Soulful flute and guitar music played in the background as the crowd at The Folly in Amethyst settled into their seats. It was an evening of words at ‘Poetic License’, organised by The Madras Players as part of a series of events celebrating their 60th anniversary.
Poems by Shuvashree Ghosh, Premalatha Seshadhri and T.T. Srinath were read by Vishalam Ekambaram, T.M. Karthik, Indrani Krishnaier, Yog Japee, Tehzeeb Katari, Gayathri Krishnaswamy and Ravi Katari.
While Shuvashree and Srinath joined in the reading, Premalatha was content to sit in the audience and let the others do the reading.
It was a simple, no frills or fuss event, with over 40 poems by the three poets being read in quick succession, interspersed with music played by Prashanth Srinivas G. S. and Aditya Jayaraman.
Shuvashree’s poems spoke of love, forbidden or otherwise, Nature and her love for literature. She started the evening with ‘A Literary Crush’, which you can relate to if you have ever nursed feelings for a fictional character. ‘A Lonely Star’, on lifelong friendships, and how it can bring out the best in a person, was also very moving.
Srinath’s works were more introspective, asking questions of himself. He also expressed his admiration for his wife through two different pieces, apart from a very touching one on combating depression. ‘Meditation and The Seeker’, a poem on what life’s journey is about, drew much applause, as it was reflective of what a lot of people go through at various stages in life.
Artist-poet Premalatha’s thought-provoking poems asked some real questions, like, “Why does one leave unsaid what one means the most?” In ‘both ‘Ganges’ and ‘At Rama Nivas’, her descriptive writing spelled the beauty of Nature out in words.
The readers brought out the evocative nature of the poetry. T. M. Karthik and Yog Japee, in particular, were very expressive, as were Vishalam Ekambaram and Tehzeeb Katari.
In all, it was an enjoyable evening of poetry, with more to come in the future, as The Madras Players are planning to have such readings in the city every couple of months.
