Shukriya shaayri ke khuda , aaj maine tumhari shaan dekhi do bachiyon ki shaayri mein

ALI PETER JOHN

I still don't know whether I can be called a poet , but I can swear that I can feel the fragrance of good poetry within reading the first few lines of a poem or a shair written by a young heart which I believe is the only power that comes up with the truth and all those who don't believe in what I believe about good poetry can rest happy in their revelling in the rust that goes in the name of poetry in these dark days when everything good is being tested and even tormented by men and women who have lost all their leanings and cravings for anything good.

My affair with poetry started early almost when I was 15 years old and my English teachers told me that the answers I wrote in my examination papers sounded like poetry. My passion for writing good English and what I felt was poetry grew into some kind of madness which I could satisfy only when I brought out my first book " *Voices in turmoil*" and had a book release which was performed in the presence of great men like my guru K.A Abbas , Prof. Sadanand Rege , a noted poet in marathi and a leading professor of english literature and my school teacher Mr. Linus Cerejo who I remembered as the first man to tell me how my english was something he had not heard before.

It was after the release that some press persons who found it worthwhile to attend my function ask me who my favourite poets were and they had probably expected me to say names like Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Indians writing in English , but were bewildered when I mentioned the names of Sahir Ludhianavi, Majrooh Sultanpuri , Ahmed Faiz , Ahmed Faraaz and others . That was the beginning of my affair with poetry of every language growing stronger and passionate.

I had to make a living out of journalism, but I kept trying to keep my love for poetry alive as best as I could and kept writing poetry or pros which sounded like poetry to many of my readers. I may mention here that I have forgotten the poetry of many of my heroes in poetry, but my passion for the poetry of Sahir not only keeps the writer in me alive , but also shows me a way of how to live and battle with this life.

In the last few years, I have with a heavy heart being seeing the deterioration and the gradual decline of good poetry , but what I have been reading about the outpourings of two young women during the last two months makes my heart throb with excitement and filled with the kind of joy I have not experienced in many years .

I met this beautiful young woman in a cafe and had no idea about how she would grow in my experienced estimate within a matter of days . She seemed like a woman who was still trying to find her place which I felt she deserved, but it took me just two more meetings with her to discover that she was not just another woman but a woman who had heart and her mind in the right places. And what I liked best about her was the knowledge and wisdom she had about the ways of life around her and the world.

On a sunday afternoon when the spirit of diwali was still high inspite of corona trying its worst to dim the festive spirit, I am sitting with Aarti Mishra, that same girl I had seen at that other cafe and who is not that same aarti now , especially after she has given me the privilege of reading out some of her poems to me .

I would not like to come between her feelings and how she has put them in words and so I give you the words of Aarti Mishra. You be the judge because you are the forces that can encourage a young woman to be the kind of woman not only india but the world needs . So have a HAPPY DIWALI and make it a meaningful diwali by having the best taste of delicious and delectable poetry in the making and with the promise to reach new Everest of poetry.