IAS officer Mugdha Sinha was always a big fan of Nobel Laureate Ms. Annie Ernaux. On 26th February, Ms Sinha not only got a chance to meet her Ms. Annie Ernaux also released Ms Sinha’s book ‘Postcard Poems’.
Ms. Sinha is currently serving as Joint Secretary, Department of Culture, Government of India. As a debut author, she hit the first ball for a boundary when she released two books simultaneously – one in English and another in Hindi titled “Kya Hun Main Kaun Hun Main’. She has been writing and reciting poems in different festivals and open mics from more than 20 years but this is the first time she got her works published in a book.
During a conversation with Indian Masterminds, she talked about her journey in literature and the administration.
FIRST POEM WAS PUBLISHED BY KAMALA DAS
Ms. Sinha has been writing from her school days. For the first when her bunch of poems were published on a public platform was during her days in Lady Sriram College. “It was published by Kamala Das who was then the editor of literature section of Femina . It was a surreal moment for me. Since then, my journey in writing and enjoying its process has only continued”, said Ms. Sinha.
She compiled her collection of articles and poems and released two books. ‘Postcard’ poems had been published by Red River publication and the foreword is by the Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor. While ‘Kya Kahu Main Kaun Hun’ has been published by Vani Publication and the foreward has been written by well-known food blogger Mr. Pushpesh Pant. “It was a big honour for me when Ms. Ernaux released my English book. She is the first female French writer to get Nobel and I have always admired her for her work. She asked me to give her an autograph and write few lines for me”, Ms. Sinha said recalling her biggest fan moment.
SEEKING AND FINDING YOURSEFL
Both her books are collection of short poems. Postcard poems are a collection of epigrammatic poems. Through her book she touches a range of topics from love, longing, loss, learnings, seeking, women and other social issues. In many of her poem she choses the metaphorical style of writing and tries to give a different perspective of things.
Through her poem ‘Boond’ while she is trying to draw a parallel about life and spirituality through the cyclic journey of water droplet, in her another poem titled ‘Khoj’ she is trying to find ‘what is search’ and if search is only life.
Besides this she has also written about drugs and other menace. “That poem came to me after watching Udta Punjab. I have some roots in Punjab too so I strongly feel about the issue and have tried to express myself through the poem”, the officer says.
She also wrote poems on celebration of women and the difficulties they face. Some of her poems like ‘Solah Shringar, Kyun Main Aag Me Jali Hun and Kya Kahu Kaun Hun Main’ have been very well received. She says, “I didn’t want to give any judgement. I only tried to give a different perspective towards women issues and raise some question which are still not being asked.”
Ms. Sinha who has served many years in her home cadre Rajasthan is now in Delhi. She is working on three more books, one of which is likely to be published by the end of this year.
