Bards of Bangalore, here’s to you

Bet Robert Frost’s neighbours didn’t know he existed until after the rest of the world discovered him.

Sylvia Plath’s townsmen would have wished they were nicer to her when she lived across the road. And Franz Kafka’s classmates, oh, don’t even think about their bundle of regret! Well, just so that you need never feel such guilt of not having recognised the literary talent around you, there is Poetry Across Borders (PAB).

PAB is a community-run initiative of independent poetry circles in cities around the world. Once a month, Bangalore connects to Berlin, Washington DC, New York, Melbourne and other cities through poetry.

Archana Prasad of Bangalore, along with Hoa Pham of Melbourne, and Gaby Bila of Berlin, came up with this seemingly simple idea. “There are just five requirements: computer, Internet, camera, microphone and speakers,” she explains. Usually, PAB meets are held via Skype or Gtalk. The tricky part is the logistical planning — coordinating across the different time zones in the participating cities. But as far as its reception goes, young poets are the happiest. “When you have your voice heard, and showcased to someone in another country, that is a nice feeling,” says Prasad based on her own experience.

“As such, participants at Poetry Across Borders events are privy to a unique international peer group, bound together by a love for the spoken word. By creating spaces for poetry and encouraging participation from new communities and circles in India and abroad, we hope to create a literary landscape that challenges those boundaries and encourages ‘poetic dialogue’ across borders,” explains the PAB website.

PAB operates democratically. Poets can fill in the application form available on the site. They do not yet restrict applicants based on the work. They sort the submissions and decide which group to fit them in, and viola! You have an international audience applauding your poetry.

PAB kicked off in December 2009. “PAB One Bangalore featured Gaby Bila and the Berlin crew+Hoa Pham and the Melbourne gang+Archana Prasad, Roshan Nair and the Strange Brew chaps sharing their poetry, music and art across borders. Nikhil Velpanur of Strange Brew Media played both photographer and poet,” says the PAB blog. The second PAB was more of a festival across these cities. There was a saxophone performance in Berlin, and a VJ in Bangalore organised a jam session.

This Sunday, they’re conducting their 11th session. PAB is closing out the month of May with poetry and music, says coordinator Aarthi Ajit.

This session will feature Aditya Venkat, Aurora Masum-Javed, Sailen Routray, Khushrav J Writer, Amith Seshagiri, Phoebe Lifton, KJ Bhatt, Rahul Chidambaran, Prashant Bhat, Subashika Govindan, Chitralekha Manohar, Ashwin Shakthi, Vishesh Unni, Samyuktha PC and Archana Sankaran. Bangalore will also be sharing the virtual stage with poets from BloomBars Poetry in the Morning (Washington DC) such as Jonathan Tucker, Gowri Koneswaran and Safia Elhillo, as well as Chennai-based poets from Them Pretentious Basterds.