BENGALURU : Bots are chatting, little kids are coding, and as if the world wasn’t getting stranger fast enough every day, the pandemic has now made even familiar faces seem unrecognisable, and literally so. We have been going paper-free and AI-friendly. We are shunning typing and embracing typos. Reading is out, swiping is in.
Or is it?
Among all the other realisations that the Covid-19 pandemic has rolled out for us over the past few months is the renewed appreciation that the world needs artistic pursuit as much, if not more than, scientific advancement. As scientists across the world undertake frantic research for ways to tackle the virus outbreak, each of us has turned to some form of creativity to burst that bubble of loneliness, despair and the fear of the unknown.
Whether it’s OTT platforms, live-streaming on social media, or webinars, we have all plugged in devices to binge-watch our favourite artistes’ performances, adjusted our earphones to hear every word spoken by an author about the book we refuse to lend anyone, or just created extensive playlists to last the long hours of cooking and cleaning. We turned to painting, singing, writing. We realised, once more, why we need art in life.
The Express Poetry Contest organised by Bengaluru City Express is yet another attempt, after the hugely successful short story and photography contests held by us this summer, to bring the readers a wee bit closer to themselves. Not all of us are perhaps born gifted poets. Many of us may even find it difficult to comprehend poetry. I, for one, still remember clearly the perplexity felt during each school exam when I read in the question paper: “What does the poet mean by these lines?” But we also know well that whenever something touches us deep within, stirs the soul, brings a smile, or a tear, we call it poetry.