If chocolate was a verse...

Dr Muhamed Farhaan, 23, a dentist by profession, says he decided to come out with an anthology on chocolates and all things sweet, after he won a pan-India poetry slam contest for his poem dedicated to the popular Swiss chocolate brand Toblerone; (right) Sheela Jaywant

Life gets sweeter with chocolates. Definitely so, for a 23-year-old poet, who is a dentist by profession, and has just released a collection of poems titled Çikolata: A Bloody Sweet Anthology, which includes 33 contributions on life's sugary moments, especially chocolate.

The Chennai-based bard conceptualised the volume during the second national lockdown. In an open global call on social media, Dr Muhamed Farhaan asked for submissions on "anything sweet, describing sweetness, a sweet dish, a chocolate, a sweet moment". Neither he, nor the Notion Press publishers were expecting a barrage of poems.

The combined effort shows in the 100-page anthology with the Turkish title. Foreign poets from Croatia, Ireland, and Bangladesh have united with Indian poets based in diverse settings in Assam, Punjab and Goa, over chocolate and its accompanying associations.

An enthused Farhaan says that chocolate was a random prompt that came to his mind. "In the past, I have written short poems on popular chocolate brands." His poem on the coveted Toblerone - Pyramids of Egypt are a home to dozens of mummies/ But this one is a delight to everyone's tummies - got him the chocolate company's attention. The poem won him a pan-India poetry slam contest in 2021. In my earlier self-published anthology called Food Is Life, poems on sweets were also well received. I attracted a sizeable clientele on my Instagram page too, so I was further motivated."

For his anthology, he zeroed in on a puzzling Turkish Cikolata and added the tagline ‘bloody sweet' to bring in the specific context of Thalapathy Vijay's upcoming film by the same name.

"I was happy to work with Notion Press because it allowed me room for experimentation," says Farhaan, whose first book was a collection of poems on Chennai, the city where he has mostly resided in, although his father's job did take him to Riyadh in the pre-school years. After completing his graduation in dental surgery from Chennai, he did a correspondence programme in sports dentistry offered by an institute in Pune. He pursued hospital administration from Tamil Nadu MGR Medical University.

COVID-19 was a turning point in Farhaan's life, as he used this time to dwell on concepts of connectivity and dialogue. His earlier anthologies had brought him in connection with a wider global community of poets; Dandelions: Multiverse Of Poems involved 66 authors across continents. "I love working with people who are not full-time writers, but nurture a soft passionate side to their personality. Also the theme of chocolate/sweetness found a distinct appeal in the literati," he shares.

Indian contributors of the chocolate collection share their individual take on sweetness. For instance, renowned Panaji-based writer Sheela Jaywant brought in the sugarless sanza (sheera, halwa) to the table. She feels chocolate is the natural go-to dessert, which vibes well with every occasion. But Farhaan's call for sweet memories/relationships made her think of her Shivaji Park childhood. She ultimately chose sheera, a popular delicacy, which has currency in every Indian home.

In her homage to the sugarless dish, there is a warning:

"I said this dish was sugar-free, didn't say it wasn't sweet.

It's fit as prasad for the gods, where fruit meets broken wheat."

Her prep factors in Indian households of all hues:

"Depending on where you're from, you may call it sheera, or halwa/

Eaten with poori, or plain, its base is the same, semolina/sooji/rawa." Jaywant says she "associates family bonding with sanza, just as youngsters connect immediately with a choco chip cookie".

On the lines of Jaywant, "Madras girl" Uma Vangal finds sweet bliss in "A Mysore pak rectangle lovingly cut/ Deep breath, hold a piece, reverent/ If there is heaven, you are it."

For New Delhi-based Indian army veteran Arun Hariharan, chocolate is love itself: "As I beheld your face oh so divine, Dark sinful chocolate stuck to your lip, My mind seemed intoxicated by wine, How could my poor heart not slip?" Hariharn is known for his best-seller titled A Baker's Dozen: 13 Chilling Indian Tales of Macabre.

Interestingly, for another New Delhi poet Chitra Gopalakrishnan, indulgence is defined by a rather rare prep. She deliberates on the daulat ki chaat, literally meaning a rich snack. A cold, feathery milk-based delicacy to be savoured only in winter, between November and January. That too only in the older parts of Delhi, where one is "willing to share its secrets with those who seek".

Two prose poems define the anthology rather distinctly. Tulip Chowdhury, residing in Massachusetts, writes about sweets from her homeland; friends or relatives bringing sweets from shops at the Shahjalah International Airport in the capital Dhaka.

Taghrid Bou Merhi, a Lebanese poetess, writer, and translator living in Brazil, writes a short story about little girl Lily's failed, but fun attempts to make choco truffles for her mother's birthday.

For me, the anthology was eye-opening because I have often eaten chocolates with a tinge of guilt. I have read about the cardiovascular benefits of chocolates; particularly its antioxidant properties. But I have worried about the sugar intake in rich creamy chocolates. In this anthology, chocolates are pure joy, with no downside. The editor, and four more dentists who have glorified the chocolate joy, have a different lens. They cherish it as enigmatic allure, and want the reader
to play along.

Sumedha Raikar-Mhatre is a culture columnist in search of the sub-text. You can reach her at sumedha.raikar@mid-day.com