“मैं लौट जाना चाहती हूँ
शब्दों की उन गलियों में,
जहाँ से कविताएँ गुज़रती हैं,
कहानियों की गलबहियाँ डाले ।
Being a wife, writer, and working mother, Alka Sinha, has donned many hats. She is a well-known and established name in contemporary Hindi writing. Throughout her journey, one thing was a constant companion-her writing. “Since childhood, I used to put down my experiences in writing every day. Even now, my favourite time of the day is when I write in my diary. That is how I started writing."
Alka Sinha, always found writing a much better way to express her feelings and views than spoken words. Her writing comes out from the feelings invoked within her while playing the role of a working woman, a wife, a mother and a writer. Playing all these roles came with its set of challenges. She shared an incident with us, “Whenever I use to get bit upset or tensed about my job, or got tired doing this balancing act, my elder daughter always used to tell me, mom, ‘learn how to sail the boat; don’t change the boat."
As a writer, she has also responded to the social milieu around her. Human trafficking, issues of working women, the uprooting of tribal women, and man-woman relations are some of the things that have inspired the writer in her to pen down poems, short stories and novels.
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When talking about her literary inspirations, Kamleshwar, is the first name she comes up with. "I have grown up listening to Kamleshwar on Doordarshan. The way he spoke and conducted his shows left a deep impact on me. Later on, I got to know him personally too. He liked my writing and encouraged me to continue it in the same way." She also counts the writings of poet Devendra Issar and novelist Chitra Mudgal as the ones to inspire her writing.
Born in Bhagalpur (Bihar), Alka Sinha(57), a resident of Guru Apartment, Dwarka, has pursued an MA in Economics and also an MBA. She has received a silver medal in the translation training course conducted by the Central Translation Bureau of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
For the expression of ideas, she started writing her poems and stories from her college days. Her stories and poems used to get telecasted in Doordarshan and All India Radio.
Alka's writing has been inspired by the various experiences drawn from her rich professional career.
"After marriage, my husband asked me to be a full-time announcer for All India Radio. I started as a Hindi Announcer of the External Services Division, All Indian Radio.
The list of her accomplishments includes the successful operation of special series of literary programs of Delhi Doordarshan, her work as a Hindi announcer in AIR's foreign broadcast service and her lively style of reciting the Republic Day parade. This brought her admiration by many distinguished litterateurs of Hindi.
She has been the presenter of exclusive series of literary programs 'Patrika' aired on DD National. She has the distinction of doing radio and TV commentary of programs of national importance along with giving a live commentary of the Republic Day parade at Rajpath for thirteen years.
Talking to Cityspidey Alka Sinha, says, “After the birth of my first daughter in 1991, I started working in the Indian airline’s Aviation Security Department. I was with them for 7 years and It was a whole new experience and roller coaster ride for me.”
She added, “While I was working for the aviation security department. It was always hard for me to give time to my daughters But throughout the job my husband supported me. Also, that gave me an idea to start writing about all my experiences with my job in my book “Surakshit Pankhon Ki Udaan”.
Her never-die spirit and humanity are evident through her writing, which are sensitive accounts of ordinary life.
Among her poetry collections, her first book which got published was 'Kaal Ki Kokh Se'. and other than that 'Main Hi To Hoon Yeh', 'Teri Roshanai Hona Chahti Hoon'; Story-collections include 'Surakshit Pankhon Ki Udaan', 'Mujhse Kaisa Neh' and the storybook 'Khali Kursi' published under the Navsakshar Sahityamala of the National Book Trust.
As a writer, Alka Sinha always believes in highlighting that part of life that society misses appreciating.
Be it the novel 'G-Male Express' or 'Techno Literary' stories centred on male prostitutes, she always tried to create inclusion by her writing. She even received Kamleshwar Kathabimb Best Story Award-winning story for 'Dhinadhin Dhin' which is a poignant piece written on the subject of human trafficking.
Alka Sinha even received the Srijan Lok Kriti Samman for her novel 'G-Male Express'; Poetry-collection on 'Main Hi To Hoon Ye', literary work by Hindi Academy, and Delhi Government. Many awards and honours have been given for literature. She is also an expert with the Hindi writer award scheme of Central Hindi Directorate, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Sahitya Akademi, Ministry of Culture.
Even in the times of Covid-19, Alka made the most of her time and started ‘Kavi Goshthi’ with 5 other writers and poets. These compositions are contained in 25 episodes on YouTube by the name of 'Faslon ke Darmiyan’
Alka's writing emerges so beautifully that it becomes an immersive experience for the writer. In her journey, and through the years to come, Alka wants to lay the foundation of a beautiful society in reality through her stories.
"मेरी तमाम परेशानियों, नाकामियों के विष को
कंठस्थ कर लेने वाली नीलकंठ क़लम
मुझे रचने का सौंदर्य दे
कि मैं स्याही से लिख सकूँ
उजली दुनिया के सफ़ेद अक्षर ।.”