When life gets too dull and drab, it is important to remember the undercurrents that make life worth living. Papiya Lahiri talks about this in her book of poetry, Seeds of Time. She stresses on how emotions and observations shape the life of a person. In this candid interview with Writers Melon, Papiya Lahiri talks about books, poetry, and emotion.
Papiya Lahiri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Jaypee University in Himachal Pradesh. She is also a theatre activist who has conceptualized and directed a wide variety of plays ranging from Tagore to Tennessee Williams. But writing is something that brings the emotional side of her persona further out. “I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I write about self-reflections, quiet musings about people and their habits. And about why people speak what they speak or think, act and perform in a particular way. It may be sudden outbursts of emotions and observations or quiet musings recollected over some period of time. This, perhaps, is an ingenious way of dealing with my situation in an effective yet simple way that I feel rings true with others too. My ways of treating a subject, idea or person may vary yet has been dealt with in innumerable ways by other people.”
Poetry is an art that is being obscured further and further with each passing day. But there are people like Papiya Lahiri who live and breathe poetry. “Poetry came to me quite spontaneously, in a way. The power of words woos me and I enter into a contract, signed on the spur of the moment without giving a thought to any of its consequences. It helps me to release my pent up energies that I wasn’t aware of I had. I feel fresh and curiously calm. That’s what writing does to me. Yes, I do have a day job from 9 to 5 and I do still find time to write.”
“There were times when I wrote a few lines and suddenly my pen would stop and disobey my instincts as if forsaking a passionate lover at the onset of a journey. Many-a-times, there may be those invisible strings attached or a web of doubts hanging loose from the ceiling of my consciousness. There are these other moments when my pen will just keep moving on the page of my diary or my fingers keep pressing letters on the keyboard without bias, ambiguity or concern, giving birth to a creative piece of my mind.”
As a poet and an author Papiya Lahiri has read poems at various national and international poetry festivals. And her poetry collection, Seeds of Time, is a culmination of this journey so far. Here’s the poet herself talking about what Seeds of Time really offers the reader.
“Seeds of Time is a book that resonates with the human spirit and uncovers the secret emotions within a man or woman that remains layered up under the burden of modern day anguish and growing insecurities of an impending future. It doesn’t just cater to a specific problem, issue or category of events from our lives. Rather, just like its title Seeds of Time, refers to every tiny time capsule that we sow without knowing its impact in the long run. We keep living our lives from one day to the next and from one moment to another that covers a whole range of ups and downs, expectations and disappointments, love and hate, joy and sorrow, pain and dilemmas that in totality makes us who we truly are. We are a composite of our experiences and our understandings are variegated as life itself. The book is an offering, celebrating our being that make us act in a particular way in a certain situation.”
“My advice will be to keep writing without categorizing it as bad or good. The process is extremely important to gain maturity about that thought or observation that has been trying to find a place in your mind amidst competing stimuli, to gain your attention. Listen to that subtle voice, speaking from the helm of your consciousness. It has the ability to make the world a better place.” Author(s): Papiya LahiriPublisher: Notion Press; 1 editionRelease year: 2018Genre: Poetry If you are an author, share about you and your book(s) in Author’s corner and do take a look at our unique community approach to Book Marketing.
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