It was August of 2016. He was seemingly a shy, young virginal child. Introverted and probably way too innocent. He stayed silent during the two day workshop event. Carrying awe-inspiring passion for both photography and writing, Yash seemed talented. Approximately an year later, he reconnected with me with an interest to compile a poetry collection. I wasn’t able to recognise him and I just started the conversation with him. He started sharing his poems and that transformed me as a person.
I have been a poet most of my life and being surrounded by hundreds of poets and poetesses, I always felt a connect with poetry at large. I had stopped writing poems, ever since a personal disaster took away that inner passion and zeal in me in 2014. Couple of poems from Yash just took me to a zone less traveled by.
It shook me seeing how such an innocent looking teen can shake the gates of heaven and create chaos in hell through blood filled poems.
I was overwhelmed and I decided to mentor him. All I had to do is to show how life changes once a reading and listening audience is carved. How money can inspire passion to grow itself exponentially.
Coming from a privileged family, Yash was pushed into pursuing CA. Lack of interest and complete inclination towards writing and photography, Yash somehow convinced family for a drop. He was considered a loser and people really felt Yash would not be able to break the glass ceiling and come out of the family shadows.
Yash was also a rebel. Rebellious character got him closer to dark poetry but the fear of failure would alway stop him to take any steps in life. He was wasting time doing nothing, but things were about to get “eXtreme”
“A bong smoking, bike riding, ink pen fanatic that draws energy from dark poems, offensive humour, Dev-Anand and dank memes”, Yash Singhania finally came out and revealed himself.
“A Cynic’s Shadow, encapsulates a voyage of pain, hardships and challenges faced by me in convincing an orthodox family into believing that I was destined for better things than CA. A journey from being locked up in solitude to chasing dreams at the speed of light. The book contains the ailments of a melancholic man who saw the world as it really is, but never stopped hoping and working for better things. The purpose of this book is to remind people that when they think all is lost, it isn’t and theirs isn’t the only ship amidst a storm. To tell them that there are more people out there with problems and they deal with them or push them down. You maybe one of the two and this book is for you.”
It sold well. It was covered well by the media. The reviews were amazing and Yash even contributed as a poet for New Indian Express.
Yash joined me for a small lecture at IIIT Hyderabad on 15th August 2018 and narrated couple of his poems to the energetic crowd. His profile has turned crazy and the earnings have started. He probably spends twice as much as what he earns currently but that’s forgivable in late teen age I suppose.
“In the modern era, impatience and plagiarism have surpassed real poets and that’s why the world has seen a dynamic shift in poetry.
In the olden times, poems carried death, the death of a mistaken identity. It showed us, “there is a lot of love in hatred too.”
But here comes Yash Singhania with Cynic’s Shadow. A book that brought me closer to the ancient era poets. A book that has changed the notion about poetry. A book that, I am sure, will revolutionaries how poetry is recognized.
Writing about Yash Singhania is an experience in itself. He has mastered the art of poetic verses at a very young age. The book “Cynic’s Shadow” is a collection of dark, dank and deep broken lines that thrilled me after multiple reading. It gave me goosebumps reading those metaphors flowing through the pages! Extra efforts were put in the book through shadows and the sketches to portray Yash’s mind. The imagination, the zeal to complete and compile infinity loop and the thirst for powerful words have made Cynic’s Shadow my favorite poetry book ever. I have been a poet for the past thirteen years and never before, I have been intrigued by such diversity in words and tropes.”
Originally published at www.nikhilchandwani.com