From wondering about the appearance of the rainbow to an appeal to save the environment, 12-year-old Anisha Kar has dealt with many subjects in her book ‘Smile’, a collection of 32 poems. A reflection of thoughts about the usual answers that children her age would want to know, the poems make one easily sense a writer who is learning her ways to argue with herself and the world at large.
Where do these ideas for the poems come from? “From all over. Sometimes when I read something, listen to the radio, watch television or listen to people, I get ideas. Sometimes they just hit me and I jot them down in the notebook that I always keep with me,’’ says Anisha who feels poetry can distill a thought or an emotion and broaden the perspective. The first reader of her poems is her elder sister Aishwarya who also edits the poems a bit.
Ask her which author fascinates her and pat comes the reply, ‘’Enid Blyton. I think reading helps in writing. For being a good writer, one has to read a lot. Apart from studying for school, competitions and Olympiad, I read every day for few hours. Be it short stories, biographies or novels, every piece of writing can teach you,” she says.
But where does she get the time along with school work? “I never neglect my studies. I write only after finishing my studies for the day,’’ says the class VIII student of St Joseph High School in the City.
‘’I’m a one book-old poetess only, but I would like to venture into short stories. My parents have been encouraging me to write more,” she says.
Anisha’s father works at a private firm while her mother is an architect and her elder sister an engineering student. “I aspire to become an IAS officer, but, I like writing a lot, so I can become a writer as well,” says Anisha.