Jaydev Patel
You will immediately fall in love with Jaydev Patel and his words. He published his first book "Blessed Despair" available on amazon.in, this year. It is a compilation of beautiful poems about self-love and healing.
In addition to this, he is also the finalist of our writer of the month contest, living and studying in India's Ahmedabad. His writing is filled with emotions and truth coming from his heart. So let’s go with him on a journey.
1. Describe yourself in five sentence or lines:
Myself I'm someone who'd listen more and more, who'd create a light to open up any door, I tend to be like water so as to fit anywhere, and get into things which are always rare, I guess 5 lines wouldn't be enough to share. 2. Beside writing poems, you are also a writer and published your first book this year. What is your book about? I'm one of the contributing poets in the book "Blessed Despair" published by the "Artson Publishing House". The book is actually about self-love and healing. I came to know about this book through a casual message sent on my college's formal group (and I just applied because I was into writing). Surfing through it, I came to know what the book was about and loving oneself always attracts me (because I'm a person who tends to look within rather than outside). So I submitted four of my entries and gave it to them, I didn't know if I was gonna get selected or not, but I did. Moreover, when the head of the publishing house went LIVE on Instagram after a few days to answer our queries regarding the book, she asked for some suggestions so as to what the book should be called. One of the suggestions came from me and it was "Blessed Despair". 3. Your book "Blessed despair" is a collaboration and compilation of different artist from India. Can you tell us something more about it?
"Blessed Despair" was an initiative for all the writers around India to come up with their work and show it to the world. Honestly, I was one of such person who had been writing since 3 years, but never brought my works out. I've got a collection of more than 300 poems in my phone! So, that was the first time I opened up to something when people pushed me to (friends and family). The reason being, I tend to be a perfectionist, I wouldn't go out on the stage in front of the people even if I was good enough because I ain't scared of disappointing them, but disappointing myself. If I think I am good at something, I wouldn't care about the audience and give my best on the stage. I always love to perform, and I usually do it for myself. However, "Blessed Despair" made me realize that I was on a mesmerising path when I came to know that people loved my writings. The four poems that I gave in the book were "I Found Me", "Within", "Amen" and "Human". So we are honored, that we also find "Human" at our website in our . Thank you so much for this. 4. At the back of the book it you can read "It is an attempt to bring together the feelings of these poets". Can you tell us more about it?
"It is an attempt to bring together the feelings of these poets" - Well, what I sense is that when I'd be talking to a person about my problems and a third person enters into the conversation to share his problems, I'd totally ignore him as I think that my problems are bigger than his. But when I'd travel into an airplane and peep outside the window to look at the world that's too gigantic for my problems to be called the biggest, I'd remember that third person who had jumped into my conversations to share his feelings. I think it's necessary for a writer to know what other writers feel while they're penning down on the paper, because there still might be hundreds of writers like me who haven't started bringing their works out, but Artson Publishing House made me "One More Light" that flickered. So, such events should take place now and then because today, the world needs a pen and not a sword! 5. And did you ever met the other poets?
So, I kind of never met any poets of the book, but I felt them, I could see them through the pages and dive into their minds, and the publisher of the house, Miss Soniya Kapoor did a great job to launch this book and bring joy to all the poet's faces.
6. How was your experience getting published?
Being one of the poets in the book and being published felt as if I became better today than what I was yesterday. It felt as if something had been added into me, felt as if I took a step ahead in my life. One of the reasons being my own wish to say my words out loud and reach out to the people guiding them through the path of self-motivation, self-love and self-healing. 7. Do you live in a family of writers?
My dad's a professor of sociology, my mom is a typist, my sister works with TCS. None of them write, except for those letters that my dad writes to me when we don't talk sometimes, which kinda make me cry although they're in Gujarati (while I write in English). But the emotions behind them make me feel those words. I am basically someone who hasn't really been taught anything about writing, neither do I have any surroundings of mine who are writers. I pick up words from my sensory system and try to place them on paper. 8. Why do you write?
Thanks for this question, because everyone appreciates my writings, but no one asked me, "Why do you write?" Well, I write because I feel, I write because I've come across the most powerful weapon in my life - WORDS, I write because people around me have made me feel good and bad as well through their words, I write because I've tried to see the reality of the life and managed to live in the fantasy of it, I write because I can just smile when I'm happy and choke when I'm sad, so I write to express myself, I write because I was the kid who could never express his wishes being too busy in the books, but then I looked up from the books and wished to see people read my books. 9. Who inspires you?
This might sound a little bit crazy, but none of the writers inspire me, because frankly speaking, I don't read. I might be the first person who writes, but doesn't read. I'm into music though, and Zayn Malik has been my idol. I've read very less, but his autobiography was what I didn't miss out on. It's one of the finest books I've went through till now. The way it has his pictures on every page shows his love for himself, and the way he has inked his life story inside the book, the words say that they're honest. I can always relate myself to him, not because I like him, but knowing about him always makes me sense that we're on the same page. Because he teaches me to be myself even though I can relate to him, my love for him has never crossed the line of my self esteem and that's what I think inspired me about him, his aura around my brain. Besides that, my Gymnastics trainer who has been supporting me since the past 3 and a half years (since I started learning Gymnastics), has been a great back bone to my journey. I was very negative as a child, in fact till I was 16 years old. But when I started pumping myself up through
exercising and learning stunts, I could feel that the mind is not a bad neighborhood, it can actually move millions, and it moved me from extrinsic to intrinsic. My trainer told me that learn to believe in something if you want to make it happen, and for some reason, it didn't sound philosophical to me because I could never say it's a myth unless I've tried it. I applied that word 'belief' in my vivacity and believe me, it changed a lot. 10. When have you detected your love for poetry?
I was in the tenth grade and just like the others, I was infatuated by my opposite gender. I was too shy to come out of the walls though, being too silly as a kid. Overthinking a lot, I expressed myself to her one fine day and my negativity led to a rejection. As someone in a closed shell, I didn't know what to do, but all I had on my desk was a paper and a pen, and I just flew it away. It was a horrible poem to be honest, but I discovered that rather than letting these social animals know, I can express myself to these non-living things, and that's how I ended up writing. Then came some musical evolutions into my ears, like Linkin Park, One Direction (during the phase when I was a massive boy band fan), Maroon 5, Blue (Hip Hop), Eminem, Switchfoot, The Vamps, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Enrique Iglesias, and much more who made me come across new words, new feelings everyday. Eventually, I am able to write what I write today. My innovation and visualization play a vital role in writing too.
11. Is poetry your first love?
There are a lot of activities that I do, but if I am told to write for the rest of my life, I wouldn't hesitate. My love for myself makes me feel that every art that I possess can turn out to be positive enough. I don't know if it's my first love or not, because I feel every art is interconnected and something unique within itself. 12. We all fell immediately in love with your poem "It's You" you sent us for the final entry for the writer of the month challenge. What do you do to get inspired?
Just before letting you answer the question, we post the poem for our readers to catch up. It is a very beautiful one. Full of insights. So, please enjoy. "It's You" I know someone who can help you out, to pull you back when you just drown, and then place you in a better space, where you'd find glory and some grace. I know someone who can stay with you, bring you from the black towards the blue, where there is love, where there is light, where you'd know how to put up a fight. I know someone who can accept you, for whatever that you really wanna do, who'd never let you fall and break in two, who'd walk along till the end in your shoe. I know someone who can live with you, adoring your perfections and flaws too, it's you my friend, wake up from slumber, it's you my friend, come out of the mirror. My poems are based on varied things, like sometimes they're a plot which I witnessed during the day, or some activity that I did, or some thought that clicked my mind, and this is possible because I usually spend time with myself, a lot. Solitude had helped me through these years to develop more and more, because being alone and finding myself through the clock, I come up with new things every now and then. It might sound crazy, but I am able to write a poem on any topic within 10 minutes of time, and my imagination helps a lot in it. 13. Dale Wimbrow is your favorite poet. You wrote in your gallery, that he is e of the finest poets ever. Why have you chosen him for the Unboxedt Challenge? I still remember my English textbook, and the day when the teacher started the poem "The Guy In The Glass" by "Dale Wimbrow". I chose him as the poem that he wrote didn't have an amazing vocab, but his simple words made a lot of sense. This poem has also changed a lot of lives all over the world. I'm someone who would get towards stuff like knowing oneself and thus, this poem flashed in front of my eyes when I read the final topic for the "Writer of the month" challenge. And adding up to that, I love influencing people through my words and it was a major reason I chose to write the poem "It's You", to let the readers realize that in the end, it's their life and no one is gonna help them to come out of the pit, it can only be done by them, so they need to come out of the mirror and witness their capabilities. Thank you so much for the additional insights about your poem "It's you". 14. What was your first favorite poem, which opened for you the world of poems? And why? "The Road Not Taken" by "Robert Frost" was one of my love back at school. The way he rhymes, the way he holds the eyes of the reader till the last line of the poem and still one wouldn't understand the real meaning behind it where he uses the word 'sigh' in his work, it's everything a writer wishes to write. However, I'm glad I don't regret the path that I've chosen in my life, like Robert says in the poem. Thank you for sharing and your interpretation. Yes! The closing lines of the poem are very strong and full of insight. "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. "
15. You are very athletic. Can you tell us something about it?
Yes, I mentioned that I'm a trained Gymnast since 3 and a half years now. Actually when I was in the third grade, I started my cricket coaching and I continued it for seven long years. I played the district tournaments at the age of twelve, and later on...I was rejected during the state selections. This led to a depression of two years in my life where I had left all the activities. Then one fine evening, my friends told me that they are going to learn stunts, and asked me whether I wanted to join them. I asked them about what they were going to learn there, and they said, "Standing on two hands, flipping, etc." It got me curious because I had never seen that thing in front of my eyes before, and after those years of depression, it was the first time I developed a spark in my eyes hearing the name of a sport. I went on to the trainer with my friends and started learning. Gymnastics requires a lot of patience level, and I came to know this when I was the only student standing after some months and all my friends had left. This made me think that if I learn to give time to things, they'd be alright. And I didn't leave that thing since then, because it taught me a lesson. Now I'm able to stand on two hands, flip backwards and forward, and much more. Thanks to my friends for that. 16. Besides writing how do you express yourself?
Besides writing, I sing, I perform stunts, I'm into street fighting, and I teach Gymnastics in my college too. I've acted in dramas too. So basically, I love to express myself through every art. I mimic characters sometimes too.
17. What is your writing process like?
I don't write unless and until I feel it from the inside. I set up a plot inside my mind firstly, or I startup with any line that hits my mind and then continue the poem. I take the last word of the line and start murmuring rhyming words to it to create a good and sensible pattern to the poem. I check the metering of every next line then, and also try to use the same number of syllables that were used in the previous line. Sometimes I try to change my rhyming patterns too, try writing sonnets, ballads, and search for different poem genres. Lastly, I read the poem out to see what kind of an emotion does it depict and how would the readers interpret it. 18. What are you doing for a living? Well, I'm a student in the third year of college right now, pursuing the degree of Liberal Studies. I still earn though, by teaching Gymnastics, strength building, endurance, flexibility, weight loss, street fighting, in my University itself. I'm eyeing upon launching my own solo book too, still working upon it... let's see where I land. 19. Where are you from? I was born in Ahmedabad, and soon after that, I had to go to Gandhinagar (the capital of Gujarat) and was brought up there. Studied in a convent school there (Mt. Carmel) which taught me good ethics from the childhood. Later, from the sixth grade, I've been living in Ahmedabad and this place has settled in my heart just like I've settled here. 20. Do you always go for your dreams?
I'm a person who doesn't accept the reality, because I tend to change it according to my way. I am practical enough when it comes to anything, and emotional too at times. But in the case of achieving my dreams, I am a blend of emotions and practicality, so I run behind them keeping my own feelings in mind and complete them being practical enough. I try to overcome different hurdles coming in between, but I'd refuse looking back. 21. You write from your heart and soul. Your poems are full of truth and emotions. What do you do to dive into your emotions and feelings? Keeping it simple, I just put myself at the place or the scenario which the poem depicts. I try to feel the surroundings that the topic reflects, I try to be the person who is experiencing the things happening in the plot of the poem. 22. For the Unboxed Challenge you had to write every day a new poem on a specific theme. Do you ever have a writing block?
I don't have a writing block, because I'm always in search of a topic to write upon. There have been a very few times, like hardly twice or thrice that I've started writing and suddenly my fingers stop on the first line itself, but then I don't try to prick my mind much, I just leave it right there and give it some rest. I continue when I feel like writing again. But when I already have the topic, I'm always enthusiastic to scribble upon it. 23. What would be the last line of your autobiography say?
Last line of my autobiography would say, "Read it, don't live it. Make your own." 24. What is your favorite quote?
"Life is not what it is, life is what you make it."
25. How would you encourage your fellow writers? Or somebody who just have started?
I would tell them to be themselves first. Wouldn't force them to start reading to become successful, I'd let them breathe for a while so that they can think freely, because letting the air through is a very important aspect of writing honestly. And honest words highlight the amount of truthfulness in one's poems. I would just ask them to pick up a dictionary and read one new word everyday, which wouldn't seem a burden to them. This would make them find more rhymes, and use those words in a daily life too. It would then make them feel different from the others they're having a conversation with and it'll boost up their confidence, which is very necessary in developing any art form.
Thank you so much dear Jaydev, it was a pleasure talking to you. Thank you for your openness and sharing your life with us.
If you want to keep in touch with him follow him on Insta @jd_mr.misfit or on Snapchat jd_misfit