CHENNAI: Reminiscing her life and experiences through the ages, Geetha Ravichandran painted words on paper and compiled them to form Arjavam (meaning open-hearted or straight from the heart), her collection of poems. The people she met, the places she visited, the incidents that opened up an array of memories, all are presented to the reader through her simple language and short verses. The IRS officer from the batch of 1987, in conversation with writer Shikhandin at the book launch of Arjavam organised by Prakriti Foundation at Amdavadi Gujarati Snack House on Friday, spoke about her art of crafting poems and the stories behind those creations.
A world of words
Explaining the world she grew up in, the author stated that she had a childhood full of books. “Books were my only diversion from the narrow confined world. My older sister would read to us and we would listen spellbound. My father was a great lover of poetry. Out of the blue, he would recite some lines at us which seemed really magical. My mother would read Bhaja Govindam and make us understand the meaning. Those were the main influences in my childhood,” she said.
Poems from the heart
Even though the author keeps her professional life and poetry separate from each other, she recalled the poem that welcomed her into the civil service. “In 1987, my poem Agni Pariksha was published in Manushi magazine. During the UPSC interview when they had asked about my hobbies, I mentioned about poetry and then came the question of reciting the poem there. I recited Agni Pariksha and the board was really impressed. The poem was my take on the sufferings (I saw and heard) when I was younger and was written by drawing inspiration from my readings of Shakespeare, Emerson and much more, and not any personal experiences. I think I owe my service to this poem,” she explained. Appreciating the poem, Shikhandin shared, “The poem still speaks. It is a very powerful poem. Geetha is an empath which is why she is able to internalise the troubles of the world.”
Representations on paper
The poet spoke about the characters she had created, the powerful women and their tales. “Most of my characters are fictional and some are real. I may not have known everyone personally but have heard stories from other people, taken the narrative and extended my creativity on it.” Her poem, Pandemic Soup, talks about a youngster’s conversation with her mother, her internal struggles are guarded and secluded for surving the tough period of the pandemic. Reciting the lines, “You wonder why there are no selfies these days, but as you know work from home is not about going places”, the poet explained that many of the youngsters protect the older generation from stating their feelings because they feel like the latter won’t be able to take the information.
Going through a myriad of themes like streaks of nostalgia, women unfolding their crises, urban life experiences, loss and grief at the event, Geetha took the audience on a trip into the poetic world that she had created over the years.
Arjavam contains poems written by Geeta from the year 1986 and is divided into segments titled ‘Layam’, ‘Swaram’, ‘Talam’, and ‘Raagam’. Published by Red River Arjavam is available on Amazon and offline stores.