Poetry in the city.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

Ritu Chowdhry began writing poetry while growing up in Kanpur. After her marriage, she took the name Ritu Asthana and moved to Faridabad in the Delhi region, where she has lived for over two decades. Over time, her writing and her identity as a poet became closely tied to the city. Today, she signs her work as Ritu Asthana “Ruhi” Faridabadi. This name reflects her personal and geographical sense of belonging. “Life for a girl, when she is living with her parents, is simpler,” she says this afternoon, over an encounter in a literary academy, where the hushed hall is filled with portraits of dead writers and out-of-use typewriters. Ritu observes that “after my marriage, my life became more layered.” She describes her years in Faridabad as a period of emotional, spiritual, and social growth—one that, she believes, shaped her voice as a poet. This is why she added “Faridabadi” to her name. The other adopted word, “Ruhi,” in her name comes from the Urdu word “ruh,” meaning soul—Ritu writes in both Urdu and Hindi. She graciously agrees to share a selection of couplets written over the last two years, often on the family dining table. Although Ritu has produced enough poetry to publish a collected volume, she has chosen to wait, out of respect for her guru, Ustad Mohan Taran Prakash Khubchandani “Dil” Sikri. She is waiting for his poetry collection to be published first.

While Ritu wrote the following couplets in Urdu, she translated them into English for this space. Even so, the Urdu of the first and final couplets has been retained (in angrezi script) to convey the sound of the original words.

Humsafar, hamzuban, hamnava chahiye,
Kab humein aarzoo ke khuda chahiye.
(I need a companion, one who speaks my language, one who echoes my thoughts;
When have I ever asked for the god of my desires?)

I have found you—what more could I need?
Now that every longing is fulfilled, why should devotion still be asked for?

One through whom I keep refining myself every moment—
I need a better mirror, someone like you.

To uphold the rituals of love for a lifetime,
Even the wounds of the heart must remain forever fresh.

I committed the fault of falling in love only for this—
That even in punishment, I seek a taste of pleasure.

Jismein sadhta rahe, hosh badhta rahe,
‘Ruhi’ ko to wahi maikada chahiye.
(Where discipline keeps forming and awareness keeps rising,
That kind of tavern ‘Ruhi’ longs for.)