PVPF 2024

Interview with Prateek Kashyap, author of "पारदर्शी - मेरी नज़र से"

on Feb 10, 2022

Ques - What is poetry according to you? What is the most significant thing for an artist to brush into any form of art?

“Anything that flows directly through your heart is Poetry.”

This is the most generous answer I give anyone asking me this question. An essence of honesty and a blend of purity that a soul is made up of, added with a rhythmic tone; when comes out together to scribble the most aesthetic piece on paper tends to be an art and justifying that art is a work of an artist or a poet in this case. This is the most significant thing for an artist to brush according to me. When you start observing art or poetry with these eyes, you’ll only come across the innocence of the art. It ultimately leads you to believe in the idea of creation.

Ques - Society evils play a crucial role to hinder the growth of human beings. What societal evils have you discussed in this poetry book?

Any pinch close to your heart reciprocates the quickest. This is something I’ve always felt personally. We already have to deal with various kinds of emotions after we are born and if negativity surrounding you doesn’t help you grow in an upward trajectory, you start feeling oppressed in the pressure of society.

In the age of modernisation, the evils have also coated a layer upon themselves. The wreckage of the heart, the pain, crushed dreams, societal cages are few topics that I chose to put up with all the transparency I’ve witnessed with my experiences.

Ques - This book has 21 poetry that underlines the desire for liberation. What is the meaning of Freedom to you?

Anything that sets you free to commit mistakes and allows you with security and space to work upon it for the sake of growth is freedom. The fear of failure has never allowed people to be free. The ones who’ve discarded that fear know well about what freedom smells like.

The whole idea behind writing a set of 21 poetries was that people read, realize, rectify and let the book go. If the writings inside the book move forward to help even a single human being to self-realize where things have gone wrong, I’ll be a satisfied person.

Ques - The 20th poem - ‘Mere Bhitar’ illustrates restive thoughts. What is the message you are trying to convey to all readers?

It’s not the job of a poet to make people understand his poetry. Where poetry goes beyond the idea of imagination, making someone sets an obstruction on that imagination of the people. The person reading should always allow their mind to think and tune along the lines.

“मेरे भीतर (Mere Bhitar)” is an idea of rebellion. A rebel who has lost the belief in the word ‘settlement’. When one starts syncing into their comfort zone, boredom knocks. You’re blessed with the life of a human, the most advanced body of civilization; then why not lead the planet to light with all you’ve got. There’s no point to add any cushion to the best you can achieve and keep doing the same work daily. It’s not the purpose of life you’ve got. One should know their purpose of life, else it’s just a life wasted.

It is just a part of a poem that I’ve presented above and the rest again hangs upon people to relate.

Ques - As a debut author, how difficult was it to get published?

Not much I’ll say. Once you’ve written something, there are various ways to present to the audience the innovations we as a human have made. I got proper assistance while my book was going through the publishing part, so it was not a very big challenge for me honestly.

Ques -. As a young author who’s grappling with life’s obstacles and portraying his perspectives towards society through this book. What advice would you give to same-age adults out there about life?

I’m an explorer. I’m on a learning curve everyday. And this is how I visualize myself to be. So as said above, I’m no one to add advice into others' lives. You are your own biggest teacher. In a way or the other, you’ll find ways to guide yourself through.