How it all started

As far as I remember, my parents were fond of urdu poetry and gazals and listened to them whenever they found time at home. I listened to the same music and as a result got influenced by Urdu and Hindi poetry. Growing up in India, Bollywood movies and the associated songs play a big part in the Indian social fabric. I remember my father bought me a small transistor, the size of a walkman, that I used to listen hindi music on while studying and as I went to bed every night. 

Lyrics, their literal and contextual meaning, the melodious music continued to have an impact on my interests as I went through high school and college. Listening to radio and humming along developed into a deeper interest in singing and poetry. 

Eventually I started singing in social parties, friend gatherings and other occasions. I loved the older songs that I grew up listening to, like the ones from 1950s - 1990s. Sometime my friends do not relate and do take couple of friendly jabs at me. 

I believe I was in college when I started writing poetry in both English and Hindi. I even assumed a pen name - Agni (pronounced as Ugh-knee). Agni means fire in Hindi. For me the pen name was more about the contextual meaning than the literal meaning. The contextual meaning was more about romantic poetry, pathos, separation and lover's agony. 

I would love to share my favorite poets, gazal singers and my favorite gazals and nazms. I will share my poetry too. :-)