Prasoon Joshi's session at Pune International Literary Festival 2016: A first hand account by a hard core fan

I remember as a young girl whenever we used to sign birthday cards, we would invariably write on the back of the envelope “Open with an ear-to-ear smile”. It would almost always bring a brimming smile on the face of the receiver who would open the card with far more enthusiasm than otherwise.

As you grow up you experience fewer such moments of pure joy and bliss cos the intellect becomes too strong to let you feel the innocence of childhood. This Sunday, I attended Prasoon Joshi’s session at the recently concluded Pune International Literary Festival. It was one hour of sheer joy and bliss to see someone breathe and talk so passionately about his creative pursuit - poetry.

Tears trickled down my eyes as he recited his beautiful poems. From the famous ‘Tare zameen pe’ song to the ‘raksha bandhan’ poem he wrote for his sisters. The most outstanding of them all was his recent poem - “sharm aa rahi hai na” poem that he wrote after the indian women made us proud by getting accolades at the Olympics.

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He also hummed a few of his songs. It was pure passion at play. He spoke about how he wrote the extremely popular song - maula maula from Delhi 6. He recounted that every day while going to school, he used to pass by a durgah, where an old lady with wrinkled face would be sitting and praying. From that memory, he wrote the following words:

arziyaan saari main, chehre pe likh ke laaya hoon
tumse kya maangu main, tum khud hi samjah lo.
dararein dararein hain maathe pe maula
marammat mukaddar ki kar do maula, mere maula.

What a beautiful expression to a child’s memory!

One could further get a sneak peek into this genius’s mind when he answered an aspiring young writer's question on how to become a lyricist in Bollywood. He said “Be like a river, learn each day and keep moving…behte raho kyunki maza behne mein he hai." He further added that he published his first book when he was 17, now even in his 40s he feels that he’s nowhere close to the masters who inspire him. He feels he’s still learning each day. He shared another interesting anecdote that one particular guy used to send him a poem daily. Mr. Joshi ignored the mail every day. But the guy kept sending the poems persistently. After 6 months, he said that he started feeling guilty so he took a print out of all the poems and read them in one go. He liked some of the work and therefore hired the young man in his company. A subtle way of teaching us a lesson in Perseverance. Point taken Sir.

The entire hall crackled with the raw energy and passion that Mr. Prasoon exuded. It is in moments like these that you lose count of time.

He also shared his thought process behind the famous Happydent chewing gum ad that he conceptualised. He said “The regal and feudal Indian past triggered off the idea of a fantastical, imaginary world lit by sparkling human teeth” For those who don’t know his Happydent chewing gum ad has been rated among the 20 best ads of this century by The Gunn Report - the global index of creative excellence in advertising.

I can go on and on because as a fan, no matter how hard I try to express my pride in sharing the same space as my hero, I can’t.

I end this post with his beautiful message that it is good to be inspired by many but it is important that you keep your own fragrance authentic. In his words: "apni khushbu authentic rakhen" Amen!