1. CITYBUZZ - Bengaluru, April 8, 2011 9
Poetry all the way
Poetries Online has announced its new contest - the winners will not only be feted at their
next National Poets Meet, but will be published in their fifth poetry anthology
SONALI DESAI Indus Valley. As the theme indicates, poems, as we are waiting for more partic-
the poems may cover anything that por- ipation.”
A
dmit it, you too have fancied trays our mother land and its true spirit, Aruna Kumar Tripathy from
yourself a poet in high school. but is not restricted to purely nationalis- Hyderabad, who joined the website
Or at least scribbled a few lines tic. Only English language poems are nearly three years ago, said he is plan-
on an old notebook that you secretly eligible, and each poem can have a max- ning to submit an entry for the contest
flip through now and then. Then it will imum of 25 lines. The last date of sub- that is based on nature, the core theme
surely gladden your poetic heart to mission is August 31, 2011, and they of all his poetry. Mayank Sharma, a
know that a new poetry website, have received about 50 poems so far member from Delhi says, “I have not
Poetriesonline.com is holding a contest and are looking forward to active partic- yet started to jot down my poem for this
whose 100 winning entries will be pub- ipation from poets across the country as anthology but I think the subject is very
lished as compilation. well as abroad. good. While the poets express their feel-
According to the website, their edi- Gopakumar Radhakrishnan, man- ing for the country, it will help them and
torial board will select the best 100 aging editor of Poetries Online told City their readers discover various hidden
poems from the entries, with a maxi- Buzz, “The idea is to show India in the aspects of the nation and its culture.”
mum of two entries for each poet, form of poetry to the outside world. It is Ashima Gulati says that a broad
which will be published in Indus Valley, going to be about India, its culture and theme such as Indus Valley would help
the fifth volume of their poetry antholo- heritage.” He also added that based on bring out the best from poets of all age
gy series in 2012. The anthology is the poems chosen for Indus valley, the groups, and adds, “Every age group
expected to be released at their third editorial board will select the three best thinks so differently and especially
National Poets Meet scheduled to be poets from the series who will be hon- youngsters' poetry will naturally be dif-
held around the new year of 2012, ored for their achievement by their ferent. Earlier we have had topics that
although the details of the event are yet community of poets. had only a single word like 'change,'
to be confirmed. Mr Subramanian who is one of the which was often abstract, and our
The contest is open to all, although members from the Selection board says, thoughts would revolve around this one
contestants will need to register as a free “The theme based on depicting the histo- word. But having a topic like Indus
member on the website, where they can ry of India, right from the prehistoric Valley would draw many more perspec-
post their entries under the category days. We have still not short listed the tives from poets across the country.” Poetries Online’s earlier anthology of poems, Change
RADHIKA VITLA that interest them. area for them, so they place special
Skylarks to D eepa, a second PU student,
lost her parents at a young
age. Her only support was her
grandmother, who at the age of 65
Skylarks now works on different
social projects including sponsoring
the education of slum children,
counselling children addicted to
alcoholism and drugs, planting trees
emphasis on girls who are talented
but cannot afford to pursue studies.
In 2001, Skylarks volunteers repeat-
edly visited a village named Kere
Thanda near Hospet in North
the rescue
supported her grandchild by work- in and around Bengaluru and so on. Karnataka which lacked basic
ing as a house maid in their native Their volunteers also visit villages amenities, providing them with
Erode in Tamil Nadu. It was a daily and the outskirts of cities on week- books, geometry boxes, pencils,
struggle and her grandmother soon ends to identify children who need Rings, skipping ropes, chess boards
found that she could not continue education and help those who are etc, and holding counseling sessions
to educate Deepa. That's when she employed in hotels, shops etc to for the local students.
Formed by young techies, Singing heard of Singing Skylarks, and to pursue education by the side. Once Recently, they have initiated a
her relief, the organisation agreed to they identify a cause, they then go project for teaching dance to stu-
Skylarks wants to make a difference fund 30 percent of Deepa's educa- about raising funds for it, mostly by dents in government schools. The
tional expenses. performing at corporate events or project, which was started by
to people’s lives – through music This is just one of the many shows. Skylarks volunteer who has learned
heartwarming examples that form Venkatesan, the founder of Bharatnatyam for around 10 years,
the track record of Singing Skylarks- Singing Skylarks, is a 28-year-old has started its first training pro-
Music for Cause; an organisation who works in a consulting firm. He gramme teaching nearly 25 students
started in 2006 by a bunch of music recalls with pride incidents where in a government school near
enthusiasts working in different they really could make a difference. Hebbal.
software firms in Bengaluru. The “One of these was of a child who The Skylarks are also active in
Singing Skylarks band came into was addicted to smoking and drink- the environmental movement,
being after these twenty musically ing at the early age of 12 years. After recently rejuvenating and beautify-
inclined techies came together with we got to know about him, we coun- ing an almost dead lake near
the idea of doing music concerts for seled him to quit smoking and Bagmane Tech Park with the help
charity, with the proceeds going to drinking and arranged regular visits of volunteers from Motorola India.
different causes and charity organi- for the child and parents to In appreciation of their efforts, they
sations. Nimhans' tobacco de- addiction were awarded the CEO award for
After they made their presence center. Very soon, the child showed volunteerism 2009 by Motorola
felt at concert venues across the signs of recovery and quit the habit. foundation.
city, the band started attracting dif- It was really a very happy moment Apart from Venkatesh, the
ferent artistes, volunteers and for us.” other core members of Singing
donors who wanted to be part of One of the recent projects of Skylarks are Ganapathy Ayyappan -
their cause. The group gradually Skylarks is at the Sristi Special vice chairman, Gunasekaran - presi-
grew to around 50 members in two Academy, where they provide coun- dent, Sagar Aurovind- general sec-
years and now it has reached the selling for physically disabled chil- retary, Jeyakumar- treasurer, Satya
impressive number of 165; with the dren and sponsor 30 percent of the Prakash Patil - joint secretary and
core group of seven members at the school/ college fee of second PU Pradeep - convener.
ALL FOR A CAUSE: Members of Singing Skylarks, a charitable organisation heart of its operations, and others students. Venkatesh says that For more information visit:
started in 2006 by a bunch of musically inclined techies. pitching in for projects or causes women's empowerment is a focus www.singingskylarks.co.cc