She stood at one end of the veranda,
A naked bulb glowed at the other end,
Staining the dark floor with dull yellow light,
Beyond the empty ward,
Dragged echoes of the autumn night
From pillar to pillar
In severe silence
Skulked slithery shadows

These are not the soulful outpourings of a melancholic mind, but the sensitive images created in verses by a well-known Bollywood actress, Deepti Naval. Of late, Naval seems to have completely metamorphosed from an extrovert actress into an inward-directed poet-cum-photographer, who is far more tuned and receptive to the sufferings around the world.
The above lines were penned a few years ago, during the actress’s visit to a women’s mental asylum , where she had gone in search of a script for a film that she later intends to direct.

The experience of closely interacting with these women was so nerve-shattering that the first catharsis came in the form of poetry.

Although none of the 50-odd verses penned by the actress have been published, Delhiites got a brief glimpse into her sensitive mind, during a poetry reading session held in the city on Wednesday. The audience comprised of a few select friends and well-wishers who understood the love’s labour that had gone into the faintly-haunting verses that seemed to flow straight from the heart.