Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar — Interview
I began following Monoreena Acharjee Majumdar a while ago on Medium because of her art. Each work she creates is either the source or a response to the immersive poetry or story that comes with it. Both paintings and words are of one cloth, and filled with haunting images.
In her article “About Things” the image, a study in blue, is titled Cobalt, the Moonlit, Abstract Painting, and these are excerpts:
Where infinity can be measured, Ivory crowned surf lashing on ochre granules showing its limits….
I travel like the moon and the sun, Through world limitless, stepping towards home, Burning stars to cure my scars, Hanging them from the dark of the cobalt, When the vast blue finds its shade….
Can you change the way the wind blows — I am air Floating over ablaze Melting like crayon Disappearing, yet Existing…
Tread carefully on sidewalks tiled, sitting over soft earth, I am earth Static still moving to touch Infinity….
Ears listening to the music of the rain like nothing mattered, Mind walking on grass bare foot, Dews tickling skin, Eyes watching the birds flying home, on a hot summer evening….
Till then, Let laughter and coffee fill the Cloud bay, See how words find their way!
In this next one, “Just Picture This: Smile Hiding Mind-Ghosts” the photo, taken and strikingly edited by Monoreena, is titled Ghosts of Mind, and the poem explores how we make demands on an outer reality that is actually all our own creation. Here are excerpts:
Waiting for the phone to Ring. Silence.
There are days when it is night. No. Not in its usual attire of stars and moon, Just a grey veil surrounding us, making light penetration Up-hill.
Wait….that’s sunny and bright outside, Is it the mind slowly drowning in the dark — …. What’s fiction armed with a smile, Is deep reality veiled from the world, smart-jacketed.
The viewing gallery has no spectator, but maybe one….
The phone has to ring.
A powerful message…
Welcome, Monoreena!
Please introduce yourself…tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing for Medium.
For me writing happened.
I have a Masters degree in Physiology and completed my MBA (Finance) thereafter. A few years into my working life, I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder and was confined at home. I took to writing during my recuperating years.
I began publishing my writings, which were mainly poems following lockdown.
While setting up my Insta-poetry blog, I came across a few self-help articles from Medium on how to successfully do the same, which I found to be of great value. I checked a little more about this platform and finally started publishing my writings here.
I write poetry and my long forms are mainly about creating awareness about autoimmune conditions. I enjoy painting and photography and all my articles have my own illustrations. However, the seeds of creativity were sown in my early life through music, in which I am trained and proficient.
(Monoreena’s fascinating description of her musical training — Tryst with Music — is given here further on, inclusive of classical Indian and modern composers.)
What gives you your inspiration into the articles you write? How do the ideas come to you?
My ideas mostly come from the milieu I inhabit. I am a keen observer of life — finding exotic in the mundane, creating connection with my inner being and specifically how to live life in confinement (where I share my personal experience). Everything from the minute to the significant is observed, decoded and processed, finds its place in my writings.
Being a warrior of the autoimmune disease, and falling under the tag ‘minority’, I found my path of healing by connecting with nature. My writings largely include elements of issues related to equality and diversity in general and the impact of nature for the well-being of self.
I enjoy reading, studying art, listing to music, nurturing greens, and all of this goes into my creations, either with words or hues.
What inspires you to relate to the theme and style you have, which I find are distinctive?
As shared before, my introduction to anything creative came in the form of music, to which I was introduced at a formative age. Though I lost a substantial part of my music in the flow of life, I guess, I still retain my sense of timing, rhythm, melody and flow, which reflects in the verses I write. I also find it intriguing to apply “cubism” in language and “break-n-make” newly of the established, to infuse a distinct flavor to my written thoughts. I prefer doing all my illustrations myself, for the same reason.
What theme — or themes — engage you most of the time?
Life and its meanderings — how it exalts, shocks or surprises as well as the elements of humanness and abstraction of it.
The impact of nature on humans and how it molds and modifies us in a given circumstance. Issues pertaining to social injustice, highlighting on EDI and of course, becoming a voice for disability/rare diseases in some capacity.
Are there people you feel have definitely influenced your work, no matter their field of interest and experience, or does the writing come from your own life experience and thought?
While my writing stems from my lived experiences, early influences from my supportive and encouraging parents shaped me. They provided me the nurturing environment to grow and become who I am today. My father’s collection of books was my introduction to the world of literature, long before I had access to my school and other libraries.
All my teachers, mentors and supervisors instilled in me the confidence to be myself, which is reflected in my writings in liberal doses.
Do you concentrate on creating an atmosphere or mood or focus for your thoughts, or does that evolve as you write each article or story or message?
Usually, it is a spontaneous process for me, though there are times I feel like sitting down to write without anything specific in mind and allow my emotions to flow and form into a creation. It is often a good way to reflect on my feelings, at the moment threadbare but which evolve and take shape as I write.
Writers are always asking questions. We are always exploring the unknown. What subjects draw you into doing this?
As mentioned, I forayed into writing after being diagnosed with a rare kind of autoimmune disorder and after observing that our society generally lacks the knowledge to deal with anything that is out of norm or convention. I wanted to use these observations, thoughts and words to create awareness for the same.
In my journey of learning to live with my medical condition, I discerned in mindful moments how nature initiated a process of healing and nudging the creative-self in me. This is perhaps the reason why most of my pieces have elements of nature and its impact on human existence in them.
I have read your articles and have favorites. Do you have an article or story you like more than any other you have written?
Every article I create is my baby and it is difficult to distinguish amongst my children…
Who are you writing for? Do you have an audience in mind, or is it just a general idea?
Writing has proven cathartic for me and helped me find my tribe. Though I write mainly for myself, I am positive and non-offensive in my style, hoping to connect with like-minded readers. But I don’t compromise with what I want to say and how I want say it and this is one of the reasons I have created my own space as a blog-cum-publication Soul Bay, apart from writing for a few of my favorite publications.
Do you like to network with other writers on Medium? If so, why? Do you have favorite writers you read often on Medium?
I like to read and communicate with my fellow writers in Medium as and when I can, mainly because I enjoy what they write. I have a good number of favorites whom I read and engage with regularly.
Would you call yourself an extrovert or introvert? Introvert.
What do you enjoy most about being a writer? The very fact that I can write. Write well enough to be published and read. That people around the world connect with my thoughts and words that give a face to my mind.
How have you evolved both as a writer and in your writing after writing for a while on Medium, do you think?
I have become a regular and confident writer after writing for Medium, experimenting with style and substance with more ease.
The Writing Life
Now, these next questions cannot be avoided. They are the ones everyone usually wants to know about a writer, whether their focus is nonfiction or fiction, article or book.
What is your writing schedule? Do you plan your writing time or just do it when you are not at work or maybe at lunch hour? Or is your time pretty much free to create whenever you feel inclined?
My time is not free to create and there is no writing schedule, though I try to make space for that once in a whole day. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t. But I am inclined to write whenever I find time and there are words forming.
Do you write in a notebook by hand, ever? On your phone? Laptop?
My writing journey started with my journal noting, during my early days of confinement, which was my pen’s rendezvous with the pages of my diary. But for the last two years, since I started publishing, I started with writing on my phone and have shifted to my laptop since I joined Medium.
What does your writing space look like?
I don’t have any particular writing space, but find my words flow when I am amongst my greens or by my window from which the sky is visible.
Do you have any rituals to get yourself ready to write?
Not really. I write when I have certain clarity about the imagery I want to paint with words. If it’s coming in bursts, they are noted down in my digital diary to be retrieved and collated for the final outing.
For Fun
What do you do besides writing that brings out your creative self?
Taking imaginary walks through my mind and thoughts, sitting in my solitude, looking at the sky changing colors and of course, listening to music I love and at times indulging in painting.
Where is your favorite place to spend time?
On my terrace with my greens in my swing with the book I am currently reading.
What is the best advice you have ever received or read about writing?
In this world fraught with copy… Be original.
If you could meet several writers — time travel being no obstacle — in a coffee shop for a chat, who would they be?
Rabindranath Tagore and poet & lyricist Gulzar, to observe and understand their technique of creation.
When you are not writing, what are you up to?
Since my ailment occupies a great part of my life, I need time to rest and recuperate. When I am not writing or not engaged in some other chore, I rest. Sometimes, I spend this time doing some good reading, listening to good music or watching a good movie. If I don’t have energy for any of these, I daydream!
I also find cooking and nurturing greens therapeutic, health permitted.
If you had the chance to board the Starship Enterprise for a long mission, what five books would you bring with you for the journey? Or would you assume a stunning updated version of the Holodeck (maybe crystal-driven) would suffice?
Poetry collections by Rabindranath Tagore, Gulzar, Pablo Neruda Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Short Stories by O. Henry/Guy de Maupassant
And finally, one last question: Who are you, Monoreena, in fifteen words or less?
I think writing for me might cease the day I decipher that…
On My Tryst with Music
If you are born into a Bengali family, amidst the influence of the famed (or otherwise) Bengali intelligentsia, there are a few things you cannot avoid:
Learning music and Reading Rabindranath Tagore
I was introduced to both at a very young age.
My guru (teacher) hand-held me, at age 8, to impart in me the basics of Indian classical music. Initially, it was done rather playfully, learning how to sing Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa (the equivalent of Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do) which entails tuning your voice and creating ground for singing complex Ragas.
By age 13/14, I was singing on stage, though not in a big way, you would imagine, but more as a part of evening soirees in auditoriums filled to capacity and along with other performers. I would sing for my music school and for local and semi-local concerts.
However, for a good few years in my schooling days it was always dance that I performed. I learnt Kathak, a form of Indian Classical dance, even before I started school. But in regular school, I never participated in music, and I am yet to fathom why.
Once in college, my studies occupying centre-stage, music meant some odd singing when a friend requested it or for some college/university functions, though the training sessions continued till I was diagnosed with a life-altering autoimmune condition which, amongst many other things, impacted my ability to sing.
I am trained in classical Ragas, which constitute the grammar of Indian Music. I am also trained in Thumri, Dadra, Bhajans and other semi-classicals, which are breakaways from the structure to make music more melodious and popular. And other forms of music which I enjoy singing include folk, ballads, ghazals, and especially songs by Nazrul Islam and Rabindranath Tagore (for which my tonal quality is best suited).
It would be wrong to say music was similar to pursuing any academic interest for me. Rather it is a soul friend to an introverted me, who always enjoyed to be in her loner space tapping into the music of life. When I was not singing, I enjoyed (and enjoy) exploring the world of music, in my small way, listening to Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, John Denver, Cliff Richards. Elvis Presley was always on the cards. British singer/songwriter George Michael is my favourite. And I enjoy Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli immensely.
This list is not complete without Amzad Ali Khan (Sarod), Bhim Sen Joshi, Rashid Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Classical Vocal), Ravi Shankar (Sitar), Ghulam Ali, Jagjit Singh (Ghazal) and the songs written by my top favourite poet/lyricist Gulzar.
Though singing for most of the year, barring a brief summer window, is a distant memory now, listening to my favorite ghazals on rainy afternoons, sitting by my window, with my cup of tea is my kind of living in paradise.
Where Can People Find You Online?
Where can people find out more about you or support your work, both on Medium and elsewhere?
LINKS:
[email protected] https://www.facebook.com/monoreena.majumdar
http://medium.com/@monoreenaacharjeemajumdar
For Readers: To get a feel for the intention of this publication and its interviews, do read the Prologue and the About page from the website So, My Friend, Why Do You Write?
