Love in the time of malice

It has become easier to hate on someone or something than it is to love. For instance, while we say that we love Mother Earth, we continue to suck the life out of her by constantly exploiting her resources.

Srujani Mohanty, an Indian Revenue Service Officer of the 1999 batch, recently published her debut poetry collection called Ash in the Sky. The book celebrates love for motherhood, parents, and closeness to nature. There are 82 poems in all and the book seeks to revisit the art of romantic lyricism. It was launched by Bibek Debroy, Padma Shri, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Niti Aayog, during a recent event in Delhi.

“This book has been a work of almost 20-22 years. I have been writing from an early age; since high school. It was there in the back of my head to compile all my writings in the form of a book,” shares Srujani.

For the writer, love for soulful things has always been the inspiration behind writing poetry. She continues, “It is basically anything that touches my soul, whether it is relationships or nature. Beauty is something that we often tend to miss out on because of the mad rush for life.”

Many known names attended the event, like award-winning author and filmmaker Siddhartha Gigoo, Delhi Police commissioner Amulya Patnaik, former Delhi High Court judge Justice J.D. Kapoor, economist and writer Devesh Roy, ex Supreme Court judge Justice A.K. Patnaik, and Justice A.K. Sikri, among others.

“Her poems are beautiful. I can relate to her at another level because not only does she look at the world in a different way, some of her poetry touches my heart.” shares Siddhartha Gigoo.

The book launch was an overwhelming experience for Mohanty, who explains, “It was altogether a different experience, especially getting praises from Pranab Mukherjee, Siddhartha Gigoo, and Devesh Roy. The feedback is very heart moving”.

Born and raised in Rourkela, Odisha, Srujani began writing as a high-schooler. She kept on polishing her creative work as time sped by. At college, she won many awards for her writing.

“When we see nowadays that millennial are so busy with social media and technology, I think thatis very temporary pleasure, and that is something that I worry about this world,” shares Srujani, on a concluding note.