CHENNAI: W hat is poetry if not reaching out for you in the mist And what care I for poetry, if not a reaching out for you in the mist?
— Lalnunsanga Ralte
“I started off writing love letters, and I’ve never written one for myself,” smiles Mizo poet Lalnunsanga Ralte, who takes a swig of his beer and takes us down memory lane, back to the times when true love was not an instant text message away. “This was actually a very dangerous task. If you screwed up, you’re the laughing stock of the whole school, because girls always share!” he rues.
Following this road map, he started writing love letters for all of his friends. We ask him if he ever wrote one for himself, and with barely a second's pause, he says, “Never.” He takes us to a time before he became a writer, when he and his friend had a crush on the same girl. The friend wasn’t aware of this and he was commissioned to write a poem for their lady love. “It was the first poem I ever wrote, and it was everything I wanted to say to her. He gave it to her, and comes to me the next day asking me what the poem meant! The girl didn't understand it either. I didn’t love her after that!” he laughs.
PB Shelly once wrote, “Our sweetest songs are those of saddest thoughts,” and we asked Ralte what the equation was between heartbreak, pain and poetry. “It’s really cathartic to write. This is probably why people always feel attuned towards writing or reading poetry. Or even sad songs for that matter…it’s that part of you which is the most vulnerable; probably the most human as well. It’s stripped of all masks.”
So what does Ralte write for? “I write love letters.” We ask him if they aren't for himself. “No, they are for me. The difference is, I don’t know who I’m writing them for, yet,” he smiles.
Ralte has a theory, which some people call ‘The Genius’. “I believe there’s a creative energy that is out there, and is constantly affecting us. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to tap into that,” he says. This means reading, understanding and always learning. “This is so that when The Genius strikes, you can be as honest to that inspiration as possible.”
The travelling writer explains why he’d never call himself a poet. “It’s our education system that's at fault here. In school, I always thought poetry was for somebody else to write. It didn’t feel accessible or inclusive. I never thought it was for me,” he opines.
As he travelled and took part in poetry readings and met poets, he realised that it was no faraway place — that poetry was right within him. “It’s here. It’s beautiful, relevant and universal at the same time. It inspired me to write more. But I don’t think I’m a poet yet, I have miles to go before I sleep.”