CHENNAI: When Vani Kabilan left the Head Office of the Indian Overseas Bank in Anna Salai in 1999, she wanted to give her colleagues a special parting gift. This was when she wrote her first poem, ‘Piddikum’ (I Like It), where she spoke about all the qualities she liked about every co-worker in chronological order.
Her second poem was written when her mother, a resident of Tanjore, known for its reverence of the Tamil language, commented on her Chennai dialects, comparing it to the Cooum. This led to the poem ‘Oru cooumithil kodhural’, where she spoke about how humans were defiling the Cooum River with their thoughtless actions.
Now, Vani is the author of three collections of poems, Uyirpoo (Flower of Life), Vazhkai (Life) and Kadalodum Kadhal (Love along the seashore). With the support of her family and friends, she published her first book, Uyirpoo, in 2009, which consisted of 64 poems. Her second book, Vazhkai, was published in 2011. Vazhkai speaks of inter-personal relationships and how revolution or reformation was possible if one’s mind and heart were clear.
“I write about things that prick my heart. I don’t read very much as compared to my second daughter who reads a lot, because nothing registers in my mind. I read like a passing cloud. Writing about things that affect me makes my writing feel more real and genuine,” said the mother of two, who works as the manager of the Kattupakkam IOB branch.
Her third book, published on September 11, is a collection of haikus on the events within 24 hours, which began with a trip to the beach. “I went to the beach and the calmness of the water put me in a very pleasant mood. I wrote a poem then, about the similarities between the heart and the sea. A writer gave me a book of Linguswamy’s haikus, and a friend suggested I wrote a poem in that form, so I did,” she said.
Her friend challenged her to write a book of poems in a day, which Vani accepted readily. From 6.30 am the next day, Vani wrote haikus on all the little things in and around the house that caught her fancy. When she left for work at 9.30 am and got stuck in traffic, she wrote about the traffic lights, and as she entered her office, she saw a hibiscus flower and penned down her thoughts about it. She put down her pen as soon as she reached her desk, and by that time she had written 54 poems.
However, Vani does not want to take up her writing professionally just yet. “I never fix a goal for myself in any field. I may lose some races in life, but I am happy,” she said