Positivally Cynical: When Positivity Overpowers Cynicism
The Kunzum Travel Café at Hauz Khas Village recently hosted a group of young adults reciting brilliant poems. Positivally Cynical, conducted an open mic event “Kahaniyan”, where some of the most brilliant poets came to share their work. Every poem, that was read, had a story to tell.
Sameer Thakur, the founder of Positivally Cynical along with Surbhi Sachdeva, Head of Operations conducted the open mic event beautifully.
Devyani, reciting her poem
Pragya Alagh recited a poem, where she brilliantly used a similie by comparing communal riot and transformed it into something as beautiful as Love.
“Your love is like a communal riot; it spreads slowly in one’s heart and then takes it by a storm”. – Pragya Alagh
Urvi Sikri, another member of the Group read out a poem that she had sent to her crush.
“I think you’re a song. We’re all songs.
But you’re the song I rewind until I know all the words.
I don’t like the words: it just didn’t work out.
Because he was a song, and so was he. But it just didn’t work out.
Maybe they were broken records.
Maybe you’re a broken record.”
Summer Clichés, by Subhra Awasthy was reminiscent of Pablo Neruda’s work, Ode to Tomatoes.
The words were full of beautiful adjectives and was packed with emotions.
The hot, heavy
summer air.
A creaking swing,
and stories to tell.
Shy glances,
and whispered secrets.
Alluring smiles,
and the setting sun.
Sudden calls
from two houses,
beyond the park.
A fleeting goodbye,
two heavy hearts.
They will meet,
tomorrow again.
The local Romeo,
and his Juliet
Sharing a Laugh
Svaraj Anand’s ‘Fleeting Memories’ took people by surprise! The darkness of the poem was infused with the immense contrast of strong emotions of passion.
So you finally come to me,
and sing a medley of love songs,
but to me,
it sounds like vultures searching for blood – Svaraj Anand
The pain and joy of love by Snigdha Baweja, made us look at the weaknesses of humans and their love.
It’s a shame how we waste our time on people who don’t deserve it.
And when we finally realise it, we understand the need to let go and move on.
But the irony is that even after knowing what is the right thing to do,
we choose to do the easy thing- we choose to stay and wait.
Mehar Mathur was the only poet, apart from Sameer Thakur, who recited in Hindi. Her poem talked about the longing for a smile by her beloved, through these lines:
Kitne haseen chehere hain iss duniya mein magar,
yeh dill tab bhi teri muskuraahato ke nazaara dhoondta hai.
The poem
Devyani Mahajan’s poem was enough to give you goose bumps. It recited a story about an incident in a person’s life, who was deaf. The climax left you with shock and silence:
She made me feel unnaturally deaf, when in actuality I was.
When I saw the strands of her hair spread across my face like music notes which I’d understood yet not figured
My soul silenced its own ruckus
When her soft hands indicated gestures that no complete human understood
A surge of water, whose sound I’d never hear, splashed onto the rocks in my body
My corpse shivered as she screamed at me for not responding to her when I got late for school
It wasn’t her fault, she wasn’t used to looking at a stopped clock
Galaxies formed in front of my eyes when she draped her linen shawl over my body
And cradled me to sleep without a lullaby, or so I thought.
The next day she was killed by a gunshot
And I never heard a sound
The place witnessed all sorts of emotions in the three hours of words and letters. There were all sorts of colors spilled by different poems, like grey, black, neon, white and what not! There was warmth, hugs, jokes, digs, but one thing that was common in all of them, was the love for words.
Sameer Thakur
Post the event, OWN had an interaction with Sameer while walking amongst the Hauz Khas ruins. He told us about his long term plans.
He said, “After my school, I will be studying law. But that is profession, Poetry is my theme. And I will stick to it. Poetry satisfies me.” Talking about Positivally Cynical, he said that he has many plans, but his recent knee surgery had made it difficult to conduct meetings more often, but he added that now it would come back on track.
There are many more ideas that he would like to execute and make Positivally Cynical, a phenomenon.
“Success needs a brand name; I have a brand name, let’s see where we reach…” He added, with a smile.
The amount of passion and drive one has, in order to reach to a point, often converts to something good. We hope for the best, for Positivally Cynical and for Sameer.
