Avni has delivered over 50 performances and workshops on spoken word poetry but beyond the stage, who is she when the applause fades? An intimate exploration of the artist, where poetry becomes both a mirror and a means of connection.

A lot of axioms on life have been articulated and argued over our existence over what makes a life good,
what achieves happiness, what is the purpose. All is well and good, but one central claim that seems to
have stuck in the mind of Avni, a Delhi-based spoken word artist from Jesus and Mary College, DU, is
the undeniable important of connection with oneself and others and poetry as the fuel that sustains it.
I met her at Lodhi Gardens, an apt scenery to talk about anything art and creation. She had another
engagement in an hour, to watch and review a play nearby. A life occupied by engagement with art.
How wonderful.
Her journey into writing began, like many others, with reading. From her early encounter with Little
Women, she discovered literature’s ability to stretch the self across lives and experiences. That sense of
empathy became central to her work. At 13, encouraged by a pen pal who insisted that writing was
simply about “feeling”, she wrote her first poem. A fleeting moment, a picture of moon, a car ride
home. Hearing her speak about this reminded me of a poem by William Blake,
“To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.”
It seems that through her performances and workshops, Avni strives to achieve something similar.
Embodying the romantic spirit, she moved towards a form that speaks to the ordinary people around
her. Discovering spoken word through artists like Megha Rao on YouTube was a turning point; she
was drawn to the urgency and power of the medium, particularly its history of being used to speak
about things that need to be heard.
Though she describes herself as a “stage person” (she was kind enough to read out loud a few poems to
me and really the aura shines through her words), who performed for the first time in 10th grade, her
professional commitment solidified during a December 2023 workshop by the Delhi Poetry Slam.
Seeing mature poets in their 60s still practicing their craft taught her that while talent is a start,
discipline and endurance are what keep art alive.

In college, her role further grew to be a community builder as the Vice President of the Poetry Society
at Jesus and Mary College. poetry, once a deeply solitary pursuit, became a shared space. She worked to
create something resembling a living, breathing “Dead Poets Society,”.
Her work extends beyond performance. Since the age of thirteen, she has maintained a digital
sanctuary that evolved from a space for book reviews and PR campaigns into a platform for long-form
articles on the complexities of the modern world. Whether she is dissecting the environmental impact
of fast fashion or the problematic tropes of pop culture, her writing remains an extension of that same
curiosity that once drew her to the “mysteries” of mathematics.
The true weight of her conviction was tested during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the
second wave devastated Delhi, Avni pivoted her blog into a critical resource hub for verified oxygen
leads for those in desperate need.
It is perhaps in moments like these that her poetry finds its meaning:
“i want to fall in love everyday
but there is so much grief
and so much love.
and i know it’s here.
it’s me. it’s you.”
I want to fall in love everyday
Avni Jain

Profiled by: Yashika