Some relationships may leave our lives, yet continue to live within us. Tuta Hua Sitara is a poetic expression of such an emotional experience.
This poetry collection presents a profound emotional journey through separation and memory. The poet gives voice to a state of mind that, after losing a cherished relationship, also witnessed the shattering of dreams and one of the foundations of his life.
Time moves forward, but memories do not always move at the same pace. The poems reveal a mind that continues to return to the past—a mind that remembers love, feels the pain of separation, and asks difficult questions of destiny and God.
This tension between faith and pain gives the poems a deeper spiritual dimension. At times, the poet appears to accept defeat, while at other moments, his pain becomes so profound that he finds himself placing even his most difficult questions before God.
And yet, hope never completely disappears from this collection.
Poems such as “Tuta Hua Sitara” and “Swayam Mein Hi Hai Paya Tujhko” convey the idea that the physical absence of a loved one does not necessarily mean the end of their presence. They may continue to live through memory, consciousness, and emotion.
In this sense, Tuta Hua Sitara is more than a collection of poems about separation. It is a poignant testament to the enduring power of love, inner strength, and human sensitivity.
Author Interview
1. What draws you to the medium of poetry, and how do you believe it offers a distinctive way to communicate emotions and ideas?
My relationship with poetry began quite early in life, although it is difficult to say exactly when it truly started. As a child, I was fascinated by the Hindi poems I read in my textbooks and by the works of other poets. The rhythm, rhyme, and ability of a few lines to convey something profound amazed me. I remember wishing that, one day, God would give me the ability to write a few lines in the same manner.
I was perhaps nine or ten years old, in Class IV or V, when this desire first took root. By the age of twelve or thirteen, I had started writing four-line poems, admittedly in a very childish style. By the time I reached Classes VII and VIII, I had begun writing poems that were reasonably mature for my age.
For me, poetry gradually became much more than a literary form. As a child, I was quite introverted, and I often found it difficult to express my emotions directly to others. Poetry became the language through which I could express what I could not say aloud. It became a private space where my thoughts, emotions, fears, hopes, and observations could find a voice.
That is perhaps what makes poetry so distinctive. A few carefully chosen words can sometimes communicate what hundreds of pages of prose may struggle to express. Poetry does not merely tell you something; it makes you feel it. And if you read my poetry closely, I believe you will discover a great deal about who I am.
2. Can you share the inspiration behind the themes of your poems, and how did it influence their tone and structure?
If you are referring particularly to Tuta Hua Sitara, I would say that it was not born out of a desire to write a book of poetry. I certainly would not have wished for the circumstances that ultimately gave birth to it.
The poems emerged from a period of deep pain, grief, and personal trauma in my life. I was experiencing emotions that I had no one with whom I could truly share. At that point, the pen became my only companion, and poetry became the only means through which I could give expression to what I was experiencing.
Consequently, the tone and structure of the poems are a direct reflection of my state of mind at that time. I wrote them nearly eighteen years ago. Since then, I have become considerably more mature, both as a person and as a poet. Looking back today, I could certainly revise and refine many of those poems technically.
But I deliberately chose not to do so.
The emotions expressed in them were spontaneous, raw, and completely authentic. Any attempt to make them more sophisticated today might have improved their literary form, but it could also have taken away something far more important—their original emotional truth.
I wanted Tuta Hua Sitara to remain exactly as it was born: an honest record of a particular phase of my life and the emotions I experienced then.
3. Poetry often invites readers to interpret and connect on a personal level. How do you navigate the balance between conveying your intended meaning and leaving room for individual interpretation?
I agree with that proposition to a considerable extent. Every individual passes through different circumstances, and therefore the interpretation of a poem may naturally differ from one reader to another. The same poem can evoke entirely different thoughts or memories in different people.
However, I believe that while circumstances may differ, human emotions are remarkably universal. Pain, love, grief, loneliness, hope, joy, and longing are feelings that, in one form or another, belong to all of us.
Therefore, I do not feel the need to prescribe a particular interpretation of my poetry. I express what I feel as honestly as I can and allow the reader to discover his or her own meaning in it.
The interpretation may be different and the response may be different, but the underlying emotion can still be shared.
Ultimately, I believe that those who have the sensitivity to understand human emotions will also have the ability to connect with and appreciate poetry.
4. Can you describe your approach to crafting the musicality of your language, and how does it contribute to the overall experience for readers?
I have never been an advocate of writing poetry in unnecessarily heavy or complicated language merely to demonstrate literary sophistication. I prefer to use language that ordinary people understand and speak, while, of course, maintaining its dignity, sanctity, and literary beauty.
For me, poetry should be accessible without becoming simplistic. I want my words to reach the common reader and communicate the emotion without creating an unnecessary barrier between the poet and the reader.
As far as musicality is concerned, I consider rhythm an essential element of poetry. To me, poetry without musicality is like half-baked bread—something essential is missing.
Rhythm, cadence, rhyme, and the movement of words give poetry a life of its own. A poem should create an impression in the mind of the reader, and its rhythm should help that impression remain there long after the poem has been read.
For me, the best poetry is not merely read; it is heard somewhere within the reader’s mind.
5. Many poets draw inspiration from their own experiences. How does your personal journey and background influence the themes and imagery in your poetry?
I strongly believe that poetry is, to a great extent, an expression of one’s own experiences. A poet may imagine many things, but the experiences of life inevitably leave their imprint on his or her writing.
My own journey, the challenges I have encountered, my observations of society, my vision for the future, and my thoughts about the nation and its people have all influenced my poetry. My understanding of the world and the ideologies that have shaped my thinking have also had a pragmatic influence on what I write.
At the same time, the grief, sorrow, and pain that I have personally experienced have become an important part of my poetry. There were emotions that I could not, and perhaps would not, explain to anyone in words. Poetry gave those emotions a form.
Therefore, the imagery and themes in my poetry are often drawn from both the world outside and the world within me. My experiences provide the raw material, while poetry becomes the means through which I try to understand, preserve, and communicate those experiences.
6. In your work, how do you use poetry as a means of commentary or reflection on the world around you?
I consider poetry one of the most powerful mediums of commentary and reflection. A writer may spend years writing a book of four hundred, five hundred, or even a thousand pages, and readers may absorb an enormous amount of knowledge from it. Yet sometimes, a single line of poetry can leave a more enduring impression than hundreds of pages of prose.
That is the unique power of poetry. It condenses an idea, an emotion, or an observation into a form that can remain in collective memory.
We still quote Ghalib, Mir, and Iqbal in our everyday conversations. We remember lines of poetry written generations ago because those lines captured something universal about human life and society. In Hindi literature too, poets such as Dushyant Kumar demonstrated how poetry could become a sharp and memorable commentary on the political and social realities of their time.
My own poetry is also, in many ways, my commentary on the world around me. I do not necessarily try to describe the world as it objectively exists; rather, I try to portray the world as I perceive it—with its contradictions, its beauty, its struggles, and, at times, its pain.
7. Readers may be curious about your writing rituals. Can you share any specific routines or practices you find helpful in cultivating your creativity and honing your craft as a poet?
I believe that writing is less about waiting for inspiration and more about developing a habit.
There is a line I often remind myself of:
“Har roz ek kalam ki dawat bulani hogi, aadat banani hogi.”
In essence, it means that one must invite the ink every day and turn writing into a habit.
It does not matter whether what you write today is brilliant or imperfect. What matters is that you write. Keep writing, keep writing, and keep writing.
For me, the process is not limited to writing alone. It is a cycle of writing, reading, reviewing, and rewriting. Reading exposes you to new ideas and different styles. Writing gives those ideas a personal expression. Reviewing helps you identify your weaknesses, and rewriting teaches you how to improve them.
I do not believe that creativity can always be summoned on command. But the discipline of writing can certainly be cultivated. And once writing becomes a habit, creativity gradually finds its own way to the page.
If poetry about love, separation, memory, and the depth of human emotion speaks to your heart, “Tuta Hua Sitara” may offer you a deeply moving reading experience.
Order your copy on Amazon today and discover the emotions that poetry can express when words are not enough.
