Media Coverage

1. The New Indian Express, dated Sep 11, 2009

Emotions recollected in tranquillity

Emotions recollected in tranquillity

Author: Asha P Nair

For Deeya Nayar-Nambiar, it is conversing with her best friend, her own self.

KOCHI: They say poetry is the music of the soul.

For Deeya Nayar-Nambiar, it is conversing with her best friend, her own self.

That’s why she poured out her feelings on paper as a schoolgirl to write ‘How I wish I was a bird, That flies very high with full freedom...’ If it wasn’t for the freedom that poetry offered her thoughts, Deeya’s life would have been differently channelled. With the release of her first poetry collection ‘Me, My Friend’, Deeya expects a whole new world of experiences to unfold before her which she is eagerly looking forward to.

“For me, poetry is a conversation which will gradually lead me to myself.

It’s a search for my real self,” says Deeya.

Among the 50 poems in the book, some were written years back when she was in school and some were penned later after she got married and shifted to Mumbai. They would have gathered dust in her table if not for her father’s insistence to get them published. “My father kept telling me that being able to write creatively is a God-given gift and there’s no use if I hide it.” So during her last visit to Thiruvananthapuram, she met the publishers, Folio. The book has been dedicated to her father K B H Nayar, a retired Principal Chief Postmaster General.

The poems bring back memories of bygone days when a little girl was getting transformed to a grown up, Deeya says.

“I would rather call it a little girl’s diary.” It was her brief stint as a lecturer in sociology at an evening college in Bangalore that expanded her thoughts.

“That’s when I realised life has its darker sides too and that people go through hard experiences and come out better.” We then ask her why she has a rather unusual name. “Both phases of my life - as a Nayar and later as a Nambiar - have contributed to making me Deeya,” she says. Deeya has worked with Deccan Herald in Bangalore and Chitralekha group in Mumbai where she honed her journalism skills. A monotonous life in a magazine is not for her.

“That’s why I quit my job in Mumbai to become a freelance writer.” Her language is straight from the heart whether it is about the love for her mother or about the world around her. “What is significant to me may not be important to you. Poetry is personal. But it is a learning phase for me”.

What next? Deeya smiles. We found the answer in one of her poems.

You still wait hoping, hoping the human nature Still desires firm, and hoping the best You wait till infinity, for reasons you never know...

Copyright © 2012 The New Indian Express. All rights reserved.

 


2. The Hindu, dated Sep 10, 2009

Conversing with verses 

Conversing with verses

Poetic endeavour Deeya Nayar-Nambiar

Deeya Nayar-Nambiar’s book of poems, ‘Me, My Friend,’ was released recently

Ever since she was a child, poetry has been but an extension of thought for Deeya Nayar-Nambiar, author of the book of poems titled ‘Me, My Friend,’ that was released recently in the city.

And perhaps that is why Deeya likes to call her book a ‘little girl’s diary.’

Jottings

“My book of poems is like a diary of my life, except that instead of prose I have chosen verse to express my thoughts,” says Deeya, a sociologist-turned-freelance journalist.

Thanks to her father, K.P.H. Nayar, who was in the Indian Postal Service and his regular transfers across the length and breadth of the country, Deeya had the opportunity to experience a whole lot of different places, cultures and peoples.

“I have lived in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Kochi, Delhi, Bangalore and here in the city (she did her B.A. in Literature from Government Women’s College), to name a few. All my experiences have had an impact on my poems.

“For instance, during my time as a lecturer at the St. Joseph’s Evening College, Bangalore, I was inspired by my students. They all had day jobs and would come to study in the evenings.

They were all so practical about juggling work, dire circumstances and studies that it took reality to a new level,” says Deeya who has earlier published poetry online on NDTV.com, Poetry.com and MuseIndia.com.

“To borrow a phrase from Sociology, my experiences show that we cannot exist independently,” she adds.

Reflection of thoughts

The 50 poems that make up the book are a reflection of her thoughts over a period of time.

“All the poems in ‘Me, My Friend’ are my conversations with myself, hence the title.”

NITHA SATYENDRAN