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| Participants and audience with Brian at BITS. |
Listening to slam poetry once again was a rare treat. I had the opportunity to judge the Goa regional finals and the overall finals for the event titled 'In Verse.'
This was for Waves - the 3-day cultural extravaganza organized by students of BITS campus, Goa over 3 days from 23-25 October. Described on the BITS Twitter handle as 'the fastest growing college cult-fest in India,' the theme this year is 'From Ashes to Ascension.'
I was invited by Shivani, Literature Head, Literary and Debating Club, BITS, Goa Campus. Khushraj very kindly received me at the gate and facilitated my entry.
The last time I went there was 8 years back to judge the same event. I was new to slam poetry that time. Whatever fragments I gleaned, I put together in my blog showcasing one of the lines used by one of the contestants: Blush if you must if he says you're pretty.
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| Spacious avenues connecting the blocks. |
This time round too the themes were largely on love. Both, gents and ladies, held forth on the devastating aftermath of love with its 'graveyard of memories.' In order to forget the beloved one said, 'I changed my city.' Bhakti presented a poem titled 'I love the way you look at her.' It explored the pathos of being unwanted yet vicariously enjoying what her rival had access to. Another gent spoke of separation and how he would continue to wait for his love to return to him. Sikrant memorialized the time with his mother who was no more in his poem 'My Mother's Voice.'
Yashika dedicated her poem to AI. It was called 'My Dear Claude.' 'I put in a tune / It gives me the entire damn song,' she rued. After every poem I offered an input to the presenter. At this point I asked the audience if they were ok with AI.
'I wanted to write a poem about the sky,' declared Phavya. She expressed her outrage about the injustices she saw in the world, against her self, against women, against children. She took off on the line by Palestinian poet Marwan Makhoul and said that she was waiting for the warplanes to be silent.*
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| D Mess veg thali @₹68 |
Vedant did a poem about a classic knock by Indian cricketer Virat Kohli. The poem described the circumstances in which Kohli clawed his way back to victory against Pakistan at Melbourne on 23 October 2022. Today was the fourth anniversary. The poem reminded us that 'Behind every legend is a human heart beating.'
Reeana used alliteration in her poem dropping phrases like 'making memories from the mire' and imagining 'the flash fire of your pyre.' Caught in the existentialist throes of being and becoming one poet declared, 'I mortgaged today to becoming tomorrow.'
Many contestants read from their phones or from a book, or from fragments of paper. Those who recited their lines without any aid came across as more confident and were able to enthrall their audience. Pulin helped me with the scores.
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| Brian Mendonça reading his poem. |
I read three poems of mine, 'Last Bus to Vasco'; and 'Sonya' and 'Srinagar' in keeping with the theme of love.
In Verse gave young poets a platform to present their work - some of them for the first time. 'I don't think I began writing because I had something extraordinary to say,' admitted one. Contestants for the Goa Regional finals were given 3 minutes and those who made it to the All India finals were allowed 4.
Waves is mostly publicized only on social media like Instagram. There is nothing I have seen about it on print media. There is an app which gives the schedule for the days. Considering these are engineering students, their sustained engagement with things poetic is exemplary.
We enjoyed the sessions. The audience went clicking their fingers to show appreciation. Every comment of mine was met with polite applause from the audience. Let's hear it for the slam poets - and for Aditya Narayan with 'Forked Tongue'.
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*'In order for me to write poetry that isn't political, I must listen to the birds. And in order to hear the birds, the war planes must be silent.'
-BITS: Birla Institute of Technology and Science
Updated 25/10/26.
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