Blithesome spirit is lost,
Only memories adorn,
My wandering soul,
A sweet little girl, why have I grown?
Time quickly fled by,
Buds no longer smile,
The flowers bloom wild,
But at heart, I'm still a child.
This is the voice of a child-woman who finds "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings" too far from reality" and wants "to live within the boundaries of life and realism". Meet Nameera Baig, of Std. XII, St. George's Grammar School, who has bagged many prizes in debate, essay writing and elocution in intra-and inter-school competitions since she was seven years old.
Nameera's achievements include a "Super Kid" Ugadi Puraskar, and the `Bal Ratna Gifted Child' award for Literature by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Department of Education. Now, the 16-year-old is the proud recipient of `Balashree Award' for Creative Writing recently announced by the Government of India, New Delhi, to be given away by the President shortly.
"My grandfather Amir Ahmed Khusrou, eminent Urdu poet and winner of Sahitya Akademi award, was my inspiration.," she says. Nameera plans to get her poems published in three different anthologies. While the English anthologies are titled "The Ocean of Thoughts" and "Desideratum" with 50 poems in each collection, 35 of her Hindi poems are combined to give "Aakanksha".
She enjoys reading Charles Dickens and the Iliad and the Odyssey are her favourite books. She loves to watch films like "Ben-Hur", "The Ten Commandments" and "Gone With the Wind". " Her ambition is to become a virologist. When asked why most of her poems end on a pessimistic note, Nameera says "No, I'm optimistic. But so much is happening around us that it cannot be ignored. I portray these deplorable things and also certain human emotions in my poems. Though I write on nature too, I feel satisfied when I pen my thoughts on human relationships, emotions and despair as I experience a few myself," she says.
SHANTI NANISETTI
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