Q&A: Shrutee Choudhary, Author of 'A Garage Sale of Lovelorn Things'

Shrutee Choudhary is an actor and a writer, based in Mumbai. She began writing as a child, in attempts to mimic the worlds she so often escaped into through various books. The poet in her, however, quite naturally leapt out as a teenager, and she has found an outlet through words ever since. She loves to tell stories, whether it is through her performance, travel or writing. She has recently come out with her poetry collection, A Garage Sale of Lovelorn Things. She has a mass following on Instagram, and readers can follow her work on @shruteechoudhary.

I chat with her about her poetry book A Garage Sale of Lovelorn Things, how the book came to be, book recommendations, and much more.

Hello, Shrutee! Tell us a bit about yourself!

I hail from the city of Ranchi but I have spent 4 years of my childhood in Bhutan. I have also lived in Toronto. I think being exposed to the vastness of the world at such a young age made my ambitions grow. I also used to read a lot and since a very young age, I knew what I wanted from my life.

So after completing high school, I moved to Bombay for college. I studied Mass Media and graduated in advertising from KC College. Post which, I went to NYFA in New York to study Acting for Film. Both writing and acting are of equal importance to me, although when asked to pick, I say writing is a passion whereas acting is a chosen profession. 

I started posting my poems on my Instagram and it was only when I started gaining an audience and the validation that came along with it, that I felt confident enough to continue doing so. That is when I started writing for literary fiction platforms like Terribly Tiny Tales, Frolic Media, Rattle, etc, and that helped shape my career as a writer.

When did you start writing poetry? Which poets have been your inspirations?

I began writing short stories and basic poetry when I was really young, since I used to read a lot and I always wanted to create my own little story. My mother also put me into the habit of maintaining a journal, which would also double as a zine in which I would write poems. Although, professionally it only started in 2017, when I first started writing for Terribly Tiny Tales.

My biggest inspirations have been Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Mary Oliver, Pablo Neruda and R.M. Rilke.

If you could only describe your poetry book A Garage Sale of Lovelorn Things in five words, what would they be?

Let go of your heartbreak.

'A Garage Sale of Lovelorn Things', published by BecomeShakespeare

Now tell us a little more about the book! What can readers expect?

A Garage Sale of Lovelorn Things is a collection of a hundred poems, which are about healing through letting go.

More often than not, we tend to assign meaning to inane objects and hold onto them. It is a metaphorical yard sale where I urge people to let go of the emotional baggage and objects associated with them. To declutter their lives to make space for better things to come.

I think when they read the book, they will realize it isn’t meant to be a commercial feat. It is a raw depiction of human emotions. It’s a vulnerable and honest work. Healing isn’t linear and feelings are messy, and that you must face your past in order to move on.

What was the moment when the idea of this book first came to be? What made you pursue it?

I have always wanted to become an author but I anticipated it to happen at a later stage in life. It’s only in the last couple of years that I had to go through certain experiences that shifted my perspective on life entirely, and I decided not to wait a minute longer. I immediately began to compile poems, and to be honest, the theme just came to me. I think it was because that’s what I needed to read at the time, so I created it for other people.

I constantly lacked motivation and procrastinated a lot but my friends kept pushing me to write.

You write that through the poems in this book, you hope to declutter and heal, and to make space for better things to come. Was writing these poems a cathartic experience for you? If yes, how?

Absolutely. I was diagnosed with anxiety and bipolar disorder about four years ago, and I have struggled a lot since. When I was at my rock bottom, writing was my only solace. It helped me understand myself when I couldn’t even put together my thoughts. I wrote poems about mental health awareness too, which really resonated with a lot of people on Instagram, which made me feel happy. For if I could help even one person through the power of my words, then it would be a success.

How have you been coping with the current pandemic and what will be the new normal for you post it?

Oh, it's been hard. There are days I can’t conjure up any motivation. But I have learned to be gentler with myself. We are in the midst of a pandemic after all; surviving in itself is an achievement.

Although, I try my best to stick to a routine. I get some endorphins through exercise. There's also therapy. I force myself to read at least a chapter, despite the attention span being weak, and I’ve been writing regularly. Sometimes I will even dance mindlessly to blaring music. And if nothing, simply sleep.

What are you reading currently? Do you have any poetry book recommendations for readers who enjoyed A Garage Sale of Lovelorn Things?

Currently, I'm reading multiple books. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman, Love’s Executioner by Irvin D. Yalom and The Plague by Albert Camus.

As for a recommendation, a good friend of mine, Sanhita Baruah, has written this book called The Art of Letting Go and it's incredible. Also, Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods by Tishani Doshi.

The book ‘A Garage Sale of Lovelorn Things’ is available online and at your nearest bookstore.

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