Prakriti Poetry Fest'12

Noted poet Arundhati Subramaniam, at the Prakriti Poetry Festival 2012 @ MCC

The Prakriti Poetry Fest'12 organised by The English Association, MCC, took off to a flying start today [17 Dec] with noted poet Arundhati Subramaniam reciting her poems to an eager audience of poetry-enthusiasts, at the Indoor theatre, Selaiyur Hall. Renowned Sri Lankan poet Cheran also read out his poems, followed by the poet Rahul Soni.


The second day of the fest [18 Dec] saw eminent poets Aime Hansen and Mr.Ashwini Ailawadi read out their poems. 

Aime Hansen and Ashwini Ailawadi,
with noted poet Hoshang Merchant (in the audience)

The poems of Aime Hansen (poet & performance Artist from Estonia) talk about the mysteries of life, secrets of universe and relationships. Her ‘transglobal’ perception finds poetry in the commonplace and the ordinary – pools of frogs, milkman, sound of the washing machine etc. Some of her images are unique (Coffee mornings with angels). Her poems on ‘snow’ and ‘books’ easily found resonance with the rapt audience. She employs the image of kidnap to describe the creative impulse which comes out of the poet’s mind and plays hide and seek in his very room.

Poet & Activist Mr.Ashwini Ailawadi’s poem “Lord’s Name” was loaded with bitter irony.

“If you’re a sinner, do it in the Lord’s name…

If want to be a pretender, do it in the Lord’s name…

If you want to be a butcher, please do it in the Lord’s name”

His poems like “Punjabi Wedding”, “School Reunion”, “Corner” and the image of the poem waiting to get him left lasting impressions in the minds of the audience.

The third day's poetry fest [19 Dec] was the icing on the cake. Randhir Khare, Poet, Painter, Theatre artist, teacher – these are just a few facets of Randhir Khare, read a few poems gathered from the tribal community Bhils. He emphasised the importance of connectivity, blowing the issue of ‘identity’ to smithereens. His poem on the Great Rann of Kutch crystallised blazing light in verse. Describing himself as a rebel, he claimed that English is another Indian language and the roots that nourish poetry are living roots. He shared about his socially ambulatory life and his attempts to relearn from life. Using Seamus Heaney’s poem as an example, he explained how the universal comes from the particular.  to be contd..