Arunoday Singh’s Instagram bio describes him as an ‘Actor. Poet. Artist. Seeker’. But he, recently, added another feather in his cap — of being an author following the release of his first volume of poetry titled Unsung. Published by Penguin Random House India, the collection, according to the press note, “comprises some of his most beloved poems alongside new ones, where he delves deep within the self and probes questions of loss, longing, and healing – all aspects of the human experience.”
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Over the years, the Aisha actor has shared his musings, which explore numerous themes like love, loss, longing, and healing, on Instagram. In the book, which he calls the “psycho-paleontological record of the last, particularly tumultuous period of my life”, he writes that the poems are samples of “what I felt, what broke, what burnt, what managed to survive through enough”. He further admits that it took him years of “crippling insecurity to stop trying to write like any of the people I admire; to find my own voice”, but also shares how he now writes like a “bird flies”.
In an exclusive email interaction with indianexpress.com, Arunoday Singh tells us about his soulful writing, the process, the journey, and the final destination, too. In-between, he also shares how words may not come to him effortlessly, “but it does feel awfully natural.” Edited excerpts below:
Tell us about your new volume of poetry, and the interesting title you chose for it.
There’s quite a lot to tell, where to begin. It’s my first book, so calling it my ‘new volume of poetry’ is too kind on your part. I’ve always been writing and tinkering away, and when the chance came to get some work published, I had a lot of material waiting to be read.
That’s part of the reason why my book is called Unsung. I think of my poetry as little songs that never got to be sung. And on a deeper level, that metaphor also applies to us all. We are all songs that shall largely go unsung. Very few of us will shake the world enough for our names to last, and our songs to be cried out. Most of us will fade from ordinary lives in the old ordinary ways. But that doesn’t mean we are unworthy of song. We are.
Why did you choose poetry over prose to share a “particularly tumultuous period” of your life? What about the form interests/attracts you?
I can’t claim to have chosen poetry. I’ve always been drawn to writing and journaling. I always have a notebook with me, I scribble and jot all the time. Poetry just seemed to coalesce into the shape my musings would take the most often. I find the brevity of poetry helps me condense and crystallize my thoughts with much more precision than prose.
It’s the difference between drinking water from a cup and trying to swallow a river, for me, if that makes any sense. Prose always felt too vast and filled with too much room. I tend to get lost writing prose.
You’ve mentioned you first wrote poetry to impress a girl. How has the poet in you evolved over the years, and what had inspired you the most in this journey?
(Laughs) Yeah, I don’t think the poet in me has ‘evolved’ much at all. The man might be a little older, but the poet remains as he was. I’m still very much the same animal. I just have more mileage now, and a stronger stillness from which to write.
I used to need muses. Now life is my muse. Mine, yours, all I see around me. Everything inspires me at some time or the other, so I couldn’t really single one thing out.
(Photo: Penguin Random House India)
Now, you describe yourself as someone who writes like a “bird flies” — does it mean that poetry comes naturally to you, or is it something you do without any inhibitions?
I love that question because it has answered itself. Like a bird flies implies that sense of freedom and also, without inhibition. A bird has to fly. That’s why it has wings. I have to write. That’s why the words come. It’s certainly not effortless. But it does feel awfully natural.
Have you actually paused making out to write something down, and even stopped halfway to boarding a flight? As such, do you put pen to paper to describe what you see, feel, think, or experience in the moment?
Hilariously, yes, to all of them. I use whatever I have around me. I usually have a pen handy, but in the case of boarding the airplane, it was on the ticket in my hand. In the amorous case, it was a napkin on the nightstand.
I like to think that the poems come from me. But that would be a genuine lie, because I know they don’t. They get whispered. And they seem to get whispered once. I have to make sure I write them down as quickly, and as best I can, before they fade. I never seem to be able to remember them exactly afterwards.
Which poem(s) would you pick as your favourite?
That is an impossible question to answer. It’s like asking me to choose between beautiful sunsets.
Was it the pandemic that gave you more time to write, and put together the collection?
Not really. My writing has nothing to do with extraneous events past a point. On average, on any stretch of time, I’m usually writing or trying to write for the same amount of time. I have to stay consistently present for the words.
How much of your childhood/upbringing influenced/shaped the poet in you?
All of it. This question cannot be answered with less than a full novel.
What do you aim to achieve with this book, and how has the response been?
My aim for the book was to have it exist. That done, everything else I consider consequential and not really my business. I typically don’t seek out news or reviews about my work, poetry, or acting.
So, I have no idea, beyond the few people I know that wrote to me personally. But even with them, I usually thank them without reading what they thought. I don’t believe it does me any good to hear the good or the bad. It has to come from me. And it has to come naturally. Judging it is someone else’s job.
Your favourite poet, and what do you like about their work the most?
This one is easier to answer than the favourite poem question, because I actually do have a favorite: Leonard Cohen. He writes with a simplicity, and a humility, and a profundity that is actually breathtaking. I have been struck dumb repeatedly by his work at different times in my life. And he has me at different times in my life. Like he knows me. Like he’s been talking to me all along. I’ve never related to a writer more personally than Leonard. That’s why he’s my favorite.
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"Prose always felt too vast and filled with too much room. I tend to get lost writing prose," the actor-author said. (Photo: Penguin Random House India) 
(Photo: Penguin Random House India)
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