Rochelle Potkar's Blog

The review of Coins in Rivers by reviewer and academician Mohammad Farhan appears in The Hindu.

“Potkar’s latest collection of poems, Coins in Rivers, offers a pulsating visualisation of variegated modern realities with a tinge of dismay and defiance. And these modern realities turn into a rich tapestry of recurrent poetic themes that include the angst of women, political dictatorship, patriarchy, love, war, memories, and nature. Coins in Rivers thus carries a deeper sense of contemporariness where the poet explores the world through her personalised poetic vision.”

Thank you, Md. Farhan for your balanced review and incisive perspectives.
Read the review here.

Looking forward to a wonderful discussion with the faculty members and students of St. Xavier’s College Mumbai at Ithaka. 30 Aug 2024.
Thank you Dr. Rashmi Lee George for always being so appreciative and welcoming.

Wherever there’s Knowledge, there’s no Ego for me…

I have just closed, once again, the manhole on a 10-year-old poetry-politics issue (from 3 obscure? poets), targeting me with fake narratives to suit their purposes, agendas, biases, and insecurities. I hope the lid stays tightly shut now for good. They cried wolf-wolf, victim-crying even though they were the real perps, and fooled a few compassionate gullibles with their croc-tears. But the truth has a habit of coming out sooner or later.

2.
To the inheritors of this afore-mentioned hatred, I don’t care if you want to read on stage with me at a festival or don’t, or want to share panel space with me or don’t. Your insecurities, you deal with. Your complexes, you deal with. Your biases and prejudice, you deal with.
I have nothing against (or for) you. I always knew you were being influenced by croc-teared fake-victims, but I have never coveted a friendship with you. We have no karmic connections, exchanges, or lessons to share. No journeys to the sunset together. No roads together.

I have known these dynamics for years. Have been at the receiving end of microaggressions that have miraculously toughened me up (thank you so much, muuuuuah!). So when I accept a presentation invitation despite my discomfiture with you, don’t read this as my privilege. It’s because I am too trained as a corporate professional to have composure and grace rather than throwing tantrums. I will not also trouble the curator/organizer with petty issues. They have a lot to take care of. As a firsthand curator, I know this – from logistics to time-keeping, catering to travel, and accommodation. I am immune to hateful oozy vibes from anyone on stage or backstage. I concentrate pin-pointedly on my audience and engage with them. Like Arjuna’s focus (on the bird’s eye). Because they are, I am!

So don’t gloat over your tiny ‘No’s’. You have not rejected me. I don’t care about your presence or absence. I don’t bring my ego to work. And there are 100’s who want to read alongside me. From every city.

Even in the future, if you are in the lineup to read with me at any panel, I will not step back – because I don’t bring my ego to work. So I will not throw a tantrum and reject you. So you will think you have the space for refusal. But that’s all the space you will get. A thousand times. Because even the 1000th time, I won’t let my ego come in the way.

Your presence/absence at a panel will add nothing to me in the present or the long run. But the show will go on. Festivals and panel discussions will run.

You and me will age.
But time will run young.

Poetry will flow.

Wine will flow.

The night is forever young.

1 Sept, Powai.
9:30 am to 1:30 pm.
A haiku and haibun workshop.
In association with Poets of Mumbai and Authors Gulley.
For anyone in Mumbai interested in an in-person poetry workshop. Where traffic hounds and technology is better than flesh-blood-brick-n-mortar interactions, we are trying this anyway.
Sometimes it’s nice not to be our holographic selves alone.

Here’s the link to register.

Introducing my tiny podcast ‘Rochelle’s Verandah’ that you can listen to on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify etc. [Only don’t say Potkarst]
You will find my book launch conversation series on Coins in Rivers.
And some story/poetry recordings.

Click to link.

I had a fantastic conversation with Jane Houng when we met this May for the ‘Mending Lives’ podcast in Nepal during the Kathmandu Literature Festival.

Jane inspired me from Day One with her zest, fiery spirit, and easy laughter when we met in Bali over an APWT conference.
Today she is unstoppable.

To those who don’t know Jane. This is an excerpt from her LinkedIn page –
My daughter, Rebecca (‘Becky’) Dykes, was murdered in 2017. It changed everything. I used to be a kidlit author (www.janehoung.com) but now I only write poetry.
Instead, I devote almost all my time to raising awareness about gender-based violence through a project called ‘Becky’s Button’. It is presently active in Greece, Lebanon, and Pakistan. I also host a bi-monthly podcast called ‘Mending Lives’ in which people who have suffered great loss share how they got through it.
Two other projects I work on are Rebecca Dykes Writers, and Becky’s Bathhouse. Got the message? I don’t want my daughter’s death to be in vain.
*
Life throws darkness but Mending Lives ignites the light within. Listen to people willing to share their real-life stories of coping with significant loss. Through inspiring conversations and a touch of spirituality, we explore themes of resilience, adversity, and grief.

You can check out our conversation here:
https://mendinglives.transistor.fm/ep...

And the whole podcast series here:
https://mendinglives.transistor.fm/

Share your thoughts, dear friends, if you listen in.

Friends in Bengaluru, hope to see you in August @BengaluruPoetry Festival.

On 3 August 3 pm -5 pm at the (prose poetry) Haibun-writing workshop. Registered yet? Follow the link in the bio linktree.

4 August 1:45 PM – 2:30 PM, Rock Paper Scissors with Gautam Vegda, Maaz Bin Bilal, and Mukul Kumar sharing our poems.
You can check the whole schedule here – https://www.bengalurupoetryfestival.org/

I had no clue I was a playwright – not even by an inch, atom, or iota. But the short film scripts I adapted to 10-minute plays (Fishbowl and Catharsis) have been shortlisted at the Short+Sweet South India 2024 Theatre Festival for directors to direct. 18 such 10-minute selected plays will be showcased this September at Prakriti Foundation.
Dear friends in Chennai, I hope to see you there!
Thank you, Ranvir Shah (Festival Producer), Rajiv Rajendran (Festival Mentor), Meera Krishnan (Festival Director), and Team S+S South India 2024.

Friends in Kolkata,

If you are free this 25 July 2024 do partake in the book launch of The Violet Sun Anthology, edited by Inam Hussaid Begg Mullick. Two of my poems appear too.

[It’s been a while since my poems appeared in a new anthology. a. I have stopped submitting b. I have nothing new to submit.]

Writing Haibun (Prose Poetry)
Learn the art of Haibun
Let’s capture epiphanies but with lyricism. In Bengaluru. At the Bengaluru Poetry Festival 2024. In August. Am I seeing you then?

Limited slots. You can book a place here.