by BG Staff
Born in Nashik, India, Dipti Kulkarni is an internationally acclaimed artist. She’s used her paintings to portray issues related to women and continues to raise social awareness. While she tries to spread hope through her artwork, she doesn’t limit herself to paintings. She also enjoys writing poetry.
Kulkarni’s artistic talents can be seeing through her award-winning poem “Save Girl,” recited at the recent Indian Consulate’s Art Exhibit in New York City. The poem is inspired by her first art series on “Women’s Rights and Empowerment,” which was also titled, “Save Girl,” she said.
Though she never took her poetry seriously, it was her painting series on “Women’s Empowerment” that inspired her to put her feelings on paper, she said. The painting series started with “Save Girl,” the agonizing condition of a mother who is to abort her girl-child.
Kulkarni said: “The artwork is expressed as a cover page of a book, maybe an autobiography where the woman is expressing her deep sorrow when she had to abort her own girl child.”
[Read More: “Empowering Indian Women Through Art”]
Kulkarni’s gut feeling told her to vent the emotional trauma of the mother by writing poetry. Being a mother of twins, she said she did not have much trouble expressing her emotions and experiences of childbearing. She said she remembered the kicks of her unborn babies when they were happy or scared or when they heard music or sound.
In the poem, “Save Girl,” the baby in the mother’s womb is attempting to talk to her mother.
“The child in a womb,” Kulkarni tells with conviction, “can sense the emotions and feelings of her mother. Epic Mahabharata does contain such examples where a child in the womb gets knowledge. As an unborn child in his mother’s womb, Abhimanyu, the tragic hero, learned the knowledge of penetrating the military formation, the Chakravyuha from Arjuna, his father.”
While the child in her poem was curious to learn about the outside world, her mother remains silent and finally reveals the bitter truth to her.
Though she never told anyone about the poem, Kulkarni said she applied for a contest, which, to her surprise, won the poem an award. Excited, she informed her husband and parents in India.
“My parents read this over and over and felt so proud about the fact that I was using my artistic skills for some good cause. And who ever imagined that words can express so powerfully? My mom was shedding tears when she read this poem one day to her friend. I am happy that people in the U.S. and India are appreciating and acknowledging this poem. I am happy about my message being sent to people. I myself get emotional whenever I am asked to recite it.”
Kulkarni has written this poem in simple English so that every person who has some basic knowledge of English is able to understand the message.
“My idea is to use various art forms to raise social awareness. I consider myself as a global citizen and so poetry is not meant for any specific country or culture or cast or creed or community. But it is for HUMANITY,” Kulkarni explained.
In March, she held a solo art exhibition on “Cultural Art Exchange,” organized by Deshastha Rigvedi Sanstha in Nashik. Last year, she launched a series of 15 paintings on “Women’s Rights and Empowerment,” which was on display for eight days in New York by the Indian Consulate and also by the National Organization for Women.
Dipti Kulkarni, a New Jersey resident is a Software engineer by profession and an artist by passion. She is currently working as a Strategy Design Manager for a start-up.
