BENGALURU: Poetry and writing have always been close to Fouqia Wajid. So much so that when she held a full-time job as a writer for television serials, she decided to invest two years of her salary into an anthology of poems comprising works of stalwarts as well as fresh talent. Released last week, Aatish 2, has some new poetry by Gulzar (Urdu), Taslima Nasrin (Bengali), K Satchidanandan (Malayalam and English), Rafeeq Ahammed (Malayalam), Vaidehi (Kannada), Smitha Amritharaj (Kannada), among others. Wajid, along with Amit Ranjan, a lecturer in Delhi University, edited the book which contains 120 poems. All the works have been translated into English.
It started with the organisation of a ‘The Great Indian Poetry Contest’, an international poetry competition, in May 2018, judged by actor Kalki Koechlin and lyricist-screen writer Kausar Munir. “It included multiple rounds of screening, reading and re-reading the poems, discussing and arguing our choices, and finally declaring the results in November 2018,” says the 27-year-old city-based founding director of On Fire, an arts and culture movement.
While the top 13 winners were given a cash prize, the top 50 were promised of their works being published alongside renowned names. “Our idea was to provide a platform for aspiring poets who can go on to say that they have been published alongside so and so. Often first-time writers are told that they need to experience life and write more. Putting the works side-by-side was to give young talent an edge. For instance, an 18-year-old’s works went alongside Gulzar’s,” she points out.
But here in lay the challenge. “There was obviously some apprehension from renowned poets who were hesitant to send in their works. It took a lot of explaining from our end, and many a time after they sent us their works, they would follow up on a regular basis. Sometimes this even meant getting bullied and ragged,” she says about the book, the foreword of which is by former diplomat and writer Pavan K Varma.
Once the content was ready, Wajid didn’t want to stop there. Realising that there was a need for visual appeal, they started contacting illustrators to bring alive each of the works. “So, over the last six months we have been working with illustrators, explaining to them in detail each of the work to ensure that the illustration suits the matters,” she says.
While there was a nominal entry fee that was charged, Wajid says the total amount is over five times of the collection from the poetry contest. “But at the end of the day, this was never a business endeavour,” she says, now feeling a void after two years of intense work. “I’m now contemplating a second season to the poetry contest,” she says.