Celebrity Interview: Kuhoo Gupta: Zindagi Ke Martbaan Se: Poetic Reflections From The Jar Of LIFE

She was born in Uttar Pradesh, India and brought up in various parts of the country including Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat & Maharashtra. She started singing at the tender age of 5 and there was no stopping after that. She received formal education in Indian Classical Vocal music and continued to remain a bright student in school as well. She completed her Masters in Computer Science Engineering in 2006 from the premier college Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (IIT Bombay) and joined the corporate world. All this while, she continued to record & perform as an independent artist. She also won national awards & accolades for her original independent music.

Writing came naturally to her, as she says, writing is cathartic for her. She inherited writing skills from her grand-father, grand-mother & father. After writing lyrics for four of her original songs and privately blogging down many poems, she came up with her first book in 2014, a poetry compilation in conversational language - Hindi mixed with Urdu and English - titled "Zindagi Ke Martbaan Se - Poetic Reflections From The Jar Of LIFE". The poems are inspired by a plethora of topics like love, nostalgia, remembrance, random human emotions, natural beauty and spirituality. It is something that will make you cry, smile or just appreciate in your leisure moments.

Welcome Kuhoo!

Your real name and pen name?

My real name is Kuhoo Gupta. I am used to people asking me my name at least twice before they understand the pronunciation :) And after they get it, some of them end up with this question - is this your real name or nick name? And I tell, its my real name. My pen name is the same as well.

Kuhoo With AA Award - Hungama Office

Please share some of the best memories of your childhood

My father is a travel enthusiast & I have so many beautiful memories of our summer vacations where all of us traveled to lot of destinations. Then there are school time memories as everyone has it. One of them is when I won the national level singing competition in Delhi. I have some beautiful memories of my favorite school teachers also.

What career did you plan during your education days?

Honestly I do not get the concept of choosing your career during the formative years because that is the time we are gathering experiences & knowledge from here & there. It is not the best time to make a decision what career you should take but such is the tradition of our society that we need to decide our stream (Arts/Science/Commerce) after class 10th. As for any other school going kid, with a good percentage in hand, I chose Science (Maths & Bio both) stream. I shied away from the medical line because I was not convinced that I could handle seeing sufferings whole day long back then. So then the option was to become an engineer, and a software engineer if your competitive exam rank was higher :)

What languages you can speak and write?

English & Hindi

What is your biggest source of inspiration in life

For writing, it has to be Gulzar!

Kuhoo with mic - 1

If you had to live a day of your life as one of the living or dead personality, who would it be and why?

I do not know why but just cannot come up with an answer for this question. I guess I am content with what life has given to me. Even if I choose to be somebody else, I would never know the hardships they have faced & that would be given to me along with the high moments of their lives. So lets not take a risk for something as unexpected as life & lets be content with our own life :)

What is your favorite genre?

I like reading poetry, short stories & self help genres. I have somehow never been able to complete a pure fiction novel!

When did you start writing? What is the purpose of your writing?

I used to write on & off since college days. But the quality of my writings were not that good back then. They were very amateurish. In the last 3 years, I found they have bettered quite a lot. Writing to me is cathartic.

Which of your work has been published so far? Would you like to share a synopsis of your work?

I have published a poetry compilation in conversation Hindi language titled "Zindagi Ke Martbaan Se - Poetic Reflections From The Jar Of LIFE".

It is a poetry collection written in conversational language - Hindi mixed with Urdu and English. The poems are inspired by a plethora of topics like love, nostalgia, remembrance, random human emotions, natural beauty and spirituality. It is something everybody will be able to relate to because it is inspired from the jar called LIFE that everyone goes through. It is something that will make you cry, smile or just appreciate in your leisure moments.

What are your forthcoming writings?

I do not know yet. Time will tell me what & when to write :)

What thing you take care of while writing a poem?

Not to make it a very literary kind, but to make it reachable (language-wise) to the general public.

Your dream destination on Earth?

A lot of them - New Zealand, Greenland, Scandinavia, Australia & many more

Other countries you have visited/ stayed. What best things you liked in these countries around the globe?

I have visited US, UK, Thailand, Singapore, Maldives & Nepal. There were different things everywhere to like & learn. Essentially I feel travel is one thing where you learn a lot by seeing & imbibing right things from different cultures.