At 23, Sameer Khan best describes himself as a poet and voyager. His recent read, Eerie Edges chronicles a dark ride through depression — his way into it and through it. The intrepid traveller, storyteller and TED X speaker, with an eye for storytelling staunchly believes that he doesn’t belong to a particular state. "But, the book sprouted during my stay in Bengaluru. In a nutshell, the book touches upon emotions, and its control over us. I completed my book when my parents were at the hospital. Post the visiting hours, I would loiter in and around canteen of the hospital. Being seated here gave me the opportunity to witness varied emotions of patients and their families — the urgency, grief, misery and hope. I used to observe them, analyse their pain as per my empathy skills, only to reflect upon the varied degrees of despair and hope, via poetry and prose.” The book is divided into four parts. He adds, “The first part is poetry, where only pain is described. Then comes the prose where I have written prose similar to the pain expressed in respective manner in poems,” Khan explains.
Of everything, the storyteller asserts that the intent behind the book was to help people familiarise with their innermost emotions. “I was sure that many people would cry, so I wanted to gift them an understanding of why the human body resorts to shedding tears.” Barely a couple of months into the stands, and the book is making an impact, small yet significant, nevertheless. “I like how the message of domestic ignorance leading to psychological disturbances and mental health issues is being conveyed. To me, that’s success as that was the intent behind the book.”
While authoring is a new streak, Sameer has his hands full with a couple of other initiatives too. He concludes, “I have been storytelling at old age homes, performing simple and meaningful poetry and spreading mental health awareness in talks. We have collaborated together with the Delhi government to teach kids of class 11-12 at school in remote areas with zero English background. So my hands are full, you are!”
