Shillong, Nov 26: To a room packed with fans and Book lovers, Deepti Naval, famous actress, poet, author and painter, shared some insightful experiences of her life by reading her poetry and a short story on the evening of November 26.
Amidst the cold winter evening at Asian confluence Shillong, Deepti reads out ten lines from her booke Mad Tibetan
A pin drop silence was maintain as Deepti reads out loud fews lines. The Mad Tibetan which has lent its name to this collection is a story of a well, a mad Tibetan whom Naval encountered in Leh.
The Mad Tibetan opens with a short story of the same name, which the actress read aloud. It begins with a walk in the snow. Hanging a camera around her neck, Deepti as the narrator set out purposefully with no purpose: just to observe nature and see what she wouldfind. Eventually she comes across a Tibetan living in a make-shift house. As the suspense builds, the audience wonderswhat the a Tibetan will do to her.
Naval tells us that the mad Tibetan is a bitter old man who is fierce and wild, but when he smiles, he is a child. Like many other stories, the ending is neither happy nor sad. The reader gets to meet the mad Tibetan first hand and it time to move on.
The 56-year-old actress writes from her experiences, shaping her little scribblings into poems and short stories.
Her collection of short stories, The Mad Tibetan (2011) features original artwork and a unique patchwork of memoir, travel writing, and pure fiction. Penned in English, the book explores the complexity of the human condition and all its qualities from cruelty to kindness, love and longing. Lamha Lamha (1981) is a compilation of Naval poems written in Hindi. She published a second volume of verses, Black Wind in 2004.
Her Journey from Lamha Lamha to Mad Tibet, shows her take in life.
She is also a philanthropist and founded Vinod Pandit Charitable Trust to further the education of the girl child.
‘The Mad Tibetan’ is an emotional read. Every story hides a story within. The narrator throws us into a spool of unspoken truths about her protagonists and helps us navigate through multiple time frames to get closer to the characters and their lives.(SP News)
