Bengaluru: A collection of poems 'The Language of Unhealed Wounds', a debutant collection by Bhumika Rajan, with robust illustrations by Mithila Baindur published by Red River, New Delhi was released here on Saturday in an informal way devoid of fanfare but amidst a close enlightened circle of friends and well-wishers curious and enthusiastic about literary happenings.
Short story: In an interaction with the audience Bhumika Rajan, the young author who has been penning poems, and short stories in English and translating Kannada literary pieces into English and vice versa had a glance at her works so far and felt short stories to be the best medium to communicate.
A former English Teacher: Bhumika Rajan is a former English Teacher. She has taught English language and literature at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels for three years. However, it was in August 2022, she decided to shift her priorities towards writing and translation. She writes poetry and short fiction in English and many of her writings have been published in various literary eZines and magazines. Her Kannada translation of Malsawmi Jacob's Mizo (English) novel, Zorami is in the press and is expected to be available for readers in the current year. Presently, she is working on translations of MS Murthy's Kannada novel, Bowl and N Sandhya Rani's Kannada novel, Ishtukaala Ottigiddu to English. She lives between Jammu and Bengaluru.
A loss to the teaching profession: Ms Shobha M, Professor at the Department of English, Bangalore University and also a former teacher of Bhumika Rajan at the post-graduate level showered praises on her former student and her batch of good students consisting mostly of girls. She was also appreciative of the keenness and enthusiasm of the whole batch in knowing and learning. Bhumika Rajan's resolve to give up teaching is a loss to the teaching profession, felt Prof Shobha M.
BU's loss became JNU's gain: She also felt sad about the development of Bhumika Rajan dropping the idea of pursuing a PhD at Bangalore University and felt BU's loss became the gain of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Prof Shobha M also took the opportunity to read out a few poems of Bhumika Rajan, appreciating the style and content wholeheartedly.
Kannada translation rendered: Ms Girija Shastri read out her Kannada translation of Bhumika Rajan's English poem. Following a demand Bhumika Rajan read out a few of her poems from her debutant collection of poems.
Why I write: Bhumika Rajan disclosed her reasons for opting to write and quitting teaching: Writing or scribbling my thoughts in the form of a poem began while I was in high school. I suppose it was my strategy for processing emotions and thoughts. I found solace and comfort in literature. Perhaps, I would not have chosen to study literature nor would I have attempted creative writing had it not been for the kindness and encouragement I received from three wonderful people, my mother and my two English teachers Viswanathan and Rekha Rai during my adolescent years...
...In a state of deep emotional agitation: But, I abruptly stopped my experiments with creative writing while I was in college. After a long gap, I resumed creative writing as a PhD scholar. It was not planned or intended; I scribbled a poem in a state of deep emotional agitation on seeing my university being vilified viciously. So I just resumed writing in a moment of immense anguish, pain and helplessness...
...My strategy to deal with anxiety and tell stories: Since then I have been trying to write poems and short stories about the monotony of modern urban life, the meaningless existence of our times, and people whose lives are disrupted by oppressive forces but refuse to give up and fight back, and masks of hypocrisy we wear in our everyday lives. Personally, creative writing is my strategy to deal with anxiety and tell stories that cannot be written within the confines of academia...
...Cold cruelty is gradually being accepted as the way or norm of life: The poems in this collection, The Language of Unhealed Wounds, have grown out of my observations of a world where cold cruelty is gradually being accepted as the way or norm of life.
-Manohar Yadavatti
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