DANIA KHAN: THE PRODIGY POET

When one meets Dania, the prodigy poet with a book published from Roopa Publication, the first reaction is that of amazement .

Her Baby face is more highlighted due to the fringe she sports, though the eyes under the fringe are serious. She is a child of barely 12 years with a wizened old soul.

Her first book of poetry ‘ The Labyrinth’ is well appreciated yet she seems untouched by the eulogies that have come for the book.

The Forward to her poetry book Labyrinth is written by the celebrated writer, Ruskin Bond who says, ‘In some of the poems the reader might find himself/herself submerged in the whirlpool of conflicting emotions while in some the reader will feel emancipated.

Such is the young poetess’s construct of words that it leaves you both chained and liberated, all at once’ The parental age group’s grossly preconceived notions about children are challenged by Dania’s intelligence.

She is not only well read she is also extremely diversified and unique in her pursuits and interests. Take for example the facts that she is a bibliophile, a linguaphile , writes an Instagram account, @bookomaniacal reviewing books, loves calligraphy and is a Quantum Physics enthusiast!!

The subject content of Quantum Physics seems too heavy for her frail shoulders and I ask her why this choice of subject. She explains, ‘Quantum physics doesn’t exactly enter my writing content because I like to keep a sharp divide between it and my writing. But Quantum physics also talks about endless possibilities and probabilities which I find very interesting.

I inculcate this interest into my poems by always adding a glimmer of hope in them, thus showing that there are always endless possibilities.’

It is interesting to see her interpret Quantum Physics in a rare intellectual vein. It has something to do with the subliminal connections of literature and science, the unexplored sense of a word written, unwritten, said or unsaid.

She believes in the potent power of words, said or unsaid, they carry loads of meanings and a cryptic message for her and her readers.

Her writing unfolds the meaning of a word and it is a powerful tool to her to decipher the logic of violence, wars, the mindless and most insensitive misuse of natural resources, the cruelty humans wreak on other weaker humans .

The perennial child in all of us is struck by the double standards of people and nations so what is there for a young soul to celebrate?

It is no wonder that a Greta Thunberg protests loud for environment and a Malala Yousafzai stands up for Girl Education harking back to the German –jewish Anne Frank’s Diary’s heart wrenching words!!

Her Instagram account @Bookomaiacal gives her a chance to share her passion for books with other likeminded people.

She shares that choosing poetry was not a conscious choice as it came naturally to her. As she broke the bondage of rhyming, words just flowed.

Though currently she is trying her hand at prose too. She denies that her poetry is dark while admitting the frequent description of her poetry as too sombre. In spite of her denial, her poetry is close to reality which is turning uglier every day.

There is an innate desire in young Dania to express, string together words to form a metaphor that will project a poignant world full of unhappy things. As she puts it in her introduction there is a compulsion to say, to articulate the darkness inside her, to reach out to every sensitive heart.

She does not write for herself but for ‘all the kids who were about to give up’After talking to her for a while, it does feel redundant to ask why such dark poetry?

Poems like Hope, I Couldn’t See Myself, Light , looking For Someone to Love, Corpse and other titles tell us about the disillusionment of an honest individual who can see the reality wrapped in words, ideologies and pontifications.

Dania Khan’s book launch in Mumbai was done by the esoteric, actor-intellectual Naseruddin Shah at the historic Kitabghar in South Mumbai, attended by intellectuals who were all Dania’s literary friends on social media.

So there were Mr. Ranjit Haskote and Ms. Nitya Satyani with Naseeruddin Shah and there were Ms Ratna Pathak Shah, Ms. Shabnam Minawala (Writer for children whose style is emulated by Dania),Mr. Suhit Kelkar, Kaiwan Mehta and Samir Somaiyya - celebrities in the field.

‘In this world, people may live Their entire lives Searching for who they are, While some may live through their entire lives afraid of who they are ‘ - the lines of one of her poems sum up the enigmatic Dania Khan