12th July 2009...The Blue Frog

One Night, Stand at the Blue Frog last Sunday saw ten poets come out of the monsoon mist…

It was heartwarming to see the kind Dr Ajit Mehta once again, with his entire family to cheer and applaud him… evidence that slam has no age barrier… and to hear his granddaughter’s enthusiastic desire to participate in the next slam!

Arvind Bharti, Raoul Lobo and Vivek Viswam were some of the old faces who returned with new substance and renewed mettle… and some new faces…including Alpes and Rahul…



While Atul and Varun soulfully sang out their poems called ‘Neela Asmaan’ and ‘Makhmali hai, daldali hai’ respectively, the other slam pieces were on themes ranging from Bhrashtaachaar (corruption), Shiney Ahuja, the Ration Office, Gastric disorders, a lady called Zsa Zsa, ‘the Other Guy’ and Everyday life…

While more than 20 poets had registered, only 10 actually showed up… clearly a case of cold feet at the last minute preventing our future Allen Ginsbergs from taking the mike… nevertheless, the remaining ten held fort most gallantly… And we skipped a round going straight from the elims to the finals…

The final 5 were the evergreens – Alfred, Atul, Rajendra, and Varun (last Slam’s winner) and a newbie – Rahul Bajaj!

Alfred bagged the Grand Slam title with his piece ‘A Co-Written Love Story’…

t must be said that the musicians were missed at the slam very much this time, and we hope that the budget will allow us to bring them back next time round…

What I did miss more than anything else was seeing some women poets in the house! I had to make good the deficit all by my lonesome with the pieces 2000AD Trauma and Mamma’s Boy…

The pieces tended to be a trifle too long this time, and poets need to keep the time limit in mind when rehearsing their pieces… Also, those with their pieces memorized tend to win more votes from the audience since they connect better with the crowd… and finally slam is about performance as well, not just content!

So while it is unfortunate that some of the better poets did get voted out early, particularly since there were only two rounds, it is a lesson to come better prepared to perform next time… also, I found many of the poets chose to focus on romantic love as a theme – and while it is no doubt of the essence for much poetry over the millenia… are there not other preoccupations that we can share?

Finally, if I may– as the convenor of this event – have my say… It is a bit tiresome to have poets moon constantly over their lost loves. There is so much more to life, really! Just read the paper… surely there are things happening in the world other than your own love life… Hope the next slam will offer us all a larger slice of life… Lots of love, thanks for coming out, and hope to see you at the next one!

Cheers,
Shivani