Nitoo Das is a birder, caricaturist, and poet. Her first collection of poetry, Boki (2008), and her second, Cyborg Proverbs (2017), was brought out by Poetrywala. Her work has been published in various journals and anthologies. Das was born in Assam, but has been living in Delhi since 1994. She teaches English at Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi.
Your writing schedule?
Over the years, I have given contradictory answers to this question. However, one point has remained constant. I do not have a set, unchanging schedule. I put my insomnia to good use by writing at night. Thrice in my life, I tried the strange exercise of writing a poem a day for an entire month. It felt good while I was in the middle of the task, but after the last time, I decided I would not do it ever again. I prefer to write when I feel the need to (or when an editor breathes down my neck).
Does writing energise or exhaust you?
I find writing intoxicating, especially when I know immediately that something I have written is a keeper, but keepers are rare and most times, I chisel and carve a poem for years for some semblance of “perfection” or to see whether the original vision survives and has been translated into the writing. So, yes, it energises, but it also exhausts.
Writing advice you’d like to give your younger self?
I would like my younger self to give me some advice. During my adolescence, I used to be driven about everything. Now, I have slowed down, mellowed. This is often not good for writing and, indeed, I sometimes do not write poetry for months together and do not feel either guilty or burdened by the desire to write something – anything – just to remain relevant, to be in the news, as it were. Perhaps I would tell my younger self to decrease the intensity levels.
Your favourite books?
I cannot name one favourite because there are so many. I will name a few poets I go back to often: Alice Oswald, Sylvia Plath, Kamala Das, Arun Kolatkar, Sujata Bhatt, Imtiaz Dharker, Robert Browning, Ted Hughes, Manohar Shetty, Audre Lorde, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, Sharon Olds, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Eunice de Souza. I read several Indian poets in English and in translation – my contemporaries. There is a lot of exciting writing happening now.
Literary success vs number of copies sold?
I have always been conflicted about mainstream publication. Also, market-oriented notions of success are pointless in the tiny world of Indian poetry in English. A 100 copies of a poetry book sold may be considered successful compared to, say, 500 copies of a novel or a short story collection. Poetry books are slim and expensive, and do not seem like good value for money.
I believe in the circulation capabilities of the Internet. A more-or-less free dissemination of a poem on a website may gather more readers/followers nowadays. This may be construed as “literary success”. It is about time we questioned old-school, elitist ideas of publication.
Favourite spot/s in Delhi you write at?
I write at night, mostly, so my favourite writing spot is in front of my computer. But, I scribble notes and thoughts on my phone through the day. My phone has a stylus, so I can write in my own handwriting. The daily travel to and from my workplace in the metro is usually where this happens. It makes a monotonous journey meaningful.
I sometimes write at my workplace, which has a lovely, old library with small cubicles and writing spaces. I also write stuff on my phone when I am out waiting for birds, because carrying paper and pen is impractical. I find the romantic idea of writing in cafés amusing. I have never done it.