Spoken word: Jugalbandi of words and art

Love of poetry and storytelling had me stop flipping radio stations and listen to "The deck of cards" by Tex Williams; experiencing a  Haruki Murakami moment "Whatever it is you are seeking won't come in the form you are expecting." I had discovered a form of art, spoken word. An estuary of narrative and music  for the soul. A confluence of words and performing art, dance and theatre. All this, over a banal trip, ridden with gnarling Delhi traffic, browsing through FM channels indifferently, driving back across 3 states from work.

I was in the throes of a scripturient urge to celebrate my abecedarian finding. The drive seemed longer than usual, there was so much to do; quench my curiosity by reading more, attend to a deluge of examples, listen to new finds and compile a playlist. Most of this though, was curtailed to the luxury of late evenings that afforded time for myself.

Sunscreen,  Are you lonesome tonight, Yeh kahan aa gaye hum, have been all time favorites, only today I  know better, I can flaunt the genre of music they belong to and discover more such gems.

Political motivations, social causes, religious discourses, leadership speak, life experiences, stories, folklore and many more expressions have found themselves in this experimental art form.

I have put together a humble playlist of Hindi spoken-word tracks to show and tell what spoken-word is all about,  and with your suggestions it could only get better. 

Get the complete playlist: Here

4 beautiful poems written by Javed Akhtar recited by Farhan Akhtar in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Apne Hone Par Mujhko Yaqeen Aa Gaya | Yeh Jaane Kaisa Raaz Hai | Dil Aakhir Tu Kyun Rota Hai | Toh Zinda Ho Tum

An all time favorite from a movie which is poetry in motion, Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat. The movie is an adaptation of O' Henry's short story "The GIft of Magi". Enjoy the recitation in Gulzar's baritone and Shubha Mudgal's voice in Piya tora kaisa abhiman.

Calling Amitabh Bachchan fans. Silsila scores high on music  and poetry. Yeh Kahaan aa gaye hum has Amitabh Bachchan monologues and Lata Mangeshkar singing to Javed Akhtar's  lyrics.

Unboxing Indian languages

My tryst with languages has been that of, love-hate. Education, across a string of schools and cities throws at you challenges, of what some might recall, as 2nd and 3rd languages. Compulsory languages, that you had to cross the mark on, to make it to the next grade. I had my encounters with Hindi, Bengali, Gurmukhi, Sanskrit and acquainted myself with French and Urdu. Thankfully, English was the marathon friend.


When it came to taking a second language, for boards, the hoity-toity had, French. As much as, the bourgeois bug appealed to me, I had to resign to Hindi "A". Then, I had kicked myself for not having scored lesser, so that I could have been assigned to the batch of Hindi "B". The scholarly subscribed to Sanskrit- oh boy, for that cramming! I have a fundamental disconnect with the whole, memorizing without understanding, school of education, but addressing that would merit an entire post. Honestly, I would have opted for neither French, nor Sanskrit, or the long tail German, Russian, and more. It’s the lack of choices, which sets you off on the "what if" mode. Sometimes, no option is not such a bad option, after all. It makes life simple.

Experience Delhi

It was about three weeks back that a concept was actualized.

Experience Delhi.
The genesis of which was a New Year resolution, only it wasn’t an annual one. It was a way of life. After not much deliberation I arrived at self-development. Ideally pursuing a passion should be best suited but I could not seem to find one-a passion, a passion in its truest form. What I discovered although was that I had varied interests, a multitude of activities I enjoyed dabbling in.

I wanted to make time for myself.

Enjoy simple things.

Uncomplicate pleasure.

There always has been joy in doing small things, only this time it was about making memories of those moments.

Living and absorbing.

Meeting friends over drinks and meals isn’t very enriching and engaging, needed something more concrete, something that would genuinely help bond.
It then occurred to me that I had lived in Delhi for a decade if not more but had almost next to never experienced the culture and its richness that it has to offer. Most of its beauty was about living in nostalgia. Thus the ball got rolling and I soon was thoroughly enjoying myself.

25th August-Driving to work it dawned upon me that there would be several like-minded folk who would like to break away from the web of complacency. I could only imagine how exhilarating it would be to have shared experiences. Learn from each other, meet interesting people, enrich one another, dig into our abilities and discover new possibilities. I experienced an adrenaline rush thorugh the day and could not stop thinking about getting started.

Activities spanning from heritage walks followed by breakfast to karaoke, From concerts to theatre, dance recitals to museums, sound & light show to mid-night photography and drives, cookery to pottery workshops, root for your favorite team at a watering hole or go for a game, learn an instrument or learn a language, movie marathon to short get- aways from Delhi, fine dining to rustic culinary indulgence.

Imagine, appreciate, participate, motivate!

Exploring, learning and growing! Together.

The mechanics of it were simple too- initiate a group on Facebook, yes one more amongst the several. The invitation sent to some like-minded people with whom the concept would resonate and only if it excited them would they join. A truly joint effort, a community where everyone contributes, participates and takes initiative. Comfortable being just a handful, even if it means to be able to count us on one hand to begin with.

17th Sep- We met and witnessed bi-polar Delhi at its best!