Spreading love with their words

Diksha Gupta and Gurkirat Kaur Birdie

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Amy Singh and Sabika Abbas Naqvi collaborated under the banner Shayari on the Streets to bring out to the masses, powerful and touching poetry on the streets in a fierce and confident voice. Many onlookers gathered to hear Singh’s and Naqvi’s inspiring poetry at Shantikunj, Sector 16.

Amy Singh started selling her poetry for a minimal amount of Rs. 200-500 to save her friend, Anam Narula’s life, who is suffering from leukemia. She is now the founder of Cross Connection Poetry. She says, “We use poetry as a medium of healing, storytelling, dissent and expression of the marginalized by performing at public places and try to make it a part of everyday lives of people”

Sabika is the founder of Sar-e-Rahguzar through which she aims to bring poetry to the common people. She says, “There is too much hatred in comparison to love in this world. On our streets, it is easy to lynch but difficult to kiss, easy to slap but difficult to hug. What have we become? Sans the wonder of our soul, our poems, innovative fingers, skill, music and desires, what will ‘we’ be? It is time to start a new vocabulary of love.” With Sar-e-Rahguzar, Sabika is trying to do just that. The poems that they recited at the event included Amy’s Love in the times of Narendra Modi, and Zabaan, and Sabika’s Saree, Hum racist nahi, and Mera kaajal.