Worded Void

by Poorva Trikha

Growing up in a small town in Punjab, I met the language 'English' in its broken, twisted, weirdly pronounced and socially (held highly) prestigious forms, through the teachers in school, though some neighbors who had returned from a foreign land (after spending a few years) and through the books of English Literature that neither the teachers knew how to teach, nor did the students know how to interpret. My fervent love for learning the language though inspired solely by the idea of gaining higher social value or an upper hand in peer groups or just to become ‘cool’, took me on a long journey of exploration - of the self (inner and outer), of the feelings, thoughts and ideas, and of the world in its entirety. Though my initial reasons were naïve, my intention and the honesty of my love for English was everlasting. Our understanding of the world is meted through a language, and this book documents my tryst with this beautiful language and its ever-growing list of words. It has given me a lot of solace, abundant success and plethora of stories. ‘English’ took me to the untraveled horizons and opened up vistas of imagination for me. And most of all, it has helped me to give words to spaces. Words, in the form of poetry, have filled the void that life's experiences have sometimes thrown my way. 'Worded Void' is therefore a collection of verses that have helped me voice myself in a better form than my actual voice ever can.

57 pages, Paperback

Published September 13, 2022