BENGALURU: The Covid-induced lockdown has been brutal for many, says new author on the block Abhishek Ram, adding that it’s a scar that will stay with people forever. Channelising the difficulties people had to face during the lockdown, Ram has come out with a book – Once Upon a Confinement – a compilation of 50 poems narrating multiple incidents take took place during lockdown. The incidents of migrant labour walking miles to go back to their hometown was plain heartbreaking, says Ram.
The author, also a bio-technology professional, says he wanted to make those moment immortal through his poetry. “Pandemic has changed all our lives. It will be difficult for people to return to normalcy,” he adds.While most of the poems are based on the plight that migrant workers went through, there is another incident that pushed him to write about them.
“There was an incident where a Chennai-based doctor, a frontline worker, lost his life to Covid-19. Due to lack of knowledge of people around him, he didn’t get a proper burial at the cemetery. It was really sad to see the treatment that a frontline worker was getting,” exclaims Ram. He also emphasises on his research saying he got the information through media, especially print and digital. “We hardly had any access to the outside world, the media was our only window,” says Ram.
While many would wish for happier story to remember, why did the poet choose this as his muse? “Though the stories don’t bring out the happiest feeling, this is the reality. There is nothing bad or good about it,” says Ram, adding that his “honest intention” was never to hurt anyone’s sentiment.Inspired by American poet Robert Frost’s 1916 poem The Road Not Taken, poetry has been a passion for Ram since he was 14, and he has been writing poems since. While many of his English poems were not published, some as old as 18 years, he is finally out with his debut book.