Dak to Lahore fame Amy Singh talks about her poetic sinews

Tribune News Service

Advertisement

Amritsar, February 10

Majha House and the Prabha Khaitan Foundation literary programme ‘Akhar’ brings together writers and poets of regional languages of different states to showcase their talent. After its launch in 2019, where the first participant was Padma Shri poet Surjit Patar, continuous series of events featuring many upcoming and eminent poets were organised.

The latest edition, held in virtual mode, featured young poet and activist Amy Singh. Amy is known for her unique and much-acclaimed literary initiative Dak to Lahore, where she wrote letters addressed to General Post Office Lahore, as a peace initiative. Talking to Prof Gurupratap Khairah, an academician and writer, Amy said she wrote her first poem at a tender age of six. “Later, I encouraged the poet inside me and continued to write and read to mother and grandmother and take suggestions from them,” she added.

But things changed for good with ‘Dak to Lahore’. The simplest of trigger for the initiative, Amy shared, was when a popular eatery in Chandigarh changed its name from Lahori Dhaba to Lucknawi Dhaba amidst Indo-Pak tensions in the December of 2016. “This move made me think about the reason and emotions behind such hostility when most of our generation does not even know people from across the border. So, I decided to write an open letter addressed to General Post Office Lahore and later when I uploaded it on social media, it became viral. That’s when more people joined in from across the border and it became a movement,” she shared during interaction.

Her second attempt to build literary temperament has been cross-connection poetry in which she wants to bring poetry out of books and rooms. She has been reading poetry at several public spaces in Chandigarh, including Sector 17 plaza, gardens, at intersections and many have joined her. “I never cared much for criticism and will continue to write fearlessly,” she said.