LIFE OF A POET - AMIT AGARWAL

This week we are flying to India again, to visit Amit Agarwal, who blogs at Safarnaamaa... सफ़रनामा...  Amit has participated at Poets United for a long time, but somehow I have not yet interviewed him, so I rectified that immediately. Pour yourself a cup of tea and draw your chairs in close. You won't want to miss a single word.

Sherry: Amit, we were so happy to see you pop up again at Poets United.

Amit: Thank you Sherry, the pleasure is all mine to be associated with PU, a great platform where I have been showcasing my work since past many years.

Sherry: We have much catching up to do. Tell us a bit about yourself, Amit, where you live, your family....... Anything you’d like us to know, to give us a sense of the poet behind the pen.

Amit: Okay, I live in Meerut a mid size town near New Delhi, India. Apart from its mythological connections with The Ramayana and Mahabharata, the town is distinguished as India’s fight for freedom started here in 1857, known as ‘Sepoy Mutiny’. It is the second largest cantonment in India. The Himalayan foothills and the world famous Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve are about 150 kms from my place.

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My wife is a Professor and Head of the Department of English in a college. She is a wonderful cook and host, and a gifted singer. My elder daughter Atisi, a qualified Interior Designer, and a fine Madhubani painter, lives in Pune a town in West India near Bombay, and owns a business with her husband who is a Lighting Designer. 

An example of Madhubani Folk Art
by Amit’s daughter, Atisi Amit

My  younger daughter Aditi, a qualified Handicrafts Designer (Luxury Lifestyle), and an avid photographer lives in New Delhi. Having interned with a couple of established business houses she is now working to create and launch her own label.

Photography by Aditi Amit

As about me, well, I taught at college level for a short while before I joined the corporates due to circumstances beyond control and worked with them for many long years. Then I started my own venture which did fine for some years and then nosedived. In spite of best efforts my partners and I could not revive it to a satisfactory level and as of now it is in a bad shape. So, to be honest I would say I am out of business and unemployed at the moment.

Sherry: We are sorry to hear that, Amit. It happens in today's volatile market. When did you first begin writing poetry?  And what is it about poetry that caused you to choose it as your means of creative expression? What do you love about it?

Amit: I started composing rhymes at a very young age but those cannot be categorised as poetry now. My serious initial writings were in my early twenties, mostly off the cuff, and usually thrown around carelessly. I like to write ‘something’ to release the upsurge of emotions and feelings (mostly sad and melancholic), and give vent to the uncomfortable notion of suffocation within me, and a poem is born! I write effortlessly without devoting too much time or effort to diction or presentation, because I like to keep it simple, like my own self..ha ha JJ

I chose poetry as my preferred means of creative expression due to its power and capacity to contain volumes in a couple of stanzas or just a few lines..and being an easy going person I leisurely pour myself out in a relaxed way through a poem!

It is difficult to specify what I love about poetry. There are too many  to count, like there are numerous poets with different styles and manners. I particularly love lucidity, fluidity, musicality and succinctness in a poem, and as a result keep mine pithy and concise. Elaborate high flying words are a no-no for me for they kill the joy of reading, and obstruct the flow of something within..I give preference to convey exactly what I want to, and sometimes even go to the extent of using archaic or rustic words.

Sherry: Do you have a writing practice? A time of day set aside for writing? Or do you write when the inspiration moves you?

Amit: I don’t follow a set routine in writing or in life..my poems are  sudden outbursts of intense response to deep felt emotions..or call it inspiration if you like!

Artist  Atisi Amit

Sherry: Is there someone in your life that you feel was a significant influence in your becoming a poet? 

Amit: Well, it’s not ‘someone’ but it’s ‘something’.. It is anguish, the pain within! My sensitivity is a bane..I suffer in distress even when things are seemingly fine (as they say), am never at ease. I am a loner and it seems there is a deep rooted ache within my being.. I am intrinsically lonely and sad at heart; but nothing to worry about, God made me like that.

I am and was encouraged by the appreciation and love I received from my readers. Unfortunately I did not have a very happy childhood and hence don’t have any treasured memories, I rather try to forget things from the past and wish to live the moment, for which I practice meditation. There might be an inherent factor for my fondness of poetry: that I am a Libran, and love aesthetically appealing things around me, poetry being one perhaps.

Sherry: I think many poets share a melancholic nature. It fuels our poetry! Do you have a favourite poet? What do you love about his or her work?

Amit: Oh yes, by all means! I adore the 19^th century English poet John Keats. What to say about Keats? It would be like showing a lamp to the Sun! His romance, sensuousness, love for beauty and nature.. uff.. he is The Ultimate! Unsurpassable! He died at the tender age of 25 years and none has written like him in these 200 odd years.. To me he is the God of poetry. I worship him.

Sherry: He was brilliant indeed. When did you come to the world of blogging, and how has it impacted your work?

Amit: I created my blog some eight years back. It has definitely given me the intended results: lovely and sensitive readers from around the world! I speak two languages: Hindi and English, and write in both. My bilingual blog posts reach a good number of readers and their love and appreciation keep me going.

Sherry: Blogging is such a wonderful forum for poets! You were away from the blogosphere for a time. What drew you back?

Amit: As my business went bad and could not be revived I took a hiatus and have gone to stay in an ashram deep into the Himalayas where there is mostly no phone/internet signal; am working with an NGO as a team member where we are planting Apple and Walnut orchards with an Indo-Dutch company who are expert consultants in the field.

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In fact I was never away from writing or photographing all these months. I have done both, only could not publish them due to the aforesaid handicap.

Sherry: How wonderful to be planting trees in the Himalayas! That is awesome. I so admire that you are doing such good work. 

"Nirvana" by Amit Agarwal

Amit: The Rham Jhula bridge (above) is used for pedestrians and two-wheelers. Jhula in Hindi means a swing, and since bridges in the hills have no pillars or reinforced concrete base, they are called 'jhulas'.  It is close to the world-famous Lakshman Jhula in Rishikesh. I have crossed it hundreds of times on foot. Legend says that Lakshman, the brother of the Hindu deity Lord Rama, crossed the river Ganges 10,000 years ago on jute ropes where the Lakshman Jhula is today, hence the name.

Rishikesh is the gateway to the great Himalayas, the journey to the charming, mystic and spiritualistic hills starts from here only. It is barely 150 miles from my home.  I have been here more than 50 times in the last thirty years.

Sherry: That is so interesting, Amit, and your photo is beautiful. You are fortunate to live so near the mystical Himalayas. They have called to my soul for a lifetime. I read many books about the Himalayas. 

Are there three of your poems you would like to share with us? And tell us a bit about each one?

Amit: Oh sure, I am delighted and would love to! But request you to excuse me for not explaining. Let the readers decide.

The poems I present herewith have been selected to demonstrate versatility / fervour / flavours. They go like this:

Perennial

Will the Ganga defile

If I end

My life in it

To reunite with Thee?

Why no my soul

Is too pure

To pollute it

For the moments it remains

In there..

And the biodegradable body

Will satiate the fish

Within couple of hours.

Ah but for the stent

In my heart

And the ache!

  

Paris blasphemy

The ping of bullets

lulled the tinkle of Champaign flutes

Took over the lilt of violin

the booming  guns

The red wine oozed

out of burgundy lips

To mahogany ceiling

the caviar flung

chanel No.5 reeked

of blood smoke

Stunk of burnt flesh

Pour Homme

The half written poem

Dried in fingers

The song in throat

got strangled

Breath in breath

Whirring hearts

Abrupt silence..

Paris blasphemy!

Puzzled

I vulnerable

Naked stark

You fascinate

In frills intricate.

Showing bits

You intrigue

Beguiled

I chase.

 Fruit forbidden

You offer

Hesitantly though

I oblige.

You elude

Since then

O life

Me Tarzan you Jane!

***

        

Sherry: Each poem has such impact, Amit. I especially resonate with the poem about the Ganga, and the ache in your heart. Thank you so much for sharing them with us. What other interests do you pursue when you aren’t writing?

Amit:  I write Haiku in Hindi and wish to write in English too, which, due to technical reasons I have not attempted as yet. I understand that the new norms are relaxed and give freedom from the classical syllable count, but the idea somehow doesn’t appeal to me, that is why I do not call my three liners, Haiku. Although I write poetry in blank verse but when it comes to Haiku I feel its charm lies in perfect syllable count.

Besides Hindi and English there is one more language that I wish to learn some day and that is ‘Urdu’, it’s an amazingly beautiful language..very sophisticated and delicate. There are no synonyms of some Urdu words in any other language of the world. I do use Urdu words in my Hindi poems whenever possible and take delight in doing so.

I am a published writer (in print media, that is) and have a solo collection of Hindi poems and a contributory anthology of English poems to my credit. I am often published in Indian/ International journals of contemporary literature, art and culture. My poems keep appearing regularly in a good number of cyber magazines.

I am a seeker with a deep interest in spirituality and metaphysics. I keep experimenting with different philosophical theories and mystical ideologies.

The Plaza de Espana in Seville, Spain

photograph by Aditi Amit

Sherry: Is there anything you’d like to say to Poets United?

Amit: I love you Poets United, and thank you for everything you did for me.

PS: I’m embarrassed with the I’s and my’s in this interview, so kindly pardon me and blame it on Sherry.. ha ha J J whose questions made me, a reticent and reclusive person, come up with so many detailed, candid responses.

Sherry: Thank you, Amit, for giving us this chance to get to know you better. And thank you for keeping on coming back to Poets United. We value our long-time members, and appreciate your loyalty.

Amit: I sincerely and genuinely thank you Sherry for giving me a chance to be featured on your prestigious space, I am highly obliged and feel honoured! 

Sherry: It was truly a pleasure. Thank you for saying yes!

Wasn't this an interesting visit, my friends? Do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!