ON WRITING POETRY THAT IS AN ODE TO REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCES

Author Interview: Sarbajit Chowdhury

Sarbajit Chowdhury is an author and an academician. He lives in the town of Burdwan in West Bengal. He pursued his schooling from St. Xavier’s School, Burdwan and completed his college from St. Xavier’s College, Burdwan. Currently, he is pursuing M.A. in Literature from University of Burdwan. He has recently come out with his debut book “Speaking From The Autumn Of My Life”, which is a poetry collection. In a candid chat with Chirdeep Malhotra, he talks about his book, his writing journey, his favourite books and authors, and much more. Read on!



Please tell us more about Sarbajit Chowdhury as a person.

I am a happy workaholic person. I love to work hard and be consistent. I am a born foodie and I thrive on junk food. I am a great fan of Bengali music, and an ardent follower of Rituporno Ghosh’s and Aparna Sen’s films. I love to dance and nowadays I am learning Kathak. And most importantly I am a peace-loving person – and a cup of tea and good music is my go-to.



Has writing always been a part of your life? Or did you chance upon it later on and then instantly fell in love with it?

I had started writing since my early childhood. I was always into writing, but it was nothing exclusive and publishing never came into my mind. I have several manuscripts in my cupboard, waiting to see the light of the day. I always watched people, so I guess it helped me a lot to look behind each person. I chanced upon poetry when I was in my final year of college, and instantly fell in love with it, and continued working upon it.



Tell us more about your poetry book “Speaking From The Autumn Of My Life”.

This book is very close to my heart as it is my first and firsts are always special. All the poems contained in this book are straight out of my heart. It also targets social evils, the complications of marriage, and the hunt for lust and love. This book also talks about after-trauma of child sex abuse and about LGBTQIA+ community. This book is my dream come true and it will always be special to me as it has made me what I am today.



What was the inspiration behind this book? When did you start writing this book and how long did it take you to finish it?

I had a huge baggage of past bad experiences; and I could unburden myself after a long time via these poems. Hence, my bad experiences form a large part of this book. I was also inspired by a lot of real events that happened around me or with me. And, as a whole, the inspiration for publishing the book was my dream of authoring a book.
I started writing this book in the month of May, 2020 and completed it in July, 2020. As many of the poems were already written, so my only job was to compile them all together.



What is your writing schedule?

As I am also pursuing M.A., so along with my studies, it becomes difficult to take out time to write. So, I try to maintain a particular schedule but I am not always able to follow that. I generally aim to write during the night after my dinner, because I really need mind-peace to concentrate on my writing.



Can you recommend five books from any genre, for our readers to add to their reading lists, that you particularly cherish?

That’s a really tough task just to curtail it down to five, because I have so many book recommendations! Still, I will try. “Lajja” and “French Lover” by Taslima Nasrin, “Gently Falls the Bakula” by Sudha Murty, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma, and finally “Ikigai” by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. These are my personal favourites from what I have read recently.



What are you working on next? Any exciting new projects our readers should look out for?

Touchwood! I am working on a lot of projects. I am contributing to three anthologies, and my first Hindi short story is coming out. Two of my books are in the works, the first is a collection of poetry and the second is a novella. It’s a packed schedule right now.



There are many new writers and poets who are aspiring to get their work published. What would you say to them?

I would say getting published is easy, but to get published the right way is quite difficult. Hold on to your talent and have patience! Right things will come your way amidst all the offers you look out for.



Can you share with our readers a motivational quote that keeps you going?

In an interview of the filmmaker Aparna Sen, she said that anything one wants to do in their life, one can do it. Live your life on your own terms, and don’t care about pleasing people. And these are the words that I follow like my Bible, and this keeps me going.