In the city where Urdu, one of the most poetic languages, is spoken, one would think that poetry thrives. It does, but not as much as it should. And by starting Hyderabad Poetry Project (HPP) in March, Akshay Tiwari and Drishti Nagda have decided to do their bit for their city and their common passion. And when we heard that they are conducting their own poetry events and are already two events old, we had to get in touch.
"Love, heartbreak and depression are themes with an easy connect, but we want people to think out-of-the-box," says 22-year-old Tiwari. Their second event, Poetry Outside the Box, was conducted at The Moonshine Project on November 18. It was an evening full of poetry recitals which saw a rise in footfall from their first event - an open mic for recitals that saw 40 people perform. The audience were treated to English, Hindi and Urdu poetry and it was a treat indeed because, as Tiwari puts it, "Language is just a medium, not the means of communication." And the ones who are plagued by a certain something called stage fear, fear not, someone else will read your poetry for you!
But conducting events is not their only agenda. They also want to conduct workshops to popularise other forms of poetry like spoken word and beat poetry, plans for which are already underway, Tiwari tells us. In January next year, they are planning a slam poetry session. "Think of it as a competition of poets, similar to a rap battle," explains Tiwari, but December is when they are pulling out the big guns. They are in talks with famous Hindi poet, Amandeep Singh and another spoken word poet for a workshop where fellow poets can hone their skills. And incidentally, as we were talking, Tiwari was working on a domain of their own. Surely, all their plans to fast-track HPP are in place.
Though there are several poetry clubs in the city already like Twin City Poetry Club, Open Sky Slam, A Slam Dream and Ka Se Kavita, one would imagine that HPP would aim to stand out. But in reality, it doesn’t aspire to be different. Tiwari, who himself has been in the poetry circuit long enough, has no intention of competing with others. "We just want to build the skills of the community," says Tiwari, adding, "When it involves just one person, it's called a clap. But when it involves everyone, it's called an applause," implying that he wants to collectively build the poetry scene of Hyderabad along with other poetry clubs and make sure that the thunderous applause that follows echoes loud enough to put Hyderabad on the poetry map.
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