The Festival of Light, Diwali, was celebrated from October 17 to 20 at the National Trust’s Bateman’s, the home of Rudyard Kipling. The house was decorated with handcrafted clay lamps, and rooms draped with orange garlands, paper flowers and Indian fabrics, the flickering lights and colours welcome on a grey, wet autumn afternoon.
Kipling was born and lived in India and his experience of his life there is reflected in his writings – the Just So Stories and The Jungle Book, and in the house which contains many items collected from his time in India and from his wider travels.
As part of the event, Anwesha Arya and Alex Josephy, two writers from Rye, read poems from their latest collection, Storylines: Poems from the stories of our lives. They have spent the last year working together writing poems and, though from different backgrounds and cultures (Anwesha born in Bombay and Alex of Welsh, Yorkshire and Jewish ancestry), they share a love of reading, family stories and English children’s books and literary classics.
Anwesha said: “During the best part of the last year Alex and I have met and workshopped our poetry together, whilst also getting to know each other better. Our styles are different, but our reading cultures are so similar, being brought up on so much common literature brought us together. But our differences made us look at our own work objectively, and the process flowed so organically that it was enriching for both of us as poets and people. I think we complement each other creatively, which has also been forthcoming in a lot of feedback from readers and listeners.”
From poems about escaping into the worlds of The Jungle Book, of Moomintroll and Snuffkin and of Pongo and Purdie barking across London, to Velvet Brown and Pie of National Velvet we catch glimpses of the poets’ childhood joys, fears and insecurities. In Bagheera ( Anwesha), the panther is a protector and a comfort. The memory of a father reading to an ill child, is another special moment cherished (Ogre Boots, Alex).
Books, hymns, dances, songs and mythological stories weave through memories and experiences – traditional English where memories spring through the words of the hymn For Those in Peril on the Sea (Peril by Alex) and traditional Indian – the story of Rama and Sita told through gesture and dance (Murdra: Speaking in Hands by Anwesah and Alex).
For the audience listening to the poems read out, some parts or lines read in unison, the delight of the poets in their shared experience was plain to see.
“Alex’s vast experience rings through in her poetry, while my being a beginner in this mesmerising world of words is clear through my work. Poetry is the language of mirrors and memory; it is the play of this that can create magic. In our case, with our little pamphlet Storylines, we’ve produced something living that people are already responding to so positively, it’s been quite humbling.”
For Anwesha, reading at the home of a much-loved writer was inspiring. “To have been invited to inaugurate the Diwali celebrations at Batemans by the National Trust’s Beatrice Rapely who attended our launch reading at the Rye Arts Festival earlier last month, was immense. For me to be sharing my own words aloud at Rudyard Kipling’s house earmarks a moment in my life that I can truly share with a hero of mine, and being another Bombay-born writer it sent a spark through me. Sparks and blinking lights of flame decorating the beautiful property at this time of year when the world celebrates turning back to the light felt truly special. This event might even result in a writing Residency at Batemans for us poets in partnership, so watch this space.”
Storylines is available for sale at Waterstones online, in Rye Bookshop and at the Paper Place on Rye High Street for £8.
Image Credits: David Hornbrook , Jeff Grice .