Poetic expression of angst

Did you know that recent reports suggest that up to 31 million Indian youth suffer from mental health issues? Yet, there’s an eerie silence surrounding it.

Bengaluru-based community, The Campus Diaries’ #LouderThanWords Mission aims to not just talk, but slam the issue right into mainstream conversations using slam poetry.

This aims to use the medium to combat the stigma surrounding mental health, by generating meaningful conversation among over 500,000 students across India. You can now get a flavour of it in namma Bengaluru at The BFlat Bar on March 20.

Working to create a platform to connect students across the country, the team at Campus Diaries happens to have a lot of conversations with the youth. They realised that mental illnesses, though stigmatised, were existent, but its understanding, deplorable.

“We hoped to help students take that head on and talk about it meaningfully and effectively through this Mission,” says Sumit Saurav, CEO and co-founder at Campus Diaries. “Since this uses slam poetry, we hope it also helps them better their communication and overcome fear of public speaking and that it brings together motivated young people who share a passion or care for a problem,” he adds.

What can you expect from these performances? One-and-a-half hours of real conversations and stories about mental health issues that students go through in India, and how you could do better than use phrases like “you’ll get over it” or “it’s in your head” to combat the issue.

This free event will see 33 Bengaluru youth use their art for impact. “I know several friends and family who suffer from mental illnesses; I am one of them too. But people don’t take you seriously – they’ll either say ‘it’s in your head’ or, ‘why don’t you try yoga?’ Spoken word is a powerful medium to speak about stigmatised issues such as these – it slams it on to people with powerful verses, driving the point home,” says 17-year-old Sasha Ranganath who will be performing Guns, a poignant piece that reflects how Sasha’s head feels like there are gun shots in it for every blow of ignorance and stigma around mental health.

Mostly teenagers, they are all bursting with things to say, and slam poetry is giving them a platform. “I grew up in a pretty conservative school where we were sheltered and not allowed to question. Once I left that school, I realised it was no different outside. Half the society believes that mental illnesses don’t even exist! I started out by writing, and now I feel like I’ve found a voice through slam poetry,” says Kaya Rao Shetty.

The 16-year-old who will be performing a piece about how she and her best friend both battled mental illnesses but their worlds didn’t collide talks powerfully about the silence that persists around it.