BCC Shines a Light on: Shikhandin
Name of the piece published by BCC:
Small Town Road
When/where was it originally published:
Small Town Road was originally published in Words Myth in 2008.
And, Thank you Bulb Culture Collective for giving my poem a second home.
What is the background of the piece? What led you to write it? What’s your process?
I was born and raised in a picturesque little town with red-tiled bungalows and large gardens, which belonged to a steel factory where my father and before him my grandfather used to work, in Bengal, India. Although I have lived in various cities since I reached adulthood, I have never taken to the city life. At heart, I was and always will be a small-town girl. Often when I find a quiet road in a city, I hang around a bit, and imagine I am back home.
The boarding school my children attended was in a lovely little town in the Nilgiri hills in India. I loved going there and standing on an empty, pitch or tarred road at night, with a solitary street lamp lighting the path leading to our hotel. It was something I looked forward to. Just me, the black road winding ahead, the vast dome of dark sky studded with stars, meteors streaking past, the call of a night bird, and/or a nocturnal animal in the distance…The poem must have welled up and poured out on one such occasion. You could call it the effect of home sickness.
With regards to poetry, my process is impulsive, unlike my prose. I have to be hit hard by something emotionally. The poem, at least the first draft, literally gushes out right after. I have to write it down then and there. I get upset if for any reason I can’t. I revisit the work a few days later, when I feel there is a distance between me and the poem. If it still triggers emotion in me, I know it is worth keeping and improving upon.
How did you feel when it was first published and how have your thoughts or feelings on the piece changed from then to now?
I was naturally elated. It’s a warm fuzzy feeling. And it happens every time a piece I wrote gets published and republished – as in this case. Gratitude follows in the wake of elation. And every publication encourages me to work harder, do better. With regards to ‘Small Town Road,’ I still read it, even though I wrote it. When I am sitting at my desk, writing something, and need a break, and the city life has been too much for me. I look at pictures and videos of wide-open spaces with narrow roads and lots of greenery. I read poems on nature, and I also read this poem. I close my eyes and visualize a small-town road at night. This poem is dear to me.
Is there a specific message you'd like readers to take away from reading this piece?
I don’t have a specific message. I am sharing a sentiment, a deeply felt emotion. If a reader out there who misses the old life and quiet days like I do, finds succor in my words, I would think my poem was more than the sum of my emotions. And therefore, it has worked as a poem.
Where can readers find more of your work? (Website/social media, etc.)
Thank you for asking, and giving me the space to share. My books are available from Amazon (I have an author page in Amazon) and also a few other portals, as well as some brick and mortar book stores in India. My short fiction, nonfiction and poetry are, I guess, scattered across the www. If you google Shikhandin, it should lead you to some of them. Prior to 2017 I wrote under my legal name. So, the work you’ll find is quite recent. I am there on twitter – @shikhandintweet and in Instagram - @writershikhandin
