When a woman, who is a writer and a homemaker, tries to realise her dreams, she has to take out time from her sleeping hours after fulfilling her family obligations, believes firebrand poet Subhashree Subhasmita Mishra.
“I utilise four hours from my eight hours of sleep to satisfy my creative urge after fulfilling the needs of my family,” she says.
Subhashree has penned more than 400 poems and 50 per cent of them have been published in two books, while the remaining will find a place in two other books that will hit the stands.
Interestingly, Subhashree’s pet name is Sheli and she has been greatly influenced by the works of the great English poet PB Shelley. So much so, that she even tweaked the spelling and altered her nickname to ‘Shelley’ and is now more popular by that name in the state’s literary circuit.
The bold subjects of her poems and her fearless nature towards criticism puts her in a different league altogether. Her poems are mostly a celebration of womanhood and carry a fair degree of sarcasm towards male chauvinism.
“I am often tagged as the brand ambassador of feminism for highlighting the issue of injustice against women in my poems. However, expressing anguish over crime against women and being a misandric are two different things. I am not a misandrist. At the same time I take pride in being called a feminist. A woman is a human being and feminism is part of the humanism. So, neither women nor someone who is a feminist should be ridiculed,” she says.
Most of Shelley’s poems have been written in the wee hours of the morning and they have often gone on to become a hot topic of discussion in the literary arena, especially in social media for the kind of subject she chooses. Needless to say, she also has a healthy fan following in the media and her poems attract hundreds of likes and comments within hours of being posted.
Prominent critic and educationist Jyoti Nanda describes Shelley as a person who is passionate about poetry. “For me, her passion is her X-factor, her USP, and her Achilles Heel. She uses her passion to bring forth a cause that mostly involves visibility and counter visibility of women with utmost sincerity. Her writings captivate the readers, who get pulsated from within,” said the avid admirer of her works.
Renowned poet, lyricist and the former Vice-Chancellor of Ravenshaw University, Devdas Chhotray, says, “It is difficult to define Shelley and her works. However, to make some sense, we may resort to a few clichéd expressions like ‘Bold and Beautiful’ and ‘Fast and Furious’. That said, Shelley is still not completely either of these two. Only her poems describe her best. There is a median between fury and silence, a divider between greed and resignation, where she stands half-lit from either ends.”
No wonder, Shelly’s last anthology of poems was titled Agnika (A woman made of fire), which released in 2018. The book gave her a huge fan-following. Most of the poems in Agnika mirror the revolutionary side in women. Her previous work, Aranya, draws parallels between women and nature.
“I wrote Malliphula, my first poem when I was in Class III. I also stood first after reciting one of my poems Bagicha. I was in Sri Aurobinda School of Integral Education then. Kalpanara Raija, another of my poems, was published in the wall magazine of the school. These were well received and appreciated and that’s how the foundation was laid,” says Shelly.
“My aunt and prominent author Saudamini Nanda encouraged me to write poems regularly when I was in Class VII. I feel that was the turning point in both my life and career,” she adds.
A graduate in Odia language and literature, Shelley has bagged several awards including Bahibandhu Samman, Sabda Samman and Baragarh Sahitya Sansad Samman for her contributions to Odia literature.
While many of her contemporaries prefer writing romantic poems, Shelley feels that there is a rebel within her and she can’t write romantic poems.
“I just can’t surrender myself in love; I don’t believe in that. I want to defend my individuality in love. But that doesn’t mean that I lack emotions. In fact, my admirers consider me over sensitive,” she says, adding that incidents like female genital mutilation (FGM) in Africa, Delhi’s Nirbhaya, Kunduli’s rape-suicide and Kathua rape case can make her cry and gives sleepless nights.
Shelley says reading books have changed her perception towards life. “Our social system always draws Laxmanrekhas (boundaries) around us. Crossing these lines is considered a taboo but I don’t believe in these so-called Lakshmanrekhas,” she asserts.
An avid reader, Shelly has also launched an initiative called Kafeteria with some of her close friends, to debate on various aspects of literature. “Kafeteria is a perfect hangout spot for literature lovers. We have, so far, conducted three successful sessions where we discussed literature in an informal way. We don’t welcome our guests with bouquets, neither do we light lamps to inaugurate the event. It is completely informal where we debate on certain topics on a given evening over tea and coffee. We had the pleasure of hosting a few big names from Odia literary circuit like Sadananda Tripathy, Ajay Swain, Kedar Mishra, Aparna Mohanty and Swapna Behera. The events are gradually gaining popularity among the youth,” signs off Shelley.
BIJAY MANDAL, OP