Corridors of love

In Between Corridors by Laisha K. Cooper. Published in 2009 by Arun K. Mehta for I’Mprint! a division of Vakils, Feffer and Simons Private Limited, Industry Manor, Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi, Bombay 400025. Pp: 88. Price: Rs 250.

For one so young, 24-year-old Laisha Cooper thinks deep and graphic. In this her first book, Cooper threads together the lives of ordinary people and their relationships — at times difficult and dramatic, beautiful or banal, mundane or mysterious. She presents her collection of 31 poems differently — in the form of letters, diaries, postcards, jottings and rhyme.

Cooper did not conceive this to be a stodgy book of poems. Each page is illustrated, though in black and white, with different designs, fonts and formats, giving it a fresher, youthful, contemporary look. A "self-confessed dreamer,” Cooper has turned the poems into stories narrated by a set of characters and spread, in a couple of cases, over a 50-year time frame. The common denominator is love — cruel, selfish or sublime! There is innocence, naiveté, the underlying philosophy covering the twin realms of the surreal and the real.

"In Between Corridors comes from a belief that every person has the right to make their own choices. And all options lead to a pair of doors, the choice is always ours and depending on the door we choose two new doors open for us creating a situation where life is led through our choices. This book is about those individuals that may have opened certain doors but are entangled within its corridors,” writes Cooper in her Author’s Note. "Who can go back? Who can go further? And who can survive the thunderstorm? My characters live around me, their values revolve in my mind. Their hurt transpires into true lives of many people…This book is a tribute to everyone, that at some point, fights to win over themselves.” Cooper describes herself as "by no means a great student (who) could barely remember any lesson after just a few hours of painstakingly memorizing it… I could never keep in mind which side was ‘The right or left’ and I would associate that with where the driver sat in my car. I would imagine myself sitting on the back seat and looking at which side my driver was seated, the side I imagined I knew was The Right Side,” she tells the reader at the back of the book.

The book was launched at the well-known Crossword Bookstore at Kemp’s Corner in Bombay on June 12, 2009. "It’s great to see this wonderful audience. Laisha has been writing poetry since she was just 13. I have known her for 10 years as she was part of ACE (Academy for Creative Expression, which provides opportunities to showcase talent through theatrical techniques like speech, drama, mime, song, dance, etc),” stated chief guest Raell Padamsee, well-known actor and director of plays who is the daughter of renowned ad guru and theater personality Alyque Padam-see, also present at the launch. "I had an instant appreciation of her and her writing. She has grace and a whole lot of heart.” It’s a rare occasion when a young author can write, get the work published and have a wonderful launch with a gracious audience, Raell added. Several celebrities from the art and theater world attended the function.

Laisha Cooper (center) with (from l) father Keki, sister Azmin Balsara, brother Farhad and mother Kamal

"I was nervous earlier but seeing so many familiar faces my nerves are calming down,” smiled the young poet. The inspiration for the book came, she stated, from friends, family, her dog, from life itself… "what we see, hear, read. The mind is open to receive. But it’s really my family who is my inspiration. My dad [businessman Keki Cooper (see "Cooper’s choices,” Parsiana, May 7, 2009)] is my focal point of creativity, with his never-ending enchanting stories. There is a fine line between fact and fiction. My mum Kamal did this awesome thing — sent me to this actors’ club…(my family has) never forced me into becoming a doctor, lawyer or accountant.” Cooper has dedicated the book to her father and thanks, in her acknowledgements, each member of her family individually.

Excerpts from In Between Corridors were brought alive for the audience with dramatized reading by Cooper herself, socialite Anju Taraporevala (who has recently taken to theater) and Advait Hazarat, with strains on the sitar by Madhusudan Kumar. Cooper has tweaked names and places, juxtaposing the local with the foreign, the real with the imaginary. Gracy Pae "loves her daughter but her fright of losing the only person she loves can take away everything from her.” Ria Mehra, a young girl from a little city goes to the big city to be a star "but greed can sometimes come at a cost.” Minishka Vakil, a social worker, fights for the rights and protection of women but "loses hope when what she could never imagine happens around her own home…” Shireen Maneckji "a legend on her own is lost between sheets of recycled paper and pictures of her young dead son. Her undying love for him makes her live life without everything else that loves her.” The dates and pictorial details are important and help the reader understand the character better, notes Cooper.

With stories and characters moving back and forth in time, In Between Corridors is best read at one go. Random reading does not bring out the book’s meaning. The fact that the author is sensitive to suffering is obvious; she dwells on the darker side of life. Perhaps in her next offering, which she is working on, she will leaven the pages with laughter, given the fact that she herself is young, lively and charming. "An interesting and soulful look at the world from an idealistic young writer who has searched for meanings everywhere! In its innocence, it is appealing and will attract many young readers as this offering is one that they will identify with… Clearly, Laisha has the capacity to rise to greater exploratory and literary heights after this first attempt,” writes speech and drama expert Sabira Merchant on the book’s back cover.

"I hope this book reminds people as it reminds me of the simple lessons of life. That simple lesson that visits life every day, it comes to teach, to preach and to learn… The lesson that every single day visits us only once,” Cooper writes.