On Our Illustrious Alumna Vidya Venkat
How she found her Unique Voice and Agency through her Writing
#InternationalWomen'sDay
Vidya Venkat | 2003 @ MCC
On the occasion of Women’s Day today, me thought of writing about one of our illustrious alumnae – Dr. Vidya Venkat, and how her writing helped her find her unique voice – and achieving greater academic heights in life.
Well, yesterday I had invited Dr. Vidya Venkat to interact with our students on the topic, ‘What is the Purpose of Writing?’
You may want to read on that, on our past blogpost.
Even as she was addressing her juniors, I was sitting there, listening to Vidya – when memories came flooding about Vidya as a vibrant student – how she’s evolved over the years, from being a vibrant I BA English Literature student in my class, to achieving such great heights – thanks to her passion for writing – writing with such dedication, commitment, consistency and a sense of purpose.
So well, me thought, this blogpost could highlight Vidya’s passion for writing - right from her UG days – which would be a great inspiration and motivation for all her juniors today – on the occasion of International Women’s Day today.
Vidya is a spontaneous poet. Even back then, almost 22 years ago - she used to write those soulful, spontaneous poems on her phone, and send it to us - her Professors - via the 160 character-text messages (SMS) of those days, when smartphones were almost unheard of!
When she wrote one such poem, and had it sent to me, (during her first year of her BA English Programme), I was so impressed with the spontaneity of her lines, that I replied to her by SMS (on my Nokia 1100), 😊 saying,
Lovelyyy, Vidyanjali.
Very soon, she had also started a blog on the world wide web, and christened it, ‘Vidyanjali’.
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| Front Cover of the Book |
Poems
of all hues and feature articles of myriad colours started adorning her blog.
Then when she was in her final year of her BA English Programme, she published her first book of poetry, with Writers Workshop, Calcutta.
In her introduction to her book, she writes –
Imagine you are standing under the night sky, its rippling black silk spreading above endlessly and the stars shining like diamonds studded in them. Would you, not even for a moment, be filled with wonder when you look up?
It is human nature to look up at certain things and be fascinated. And a poet often expresses his/ her fascination with life. As long as life offers such things as are fascinating, poets will be born (sometimes even the absence of fascination can be a resource of poetry).
Poets will talk about the world, their aspirations, their dreams, their successes and /or disappointments. Many a time questions are asked in poetry without answering them. But the questions matter to humanity at large.
The truth is that every human soul can find an echo of its own voice in poetry. It may be written by faceless people, living anonymous existences.
But their words, pouring out of their souls, will live and their chords will vibrate till life itself vibrates and provides ample proof of its existence.
I have penned the fifty poems presented in this small collection over the last two-and-a-half years, making an attempt to measure life in words and keeping in mind the generalisation mentioned in the previous paragraph (my life is everyone’s life).
In a small world, with a small life, experiences can also be so small, so similar, that they might even go unnoticed. Our diurnal existence provides us with ample material for poetry. Every poem here is therefore essentially a moment, captured and held in words.
We all live and dream and find and lose and wait and hope for things, but whatever life offers us, we must leave behind something, so I have decided to leave behind a voice...
15 December 2005
VIDYA VENKAT
The Introduction in fact, sets the tone and the tenor for the highly engaging fifty poems that follow.
The uniqueness of Vidya’s poetry is that, she allows her poems to have an ‘aboutness’ or a ‘purposiveness’ to them! In short, her poems speak for themselves – to each their aura.
Moreover, I’m so happy to note that, she talks and walks - true to her convictions and her credo – akin to the talk yesterday with our students – the convictions that she has for herself –
By bringing a certain perspective to literature that was missing earlier.
And I quote –
Mahasweta Devi gave voice to the Adivasis who were oppressed / silenced. Similarly, you find a purpose beyond your own emotional / psychological needs. A writer hence, must actively engage with the world,
said Vidya yesterday, while addressing her juniors.
True to her credo, giving a representative poem that she had published 20 years ago in her first collection of poetry.
A Poor Farmer’s Prayer
O! Itinerant dwellers of the sky
Shower your mercy upon us.
Our thirst is unquenched
and throats are dry
O! Lend us a new life..
My fields are lying barren as sand,
The food we get doesn’t
fill our hand
Then how will it soothe
that painful groan
Of the stomach? And I'm
not alone.
My children are being starved to death
My crops have failed, I've
a debt;
Tell me what can I do but
pray?
Hope to live or die one
day…
The ministers had made us promises huge
Of making better our weary
lives
In famines or calamitous
deluge
Yet unfulfilled are they,
don't know why...
We trust in you and your eternal powers
Who give us fruits and
lovely flowers
Who bless our fields with
bounty of green;
But such ruthlessness had
never been!
Why ! Great Gods of the sky
Have you punished us so?
You I worshipped in
fervour high
And sacrificed my goats
O! Do tell what mistakes are mine
And ever shall I repent
Forgive our faults, O!
deity divine
And rains of happiness
send…
This empathetic voice, narrated from a poor farmer’s perspective, seeks to foreground one of her chief credos to writing poetry – poetry with a purpose!
Yet another poem on the Dangers of Globalisation, titled, ‘Beware: Globalisation has come’, has an ‘Orwell-ian sense of urgency’ to its texture.
Interestingly, the poem is highly prophetic as well, as it foregrounds a bleak future, where ‘the world is no longer wonderful’, as ‘information’ overload starts getting the better of us, and over our sweet lives!
Here goes the poem –
Beware: Globalisation has come! (2005)
This world is no longer wonderful:
It doesn't take imagination to know
What America is like for
an Indian;
The TV shows us all..
It doesn't take intuition to know
When mother remembered me
because
I have a cell phone now...
It doesn't take industry to know
When what was done because
The computer does it all.
It doesn't take intelligence to know
What is what because
The internet has it all..
It doesn't take knowledge to live
Our lives, only
information' matters,
And this world has it
all..
You cannot start at a point here
And be rest assured you'd
reach there again
You might risk toppling
over the edges
For this world is no
longer round…
In yet another poem, she talks about, how words give more meaning to her life – the hallmark of a true-blue literary being!
Here goes the poem for us –
I see more meaning in words (2005)
I see more meaning in words
Revealed like a ray of
light, to the blind
Groping and searching
about restlessly…
Where do you come from? And why
Only to me that privilege
to see
What the others don't?
It comes and jolts and leaves me
Desperate, asking for
more,
This whole business of
poetry
Is not that easy as it may seem.
To set out decided on a
sunny morn
And return with harvest by
the eve
Is the dreamer's unfulfilled dream
But poetry is no silly
dream, dreamt
By fair ladies on plush
bowers
The man on the horseback never comes.
It is we who must go in
search and wander
Amidst dark forests,
suffer pain and then
Know what the others haven't known…
And the best among them all – with a Donne-ish and Freud-ian streak to the lines –
It’s titled, ‘Foreplay’
Foreplay (2005)
Create the mood.
Then, sustain the heat of
the moment
By keeping the eyes fixed
in a steady gaze.
Don't move! But be there
and simply let
Sweet sensations fill you
up
And erect the hair on your
body.
Let nerves get nervous.
Let thought approach you
ever so slowly
That it tortures with
increasing want.
Let fingers move about
restlessly
Looking for words.
Let the foreplay arouse
your feelings enough
So that the poem reaches a
wonderful climax
And only leaves you asking
for more...
The above poems are part of her first publication (2005), and well, there has been no turning back for Vidya, since then!
She started off as a freelance writer and researcher in 2005, and during the early career days did script-writing, voice-overs and research work for documentary films for Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster. She then worked for The Hindu group of publications for 7 years.
Her writing has been her key USP that has helped her fetch a fully-funded MA Programme with SOAS. In 2011, she won the Felix scholarship - a full scholarship awarded to six academically gifted and meritorious students from India to pursue her MA at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Then she proceeded to complete her doctoral degree in Anthropology from SOAS, University of London, again, on a full scholarship (SOAS Research Studentship).
She is currently a research fellow on the European Research Council-funded Global Research Network on Parliaments and People. She also holds a Research Associate affiliation with the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS.
One key takeaway from Vidya’s academic life is her consistency.
For the past twenty years, she has been consistently putting her pen to paper for some purposive writing or the other.
She’s now got her own website where you can find her entire oeuvre at https://vidya-venkat.com/category/academic/
On the occasion of International Women’s Day today, let’s together celebrate the power of writing – especially of our women - the skill, the agility and the ability of our women writers wield their magic wand – the power of their words - to use their words to express unique perspectives, challenge societal norms, illuminate complex experiences, and influence social change through their narratives, often highlighting issues related to gender, identity, and societal injustices.
Bespeaks to the potent voice, agency and power that women can wield through the art of writing!
More power to you, Vidya. We are so proud of you!
Fast-forward to 20 years later, she continues to write such soulful poetry!
Even this January 2025 - she has woven a wonderful poem titled, ‘Pottery Lesson’.
Dedicated to all the lovely women students out there – who find more meaning in words – expressing their own, unique and phenomenal voices through their inimitable, phenomenal voices – through blogging, vlogging, speaking, dancing, writing – in their own sweet style!
More power to you dear all!
You make our lives better and our joys complete!
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