Poetry Darbaar
By Launchora
Poetry DarbaarMar 01, 2020
Adventures in Poetry: Sampurna Chattarji and Karuna Ezara Parikh in conversation
A special episode of Poetry Darbaar - a proper, full, and fluid conversation between two poets - Sampurna Chattarji and Karuna Ezara Parikh.
The context and structure of this conversation is Sampurna’s new book “Space Guliver”. In this book, Sampurna chronicles not only the journey of its alien protagonist, but also how one wor(l)d changes into another …. a fantastically engineered sequence, here is poetry that is not afraid to be whimsical and astute at the same time so that in the end, like Space Gulliver, the readers too will be “no longer terrified of vastness.”
Sampurna Chattarji is a writer, teacher, editor, translator who occasionally appears on the ether as ShampooChats. Space Gulliver, is the second-most recent of her 20 books.
Karuna Ezara Parikh is a poet and writer, former television anchor and model known widely for her activism. She has written for Vogue, Tehelka, The Wire, and Lonely Planet amongst others. Her novel, The Heart Asks Pleasure First, was published by Pan Macmillan India in 2020. Her first book of poetry - Where Stories Gather - is out now with Harper Collins. She lives in Kolkata where she co-founded the sustainable company The Burlap People.
Lakshya Datta's "Ek Aakhri Raat Meera Ke Saath"
Suniye humare naye audio-show NATAKSHALA ka pehla natak "Ek Aakhri Raat Meera Ke Saath". Lekhak aur nirdeshak hain Lakshya Datta, Neel ki bhumika mein hain Rijul Kataria, aur Meera ki bhumika mein hai Gauri Saxena.
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Medha Singh's "The Same Fire"
Medha Singh reads her poems "Another Cremation", "The Same Fire", "An Answer" - and has a conversation with host Lakshya Datta about why she writes, her influences, and where the words come from.
Medha Singh is a poet, editor and translator from Delhi. She took her M.A. from JNU and Sciences Po. Her maiden book Ecdysis (2017) is out through Poetrywala, Mumbai. Her second book I Will Bring My Time: Love Letters by S.H. Raza (Raza Foundation and Vadehra Art Gallery, 2020) is available through Vadehra Art Gallery. She has been nominated for the TFA award. Her work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in 3:AM (London), Stag Hill (Surrey), Berfrois (London), Queen Mob's Teahouse (London), The Charles River Journal (Boston), Coldnoon (Delhi), The Bangalore Review (Bangalore), Indian Quarterly (Delhi), Indian Cultural Forum, Sangam, and Guftugu, Indian Literature among others.
She has written for The Hindu, The Wire, Scroll, Rolling Stone and Youth Ki Awaaz among others. She has also given a TEDx talk on effective arguing. She currently works as a researcher for The Raza Foundation, while also working on her third book.
Viky Arya's "Aangan mein baithi Maa"
This episode is in Hindi.
Viky Arya reads her poems "Aangan mein baithi Maa", "Aangan mein ek Ped", "Kaho kum", "Sa re suro ke beech", "Baat se Baat", "Dhaaga hoon" - and has a conversation with host Lakshya Datta about her earliest memory with writing poetry, and where the words come from.
Viky Arya is a poet, sculptor, childrens' author and illustrator. Recipient of the "Rahtriya Bal Sahitya Puruskar" and the Hindi Academy's "Kriti Samaan". Her poetry collections include "Canvas", "Dhoop Ke Rang", "Banjaare Khwab", "Aangan Mein Ek Ped", "Oss Ke Rang".
Ranjit Hoskote's "Ghalib in the Winter of the Great Revolt”
Ranjit Hoskote reads his poems "Cutting Device", "Ghalib in the Winter of the Great Revolt", "Night Sky and Counting" - and has a conversation with host Lakshya Datta about how he found poetry, and where the words come from.
Ranjit is a poet, cultural theorist and curator. His six collections of poetry include Vanishing Acts (2006), Central Time (2014), and Jonahwhale (2018). His translation of a celebrated 14th-century Kashmiri woman saint’s poetry has appeared as I, Lalla: The Poems of Lal Ded (2011). Ranjit curated India’s first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale, under the title Everyone Agrees: It’s About to Explode (2011). He has received the Sahitya Akademi Golden Jubilee Award, the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award, and the S H Raza Literature Award. His poems have been translated into German, Hindi, Swedish, Spanish, and Arabic. You can find Ranjit's books on Amazon.
Lakshya Datta's "One More Night With Meera"
A bonus episode of Poetry Darbaar - this one is the first audio-play "One More Night With Meera" from our new podcast: Play Me Life. If you like it, please subscribe or follow our Play Me Life podcast wherever you listen to podcasts!
"One More Night With Meera" is an original, one-act audio-play, taking place in real-time. Written and directed by Lakshya Datta, and starring Rijul Kataria as Neel, and Gauri Saxena as Meera. Background score by musician Kevin McLeod. This audio-play is part of the audio-series “Play Me Life”, a Launchora production.
Gurpreet Saini's "Mohtaaj"
In episode #3, the poet in the darbaar is Gurpreet Saini - reading his poems “Mohtaaj / The Name”, “The Aim”, “The Lesson”, “Suraj”, and “Shaam”. In between the poems, host Lakshya Datta talks to Gurpreet about his two lives: Gurpreet the lyricist, and Mohtaaj the poet.
It was in DAV College and then Manchtantra, that he met Rochak Kohli, Ayushmann Khurana and Gautam Govind Sharma and, from making music for street plays and stage plays in Chandigarh, he is now in Mumbai and has given us songs like: "Saadi Gali Aja" (Nautanki Saala), "Mitti di Khushboo" (Ayushmaan Khurrana’s and Rochak Kohli’s single), "Yahin Hun Main" (Ayushmaan Khurrana’s and Rochak Kohli’s single), “Maa" (Mika Singh’s and Rochak Kohli’s single), "Atrangi yaari" (Wazir), "Ek ladki ko dekh to aisa laga" (full album), "Bheege mann" (Khaandani Shafakhana), "Jako rakhe Saayiyan" (Batla House), "Tu mileya" ( Darshan Raval’s single), and most recently "Dil na jaaneya" (Good Newwz).
You can listen to his songs on JioSaavn, and follow his poetry on Instagram @mohtaaj_
Sampurna Chattarji's "Dogs, Mobs, and Rock Concerts"
In episode #2, the poet in the darbaar is Sampurna Chattarji - reading her poems "Dogs, Mobs, and Rock Concerts", "Mahim to Goregaon", and "Fear Not". In between the poems, host Lakshya Datta chats with Sampurna about her writing process and how Bombay/Mumbai became her muse.
Sampurna Chattarji was born in in Dessie, Ethiopia and lives in Thane, Maharashtra. Her eighteen books include a short-story collection about Bombay/Mumbai, Dirty Love (Penguin, 2013); a translation of Joy Goswami’s Selected Poems (Harper Perennial, 2014, 2018); and nine poetry titles, the most recent being Over and Under Ground in Mumbai & Paris (Context, Westland Publications, 2018) written in collaboration with Karthika Naïr; Elsewhere Where Else / Lle Arall Ble Arall (Poetrywala, 2018) and The Bhyabachyaka (Scholastic, 2019), both co-authored with Eurig Salisbury. She is currently Poetry Editor of The Indian Quarterly.
Akhil Katyal's "He was as arrogant as a Chattarpur farmhouse"
In the premiere episode, the poet in the darbaar is Akhil Katyal - reading his poems "He was as arrogant as a Chattarpur farmhouse" (English) and "Agar tum koi metro station hoti" (Hindi). The poems bookend Akhil's conversation with Poetry Darbaar host Lakshya Datta about where the words come from.
A writer based in Delhi, Akhil's second book of poems 'How Many Countries Does the Indus Cross' won the Editor's Choice Award by The (Great) Indian Poetry Collective. He translated Ravish Kumar's 'Ishq Mein Shahar Hona' as 'A City Happens in Love' for Speaking Tiger. He teaches Creative Writing at Ambedkar University Delhi.
Introducing "Poetry Darbaar"
A poem is a song and a story, all at once. A poem is a thought and a feeling, all at once. A poem is a mystery and a discovery, all at once. A poem is new and old, all at once.
Host Lakshya Datta invites you listen to Launchora's brand new podcast "Poetry Darbaar" - an audio-series where you’ll hear the poems, the shayaris, the kavitas, and the poets of India. We’re going to travel across India and traverse through multiple Indian languages - including English, Hindi, Urdu, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali, and many more. Through live readings and conversations with poets, this show will attempt to explore answers to one simple question: where do the words come from?
The first episode of Poetry Darbaar will come out on December 9, 2019 and it will feature Delhi-based poet Akhil Katyal. New episodes will be released every fortnight (or biweekly).
We hope you’ll join us on this new adventure. Welcome to the Poetry Darbaar.