A space for beautiful things

A unique online project by Rohini Kejriwal that fishes out the best of art, poetry and music from the hidden corners of the internet.

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.

These words by Robert Frost beautifully state how ‘finding’ is the key to the process of poetry writing. Traditionally, the go-to places for those who appreciate poetry and art, have been libraries, book shops, museums, galleries and curated offline sessions. In the virtual world though, it is different. With a plethora of websites, platforms, blogs and social media to choose from, it is not easy to swim through the spam and find poetic or artistic inspiration.

That perhaps has been the purpose of The Alipore Post, a project that was started by Rohini Kejriwal in Alipore, a neighbourhood in South Kolkata. Rohini has been sending newsletters, week after week, for about six years now. A curator of art, poetry and music, Rohini shares them from the hidden corners of the internet via The Alipore Post, now from her home in Bengaluru.

A lot has changed since Rohini’s first newsletter went out on February 2, 2015. It was just a personal email sent to about 30 people — mostly family and friends. Today, over 4,000 people from India and across the globe have subscribed to it. What’s also got added on to The Alipore Post’s palette are a website, an Instagram Page (with over 40,000 followers) and a Facebook page. “Everyone’s relationship with social media has changed. Sharing the curation on these platforms seemed like the next organic thing to do,” says Rohini.

An escape route

For Rohini, the urge to start this kind of curation perhaps began in school when she got a chance to do her own take on a newsletter run by a senior. “The Internet opened up the world of art and poetry to me. It was an escape route. Poetry, until then, was more academic to me. Even if I wrote, it was for self-indulgence. Plus, the poets or authors we read about weren’t new or recent or alive. I wanted to create a platform that showcased the work of inspiring artists, irrespective of their historical legacy,” she adds.

Rohini spends hours going through archives of online magazines for beautiful poetry, art, illustrations and music to share with her subscribers/followers. As per her words, “it’s a labour of love”. Annually, you will also find special ‘months’ like one for poetry or another for art, where artists are invited to create written or visual art based on prompts. Until Covid-19 hit the world, offline events/workshops were also organised. In fact, Rohini’s fondest memories of The Alipore Post are around her first offline event where 200-250 people came in to enjoy like-minded camaraderie, music and poetry reading. “It felt like a massive picnic,” she grins.

The event was a pay-what-you-want one and it barely covered the costs. But that doesn’t bother Rohini as she has realised she cannot live off The Alipore Post. “My heart doesn’t allow me to convert it into a paid, promotional website. There is an option for subscribers to donate, but content is free for people to consume. It is purely intentional; the platform is a place for people to consume democratic and not elitist art,” she says.

Chitthi exchange

On the business front, there are workshops that are offered now via brand collaborations. These range from zine making to poetry writing. There is also a plan to redesign the website into a magazine format, besides introducing an online shop where merchandise based on art from various artists can be sold.

“I don’t know what I run on,” laughs Rohini when you ask her how she handles all this single-handedly. “I cannot delegate work,” she adds, knowing well that she cannot part with the platform that has been her baby. Another offshoot of her creative flows has been Chitthi Exchange, a pen-pal programme started via The Alipore Post, during the lockdown. “It was a vulnerable time for everyone, with the loneliness and the uncertainties.

Chitthi Exchange helps me bring people together via handwritten letter/postcard swaps,” she explains. Today, the programme has about 2,200 people writing letters to each other. Rohini collects basic details from those interested via Google docs and pairs them, based on city, personal interests and more.

Not surprisingly, The Alipore Post has helped Rohini discover new interests and tap into her own creative urges. “I have fallen in love with visual art, all because of my work around The Alipore Post,” she says. Doodling has become more than a hobby for her with her foray into product and logo designing. She also freelances in writing and social media and is working on her own poetry manuscript.

“The Alipore Post has helped me find myself. I have realised that this is what makes me happy. I have become richer in every sense,” she says.