learning how to
write with how the right way I would say
and sort of make sure that my words are
aligned to causes and principles that I
believe in you see the poetry community
in India including different parts of
the into the fire country be very small
you know we’re a very small unit a very
small collective of artists and poets
and dreamers and escape artists so to
speak so I don’t know further I’ve been
following social media the last one week
or so lot of things have come to light
which is sort of endangered our species
as a poetry collective you know when we
are such people where we are people from
different backgrounds coming together it
becomes that much more report
to stand together but when we’re joining
such a crisis that talks about sexual
harassment and child abuse and when
something like this is right in the
midst of a poetry collective as
organizers as poets we are sort of
responsible in a particular way and we
are required to take stock of ourselves
of our poets of our poetry of the
audience members that come so it’s just
it’s a very trying time for the poetry
community right now because of
everything that’s been going on
organizers and other poets facing a lot
of allegations and accusations I don’t
know if you’ve been following this but
this is just part of the press at this
point but what exactly is poetry or why
do we need poetry analyze how this
poetry or how do we beat poetry apart of
our lives
how do we read watch why do we read
poetry poetry is a powerhouse okay it’s
powers you it empowers you it helps you
to take away all your anxious thoughts
and feelings with words and convert them
into a pinata of sorts all right which
you save in the form of verses copious
notes confessions of love eight messages
that inspire hope and love and endurance
and happiness at the same time
poetry is offering you a glimpse into
the minds of a writer
it is a cornucopia that has been beaten
down into a rhythm which finds its own
beat in the heartbeats of people who
read and write poetry over and over
in June 2016 my family suffered a
terrible tragedy the aftermath of which
we are still dealing with today in some
our actions in some of the ways we
conduct ourselves in public with still
dealing with a lot of those issues that
we have and it was during this
particular time that I went back to my
roots as far as poetry and even writing
romance is concerned I went back to
Shakespeare I went back to buy an Edgar
Allan Poe and sextant I read all of
these people over and over again I read
John Keats and Shelley Wordsworth and I
read Jane Austen reading watching
Heights I don’t know how many times
closer back closer to India I started
again with bizarre sahaja yogi on me is
much of tight focus and motto because of
the people I just kept reading over and
over again because I felt that at the
time of crises these are the people who
have sort of helped me overcome whatever
it is that I was feeling during an
entire face with my life
and as a family for me to be able to
help my family for all of us to come
back to collectively cope with whatever
it is that we are going to so in the
innocence poetry in sense words sort of
safely on that day on those many days it
was during that time that I started
writing poetry a lot more I started
writing poetry and I started performing
poetry a lot more in those days and I
also added the finishing finally
finishing the manuscript for my second
book which was our last July last June
so what I’m trying to say is when you’re
in a particular crises in all also it
doesn’t mean that you need to have a
particular crisis
start writing it doesn’t mean that don’t
take that to mean please I’m not saying
that that was my driving force it helped
me prepare me in a particular directions
probably because I was surrounded by
people who are all of all of us were
going through the same thing and that
sort of helped me we sort of dealt with
it together and poetry was fun once a
child for me to deal with but I today
when I you know sort of sit down to
write poetry the first thought in my
head is I haven’t written in a while so
I think I should start now so this is
his heart into the thought I have the
moment I sit down to write a paper there
are many days that frequently nights
when I am just staring at the laptop
screen or ruling on the backs of my
diabetes and books because the words
just don’t come and access and at such
times I don’t know what to do
I stare into space I will myself to
write something in the hope that
something inspirational something
beautiful will just magically blow out
with my fingers as I batted away at my
keyboard and when this happens maybe
just maybe I will be able to silence the
course for now front row seats got
front-row seats to my talk today
not to mention I’ve seen the bear course
sitting over there
these are the girls that have followed
me for a long time and they always with
me and the only way to silence them to
settle them is by writing something
inspirational meaningful motivation
which I feel I have done justice you
know there are times again when none of
this works the coasts are loud and the
banging of the door they just don’t obey
so I take a step back and I leave
everything it’s now regular state of
disarray and I just wanted around my
house
catching snippets of conversations
properly floating around
where my parents huddled around a iPad
and they’re talking to my sister who’s
studying psychology in Melbourne I think
it’s important that I speak to you about
my sister she’s seven years my junior
but I think she mastered a psychology
way before she reached semester and
exams in textbooks I can’t take credit
for teaching her anything but I believe
she’s not a lot through me I believe
having a stellar example for her in
terms of what not to do or what not to
be and maybe even now every now but my
mistakes aren’t her mistakes she
anything I receive goes that I have that
there isn’t an encore same mistakes that
I have made in my life that doesn’t mean
that she has because she hasn’t made her
own mistakes that doesn’t mean that she
doesn’t walk around with the past
healthy enough probably a time to stop
it because fluid up shoulders droop over
slightly it doesn’t mean that nobody
goes through life like it’s right now
sitting in this very room each and every
one of you has vanished some of you have
come to terms with it by sama probably
adjusting you know sort of shuffling
about activity probably because you know
the story
this is how you and I are alike we won’t
have similar stories we all have similar
learnings the only thing that separates
us is the time we take to sort of write
ourselves into or out of a particular
narrative and that is what separates you
maybe even learning for instance writing
romance however in the form of poetry or
prose is not easy contrary to popular
opinion romance is not an easy shot and
right it’s not always easy to give women
ought to give readers for that matter
it’s a very very sexist to me to say
that only women be into romance
my father has read all three of my pants
members I think so so it’s it’s very
difficult like I said for a romance
writer to give you reality in fantasy
and fantasy in reality because more
often than not most of her readers most
of these readers are people who know for
a fact that Hogwarts doesn’t exist so
into this bunch you are trying to give a
certain kind of make-believe reality
because these are the people who dream
about riding off into the sunset these
are the people who dream about dramatic
walks on the beach by in the moonlight
these are the people who dream about
candlelight dinners my poetry on the
other hand is not asked romantic let’s
say as my novels the women in my poetry
are loud obnoxious to the point where I
think
– mood on stage their fever and
unapologetically they are people they
don’t conform to any laws or rules or
norms of society because that is how we
want women to be we don’t want them
confined or change to particular belief
systems or changed or change to their
existence because of where because of
well I would say the privilege was the
fact that they are women so my poetry my
poetry of my work my women are loud they
are hot greatly heart-stoppingly honest
and sincere father has a motto once said
but I I what we feel that I am breaking
everything and then at the same time I
always feel and I bring everything back
together
this was his belief he always felt that
in his attempt to make things better he
shatters everything and then the next
moment he is trying to patch up whatever
he shattered this is every writer this
is every poet in flesh and blood and on
scripts and scraps of paper that are
lined with inks in different colors
other than the ones that
in your means until afternoons when I
stare out of the window in my office you
asleep driving in this city running
through the cities means I think about
the previous night the night before when
I somehow latched on to some of the
words written in torn pages of old books
and just somehow given me more night and
the night lap sitting on my backside I
go back to those forgotten memory lanes
which probably should have been
forgotten or additional be erased or at
the very least belied by yours
counselling and at the hands only
because they mean where of course but
what they didn’t realize is that I did
choose this this isn’t the path I
voluntarily wanted to take I have a
pathological condition condition of
looking for happiness in places that
nobody would even dream of going eat I
still don’t know where this condition of
mine is going to take me I still don’t
know how many places and how many
lessons and how many more course and
went back to my audience but I know this
for a fact but the place that I am
looking for is capable of humility and
compassion and love and joy and
happiness and all of these can coexist
unconditionally so if I ever find such a
place
we knew all the company we can all just
go together and for company I promise and carry all my books on coach