Monday, January 27, 2014

Journey of a Poet in Making

58 poems in English and 62 in Hindi (+ 4 in pipeline)... WoW!!!

I wrote my first poem on Karm (कर्म) in Hindi in 8th standard. It was published in the school magazine. As far as I can recall my second poem was in English on John Milton written in 9th standard. After reading his poem On His Blindness, I got instinctively motivated to write about the poet. The words just flowed. 

I am not sure if I've written any poem from 1996 till 2000. Four years of lull. 

It was only in the year 2001 that I again started writing in trickles. After joining MIT, Manipal in 2002 I found a company in Pankaj. He too wrote in Hindi. Often we shared our poems with each other. Then I didn't have the confidence that I can write in English too. 

After my engineering I moved to Bangalore. Writing continued. 

It was only in 2009 that I attempted to write in English. It gave me confidence. In the month of June 2010, I wrote approximately 30 poems, 15 each in Hindi and English. Words were seamlessly flowing as if I've been motivated by some strong inner force. 

Many times I've thought that enough of poetry now. I'll not write any more. But it never happens. I could never stop. Something would trigger a chain reaction inside resulting in cascade flow of words down the hill of my imagination. I can't resist... I can't stop then. 

Unconsciously, poetry has become a company of this lone traveler. 
May the journey continue together.