Brief Biodata
Born in 1971 at Netaji Subhash Sadan, Cuttack, I completed my studies from Stewart School and Basic Science College, OUAT, Bhubaneswar. Completed MBBS and MD (Pharmacology) from MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, Orissa. I worked in the field of Medicine & Radiodiagnosis (Ispat General Hospital, SAIL, Rourkela), Gastroenterology (Kothari Hospital, Calcutta) and at Haemodialysis Unit (AMRI Apollo Hospital, Calcutta) after my MBBS. Aspiring to be a Clinical Pharmacologist, I moved to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Dept. of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Hyderabad in 2003 working as an Investigator in Clinical Trials. I moved on to the Pharmaceutical Industry as a Safety Physician also doing medical writing at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. Presently I am working with Novartis Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad, as a Manager in Scientific and Medical Writing.
How did you become a poet?
The seeds of rhyme and rhythm were implanted in me by my parents at a very tender age. At the age of 7-8 years, my father prompted me to write poems apart from recitation. Initially my school poems influenced my lines but gradually I started penning my own lines. In college, my friends enjoyed listening to my Hindi poems, “Hasya Kavita”. The college journals, wall magazine and competitions were my constant source of encouragement. Till then my father assured me to preserve my poems in a diary which he would publish later. I hardly believed this. Meanwhile my demanding career kept me busy.
In 1992, my poem, “Companion indeed’, was published in a poetry journal, Young Poet (Ed. Prem Tomas Fernandez, Tellicherry, Kerala). Soon thereafter, I received requests from Dr. Krishna Srinivas (Chennai, Ed. monthly Poet and annual anthology World Poetry), and Dr. Ravi Nandan Sinha (Ranchi, Ed. Quest). Since then recurrent publication, letters of appreciation, poems of other poets, and my parents’ continued faith and encouragement have been my constant source of inspiration. I became a regular contributor to Poet, World Poetry, Quest, Poets International (Ed. Dr. Mohammed Fakhruddin, Bangalore), Metverse Muse (Ed. Dr. H . Tulsi, Vishakhapatnam), Bridge-in-Making (Ed. Pronab K Majumder, Calcutta), Replica (Ed. P. Panda, Cuttack), Scoria (Ed. Krishna K Mishra, Chandigarh), Canopy (Ed. I H Rizvi, Bareilly), Skylark (Ed. Baldev Mirza, Aligarh), newspaper Asian Age (Sunday) etc.
Around that time, life too had taken a different turn. Through hostel life and the medical field I became aware of some of the harsh realities of life. Poetry then became an outlet to vent my emotions sans any repercussion. My mother needs special mention as she has been a silent admirer and a critique with whose cooperation I got the time to delve into poetry amidst a demanding career, job & family responsibilities. My poems have been mostly centered towards nature and social themes wherein I try to bring an awareness in the readers about aspects which we can together change.
Among appreciations received at Humanitas International Poetry Contest (Canada, 1993), All India Poetry Contest (Quest, India – 1993 and 1994) my biography was included by the American Biographical Institute, International Biographical Centre (Cambridge), and the International Biographical Research Foundation (Nagpur, India). I was one of the critiques for Daisaku Ikeda’s poems, has been a member of World Poetry Society, Tradverse and Friends etc. My first collection of poems, “Sand Dunes” was published in the year 2000 by Writers Forum, Ranchi, and was critiqued by renowned poets like Patricia Prime, Bernard Jackson and others. Some of my poems have been translated to Bengali, Greek and Taiwanese language. I was one of the selected poets from India at the International Poetry Festival held at Taiwan in 2005 led by Dr. Mohammed Fakhruddin. Amidst nature with all its grandeur soon after the tsunami, it was a brilliant experience with poets and poetry lovers that I treasure in my memories. Around the same time I was awarded the Poet of the year by Poets International at Bangalore. I have been contributing poetry for society at large through my office journals as well about global warming and other topics. I write both free verse and metered verse. Ruth Schuler, Daisaku Ikeda, Krishna Srinivas are some of my favorite poets.
Q. Your experience in Taiwan's 1st World Poetry Festival 2005 at Kaoshiung, Taiwan, and what did you learn?
A. It was an honour to have been selected to participate in the World Poetry Festival – 2005 representing India. It was not just an opportunity to listen to other litterateurs but also to express my own poetic feelings before such an intellectual and aesthetic gathering from across the globe.
I appreciate the involvement of the Govt. of Taiwan organizing this event with such precision and encouraging a form of art, which is a precious possession of the intellectual few of today’s highly electronic and mechanized world. I would like to thank the Kaohsiung City Government, its Bureau of Cultural Affairs, National Museum of Taiwanese Literature and the Literary Taiwan Foundation for working on every detail of the event, organizing various sessions, even arranging sessions in universities and associations bringing universal messages of peace, harmony and love for nature and its inhabitants through poetry to young participants and common man.
Every moment was a learning process in itself. As such I was traveling with two senior poets, Dr. Mohammed Fakhruddin and Mrs. Prasanna Kumari. We obviously shared something in common, that was poetry. Moreover, we had a common cause of enlightening the community at large and keeping them enthusiastic and interested in diverse spheres of life. Today’s world is small because the modes of communication have shortened the distance between people but then in a nuclear world with nuclear families, people hardly think of the world outside their immediate families. This event made ourselves pull out of our mundane routine life and try to engross ourselves in a unique world where the soul found freedom of sweet expression.
On reaching our destination, I realized we were already making an impact on the people, both poets and poetry-lovers. The people of Taiwan were waiting in anticipation and I highly appreciate the cultural journey they took us through—from the amalgamation of dance & poetry at the Tsoying School to the inaugural banquet, to the recitation sessions, to the honors given to renowned poets, to the discussion sessions at different universities, to the sight-seeing of museums, art galleries, to the display of our poems at important landmarks of the city bringing together the common man and the eloquent poets, to the special dinner venues and cultural programs by the people of Taiwan, and last but not the least, they had interpreters one for every two poets thus, ensuring cent percent hospitality. During the recitations, though there were differences in language, the expressions, the passion and the tranquility were well understood by all. Besides, the translations made the interpretations very clear and enjoyable.
We shared culture, some gifts or mementoes, and love for poetry, nature and God’s creation. Our motive was to enrich ourselves and others and we linked ourselves through the expression of our souls.
I also learnt some of the history of Taiwan and its rulers, the great pieces of artwork and sculptor and the great art and science of preserving such native treasure along with contemporary world and people. I learnt the way they were trying to inspire their young people to aspire for literature, learning and sharing and they especially stressed on one of the most important tool today to achieve success, that was communication. Other important areas very well appreciated were customer focus and event management.
Overall, the efforts of the Taiwan literary community and the government to bring in people from across the globe for peace and poetry was highly appreciated which send a great message for universal peace, the biggest need of the hour. One of my shortest poem which is very close to my heart emphatically passes on this message as given below.
A Blast
A spark
A boom
A bang
A cry …
Years to create
A moment to fall,
Ages’ perseverance
Minutes’ madness,
Beautifully sculptured
Then a feast of the scavenger,
A renowned architect
Then a defamed escapee,
MAN – the BUILDER
MAN – the DESTROYER
And what’s more
MAN – the SUFFERRER.
Q. Who are the participating world poets who impressed you most?
A. It was a dream come true having met (Indian poets) Dr. Srinivasa Rangaswami, Dr. N.P. Singh, Dr. Rita Malhotra, Ms. Ruth Wildes Schuler (USA), Taiwanese poets Dr. Lee Kuei-shien and Dr. Cheng Chiung-ming, Ms.A.Schouten-Buys (Netherland), and Mr. Takashi Arima (Japan) among other poets in person and listening to them.
Q. Your comments on the inaugural event "A Dialogue Between Poetry And Dance, World Poetry Festival, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on 24 March 2005, at Tsoying Senior High School?
A. This was a beautiful experience, especially because the dance group from the Tsoying school had prepared the choreography and the music in sync with the message conveyed in the poems of some of the eminent poets from all over the world and that they had prepared without seeing or understanding each other. Yet the expressions and the elegant movement of the performers kept me and the audience awe-struck. In traditional Indian culture, we have the dance-drama form of cultural expression and ballet is one of the forms in the modern world, like the one from the Uday Shankar and Mamata Shankar group. But the Taiwan experience was unique because the beauty of the performance well overcame all linguistic barriers. Apart from the dance performances per se,the cordiality of the Taiwan people like the Principal of the school, the dance teacher, the students and the organizers from the school was very impressive. The library of the school was not just a rich heritage of literature archived systematically but also with a gorgeous architectural flair and lighting enticing every reader to hang on. I was quite impressed with the dedication they had to dance, poetry and the rich cultural heritage. Every moment was worth observing, worth imbibing and very inspiring.
Q. You attended world women poets meeting in one of the Taiwan universities in Kaoshiung during the festival. What did you learn there while interacting with the participants?
A. The interaction with the other women poets at the University was a heart-warming experience. Women are the same gentle, appreciative, accommodative and receptive human beings across geographical borders. Their passion, love and eagerness to listen has the vastness of the sky above or the ocean below. The participants were not only eager to hear but also enthusiastic to share their feelings through poesy and discussions. Views and opinions were shared, whether gentle, strong or subtle messages. But the overall give and take happened and learning extended from beyond poetry to understanding and connecting between the hearts of people irrespective of our diverse culture.
Q. Could you express you views on the mindset of Indian women?
A. Indian women have sown the seeds of strong family bonding, love, forgiveness and strength of character within their home and have extended the same towards their nation and towards the world. They have been led by the norms of family, culture and tradition but have also ventured beyond at the times of need when they have elicited great courage, valor, dignity and talent and have in fact led and shown the path to fame, success and righteousness. There will be no dearth of examples from the ancient Indian culture till today – the women saint and poet Mirabai; world beauty pageants Dr. Rita Faria to Sushmita Sen; the Empress - Razia Sultana being the only woman monarch to have ever ruled Delhi; Sarojini Naidu, a poet and a freedom fighter; Kalpana Chawla, the Astronaut; Indira Gandhi, one of the few women prime ministers across the world; Kiran Majumdar Shaw, the Entrepreneur in Pharma Industry, the journalist Barkha Dutt; singers and vocalists such as M.S. Subbulakshmi and Lata Mangeshkar; and Renu Khator, the first India born woman to lead a major American university, the University of Houston. Of special mention is that Indian women have achieved most of their success keeping their family obligations also successfully met because in India, the woman is not only married to a man but also to his entire family, to Indian culture and tradition. I could best describe in my poem below about an Indian mother and the vital role she plays not only in her home but she lays down the spine of the future society.
A House to a Home
Within the well-laden web
a spider dwells
mothering each thread
laying the spine
with utmost care,
with sacred devotion
to bring together all
to withstand the seasons of fate;
No wonder she weaves so fine
the spell of love, of harmony-
she soothes the hurt, softens pride,
lifts the sullen, opens blinds,
strengthens at failures, rewards goodness,
augments efforts, cherishes life;
I watch her in all splendor …
Life, never was a sure catch
yet, we stand on solid ground
in the very house she homes us in.
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Dr. PRIYADARSHINI