A half-hour interaction with Lovely Sharma felt like a sweet story-telling session of its own, as she talked about her life and her poetry. Hearing her speak in an ever so pleasant voice, it felt like the conversation should have happened over a cup of tea. Listening to her felt both warm and familiar, as she moved on from telling me about how she used to scribble couplets and poems when she was young, to the incident that led her to enter the platform of spoken-word. It was nice because of the clarity she showed about what she does and wants to do as a performer-poet. And it’d be illuminating for anyone struggling to find the intentions of why they should create content, in whatever form may it be.
She goes back to her first performance of September 2019, when after a friend’s persuasion she decided to take half a day off from her office, and go perform at an open-mic. Her plan was to attend the gig and leave immediately after her turn, already convinced in her mind that this was going to be her first and last performance. And even the number of applause and appreciation she received after, was not enough to convince her that her poetry could lead to something more.
Cut to a month or so later, the video of her performance went viral, garnering more than half a million views. She tells me that her face and voice were new, not just for the viewers alone but to her as well, because she couldn’t recognise herself as a performer. She couldn’t believe that so many people would want to listen to her.
When on stage, she mentions, she doesn’t like to look at people, wanting her performance to not be influenced by their reactions. However, their responses have served a larger purpose to her in making her continue doing what she does. She has been writing poetry since 8th grade. Her pens and diaries were her constants, as she used to write for herself and her satisfaction. But it only was after realising that people drew the same connection from it as she does from her work, that she felt like this was something that she had been waiting for all along. She very beautifully expressed that everything is secondary now, the smiles and tears of those listening to her and her words is what matters.
“Jo zindagi ne seekha diya, ya logon ki kahaniyon se aa gaya” (From what life teaches, or what comes from the stories of others), she attributes as the source of her poems. She writes about life and how she observes it. Perhaps this is why people build a connection with her words. Talking about that, she says her writing’s purpose for her audience is to help them get back up in life. “Ya toh vo sambhalna seekh jate hai, ya chalna seekh jaate hain, ya fir thaharna seekh jaate hain” (either they learn to carry themselves, to walk ahead or to take a stop, a break) is how she sums it up.
She draws her motivation from her past. When she looks back on her life, she says that she was living in the shoes of others too much, causing her to forget who she was. Her lessons from that is what keeps her going. A desire to become better than she was yesterday, and the hope to be better in her future than she is today.
Another driving force for her has obviously been the love and acknowledgment that she has received from the people. She remembers one particular piece of her at this instance, written from the perspective of a martyr’s wife, called ‘Kaash’. She recounts the responses that she received for it. How an army man wrote to her, and how families of martyred soldiers, who had lost their loved ones, felt that they could remember them in what she spoke. A touching reiteration of the value some words can hold in the life of others.
Talking about her own family, she says that even after taking the very bold step of quitting her job to pursue spoken word, they still support her. Even as there were people in her life who considered open-mics as nothing better than ‘tamashas’ or ‘mehfils’. But she continues to write and perform. And she also points out, how the pandemic and lockdown have positively helped in the growth of her online presence. In response to the question of online hate and criticism, she very simply puts, “[their] opinion is not who I am”.
She also sees the difference between reading poetry and performing it as a major feature that makes stories worth listening to. We end the conversation after she gives her creative insight on how one should follow their passion for writing. You should have love and a sense of purity for your work, she says. It is better to focus on the quality of your content than running after appreciation. Be the first judge of your creation, and aim to add value to it.
Finally she asserts, write not to impress, not to earn, not for followers but primarily for yourself, and all else will follow.
