A promising writer
By Aradhika Sekhon

JYOTI Nayar has the makings of being the next new name in the list of Indian authors writing for an international audience in English. Like other authors and poets, Jyoti is familiar with cosmopolitan ideas as well as the ethical roots from where her personal philosophy springs. The amalgam of the two is an interesting blend, and a convincing one.

This is borne out by the fact that when Jyoti sent her anthology of 50 poems Mystery Unveiled for publication the reviewer, from Minerva Press reported when the press established its New Delhi branch, it was precisely in the hope of attracting just this kind of quality writing".

The Editor-in-Chief, Mark Sykes, says of the prospective author, "We believe that this author would have a significant chance of making a mark, and in particular of finding favour with both Indian and western reading publics.... It is the fusion of cultures that broadens horizons and perspectives...." It is time for the Indian literary world to sit up and take notice of this "new kid on the block".

Jyoti, as a writer, is multi- faceted. She is as comfortable with English verse as she is with Hindi and Urdu. She has completed three novels and is working on the fourth one. She’s written some mata ki bhentein which have been used in a cassette, available in the market. Apart from wishing to publish her works, for the benefit of a discerning readership, she is also in contact with the Bollywood music industry where she feels, there is a good chance of her nazms and geets being accepted. In fact, she has almost penned down 1400 songs already! Recently she’s been signed to write the lyrics for a film to be made under the banner of Akash Ganga Productions.

Jyoti, however, finds it more difficult to do light stuff for Bollywood because her natural inclination is towards the melancholic and the philosophical. She has, therefore, decided to compromise by doing "romantic songs but with a touch of sadness". Bollywood appears to her to be a "narcissistic war, a life of complete stress". But, she philosophises" artistes are dissatisfied people, anxious and fretful, finding life punitive... An artist has to discover ways to turn anxiety into something fruitful".

The process of writing poetry for Jyoti, is to get down the thought or the idea that strikes her at a point of time and structure it at leisure, later on. The process of transforming thoughts into words is not a laborious one at all. Also, she finds no difficulty whatsoever in alternating between the two languages. She loves the sounds of words and says that when the thought is in Urdu, an Urdu poem will ensue and when in English, most naturally, an English one so her anthology compiles structured poems like The Queen Bee.

"She can be lenient, she can be stern,
She holds basic lessons, on how to govern".

"The reflective ones like Ascetic Release. Nestled in the clouds these snow clad peaks. Astounding nature with their magnetic appeal the reviewer of Minerva Press says "they (the poems) are melodic, well-structured and essentially meaningful verses that make in each poem, one emotional and intellectual statement and make it convincingly".

Also ready for publication with Minerva Press is A Lurking Panic, a novella in first person. The action revolves around a beautiful woman in her forties who is also the narrator. The conversational style of writing here is different in so far as the "narrator does not necessarily interact with a conscious effort to ‘exchange ideas’ with the reader but is often involved in a reverie. The reader is left to interpret situations. The editorial evaluation of A Lurking Panic reads, "the manuscript at hand is a well-constructed, interesting and highly readable piece of work which has the potential to attract a wide readership".

Almost complete too, is the novel A Cracked Vision. Whereas A Lurking Panic is a story which deals with "Sin, worry, mysticism and religion", A Cracked Vision presents "a vision of the madness of the world". In the pipeline is To Alex from Durga. In most of these novels Jyoti herself appears as a character. Through these characters she says, she tries to explore the various aspects of her own psyche . In the final analysis, says Jyoti, "with a paranoid disregard for any reader, I write to please myself".