Rashmi Rekha Das, OP
“Poetry comes more naturally to me than any other genre of writing”, says Bijayalaxmi Parida who has received the Timepass bestseller award for her book Mo Jharaka Ru Dise Nai
The literary landscape of Orissa is dotted by a young crop of writers who are providing immense delight to readers from across the country. Today, the bookshelves are no longer dominated by western authors. Among the young breed of litterateurs, Bijaylaxmi Parida is one who writes in Oriya. She dons several caps: The writer is a social worker and also a model. Her work often alludes to women’s issues. Through her works, she stands up for oppressed women. A rebel at heart, she is really an inspiration to women. Known for her lyrical quality and intellectualism, her work appears in many compilations. In a tête-à-tête with Orissa POST, she talks about her love for writing and how she converted her passion into a career.
The Delhi-based young author is a born writer. “Reading has always been my hobby. As I grew up, I started penning down my thoughts and in no time my pen became my best friend. Soon, the pressure of getting into a good college and scoring good marks managed to get to the top of my priority list, but the friendship with my pen never faded. I managed to get time to write something everyday. I spend sleepless nights when I don’t write anything. I was 17 years old when my first poem ‘Premika’ was published in the magazine ‘Prajatantra’. My happiness knew no bounds when I found my poem had appeared in the magazine,” she said.
Bijayalaxmi has, so far, penned 500 poems. That apart, she has to her credit four books (poetry compilations). Her first compilation was ‘Aou Kebe Kuhani Se Katha’. “The other three compilations are ‘Sanja Hele Barsha’, ‘Mo Jharaka Ru Dise Nai’ and ‘Aei Thikana Re Ghara Nahin’. John Keats had said ‘if poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.’ And I completely agree. Writing poetry, short stories and novels all involve very different processes. Writing poetry often begins with a flash of inspiration from a news article or an image on the street. Sometimes a poem comes almost fully formed. I make a practice of writing regularly so that the muse knows exactly where I am when she decides to visit. My favourite time for writing poems is between 12 am and 2 am,” the poetess said.
Asked about the best compliment she has received so far, Bijayalaxmi said: “It was from eminent litterateur Ramakant Rath who loved my lines ‘Sabu Ranga Fika Lage Jebe Tume Kuha Mote Sundara’ from the poetry compilation ‘Mo Jharaka Ru Dise Nai’. He told me the lines were so beautifully written that I could not have added anything more. I would like to recount a memorable incident in this connection. Once I got a letter from a reader Ranjan Pradhan who questioned me after reading my lines ‘ Bhala Paile Jadi Charitra Haji Jae Tebe Mu Kahibi Sabu Nari Charitrahina’. He raised his voice against my word ‘charitrahina’ (characterless). How could you define all women as characterless? I sent him a letter and cleared his doubt that I had not categorised all women as characterless. I did not get disheartened by his comment. I liked the fact that I had been taken note of by readers.”
Bijayalaxmi is happy that youngsters are showing interest in Oriya literature. “It is wrong to say that youngsters are not willing to read Oriya literature. The number of readers and writers has increased manifold over the years. Otherwise, how would I receive comments and compliments for my work,” she asked.
Apart from being a known poet, Bijayalaxmi is a social worker. She is associated with a NGO and donates seven per cent of her salary to it.
“We come across many children begging on the streets but we just overlook it. I prefer to give the hungry children a packet of biscuits or snacks instead Rs 1 or 2. It would at least satiate their hunger. Otherwise what they do is they buy unnecessary things if you give them money. I basically work for unprivileged children and school dropouts. My aim is to make school dropouts rejoin school and provide them nutritious food. That apart, I fight against social stigmas like child marriage. Once I got a call from a bride who was 19 years old and her family members were insisting her to marry a 45-year-old man. This happened at Jabalpur. I rescued the girl when she was going to tie the knot against her will. That incident created many enemies for me,” she said.
Asked how she started social service, Bijayalaxmi said: “My father was an OAS officer who died in a road mishap. He used to believe in the adage that ‘service to mankind is service to god’. There was a time when people of our village and the neighbouring villages rushed to him to seek help. My father never said no to anyone. Be it at the dead of night, he would take patients to hospitals and offer whatever help he could. After his demise, I felt the strong urge of service within me. I worked as a public relations officer of CESCO at that time. Later, I joined Bajaj Allianz as a team leader. But I was not happy and finally quit the job for social service. My initial days as a social worker were tough for me. Things fell in place after I joined the reputed NGO where I could serve the needy.”
Known for winning pageants like Glory Queen in 2000 and Miss Fantasio held in Puri and Barabati stadium in Cuttack respectively, she has anchored a few shows like ‘Rangoli’, ‘Book Fair Curtain Raiser’ and ‘Raja Special’ aired on Doordarshan and Sarthak respectively.
Author in a nutshell
Nickname: Kunmun
Favourite food: Pakhala, saga bhaja
Favourite poets: Ramakant Rath, Sitakant Mohapatra and
Pratibha Satpathy
Favourite places: Kashmir, Damanjodi
Inspiration: Father
Best buddy: Suman Ghorai, husband
Feathers in her cap
Chinta Chetana Sahitya Samman
Aranyani award
Book Fair Award
Urmila Devi Poetry Award
Timepass best seller award
