Published on October 6th, 2021 📆 | 2943 Views ⚑
0Amid technology career, Encinitas resident takes up poetry
From his student days in India, Alok Gupta steadfastly progressed toward a professional career in science and technology.
A native of Bihar state, Gupta received his bachelorâs degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, a masterâs at the University of Hawaii and a doctorate from UCSD.
The Encinitas resident was hired by technology giant Qualcomm to work out of its Sorrento Valley complex.
Then, he wrote a poem.
âMy birthday happens to fall on Dec. 29,â Gupta said. âItâs also time for the New Year. I use that occasion for reflections and all that.
âSo several years ago, I decided to surprise my friends and family. I thought I would write a poem that would summarize my reflections and some of my life lessons, and I would present it to them on by birthday and also New Yearâs.
âThat was my first amateur attempt at writing poetry. I donât think it was very smooth and polished, but it was well received and that was encouraging. So I started writing more often.â
Guptaâs first foray into poetry led to another piece and then another until he had 18 verses, enough material for his first book â âThe Dawn of Wisdom.â
The author recently delighted in seeing the 82-page volume published by India-based Notion Press.
Interspersed with the text are color photographs taken by Gupta of scenes around coastal North County as well as vistas from his Olivenhain ridge-top home. There, he and his wife, a Montessori preschool teacher, raised two sons and a daughter, who are now adults.
âIâve been here for almost 26 years,â Gupta said. âItâs really a special place. I love it here. I canât think of any better place I could have chosen for my career and my family.â
Gupta, 55, exudes optimism and a sense of awareness that are reflected in his poems. While they touch on an array of subjects, they are unequivocally bright in outlook.
âAt this point, itâs all about beauty and light and positive things in life,â Gupta said. âI just think to myself living here and coming this far, I feel blessed and I feel happy.
âThere is no remorse I have in my life, no regrets whatsoever. I have nothing against anybody. Thatâs what I reflect in my writing. Thereâs actually no dark side.â
Dedicated to âloving memoriesâ of Guptaâs parents and teachers, the book opens with the first piece he wrote â âReflections and Realizations.â
Written in 20 three-line stanzas, the piece expresses the wonder of lessons learned through lifeâs adventure, beginning with:
âItâs been a journey full of amazement
Knowledge, insight, grace, fulfillment
Beauty, truth, ray of enlightenment ... â
It ends on a lighthearted note:
âMan is not free
No matter how much he wishes
Until learns to cook and do the dishes.â
Other poems such as âFacing Challenges,â âArt of Living,â and âMind â A Miracle Prone to Becoming a Messâ explore mental states in dealing with lifeâs issues.
Less abstract are âKhushi,â a tribute to the family dog, and âI Love about India,â an idyll about his homelandâs beauty. âA Message for Kashmiri People with Loveâ is a prayerful message expressing hope for the Kashmir region:
âI have a dream, dear Kashmiris
Kashmir is affluent, strong, grand
Someday we have a prime minister of India
From Kashmir, your enchanting landâ
âMeditationâ is a reflection in rhyme on practicing the titleâs subject and what can be achieved through that discipline.
The poem also is a window into what led a career communication system engineer specializing in modem and error correction coding to embark on creative literary expression.
Given his science background, writing poetry seems an unlikely path. Indeed, Gupta said, he had no interest in such a pursuit until he developed an affinity for Hindu literature and philosophy.
Whereas Gupta grew up in a country immersed in the ancient traditions of Hinduism, his fascination with the subject developed more than 8,000 miles away from Bihar â through the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple in Encinitas.
The Indian-born spiritual leader Paramahansa Yogananda launched his first U.S. temple in 1920 with the goal of disseminating his learning in the West. He opened the Encinitas site in 1938.
Distinguished by its lotus blossom sculptures mounted on white columns, the temple has been an entrenched feature of the community for decades.
Gupta said exposure to the fellowship led him to starting reading Hindu literature.
âThat was a bit of an eye opener for me,â Gupta said. âThat was sort of a starting point that got me interested into reading this literature, like the Vedanta, the sacred scripture. ... I began reading that, but to assimilate the learning, you want to be able to reflect on what you read.
âAnd poetry to me became the means for me for the reflection on some of the ideas that were coming across. As you can see, most of my poetry is quite philosophical and that is the reason.â
He and his family furthered their involvement in Hindu thought and practices through the Chinmaya Mission of San Diego, which gave Gupta a greater platform for his studies.
âBefore, my priorities were making some mark with my career, my family, science and technology,â Gupta said. âGrowing up in India, my background was all math and science, studying and getting into very good colleges so I could get a good job.
âThe focus was all different, but eventually things evolved. And it happened only in Encinitas because I was to a point where I was open to all this. It provided me all the ingredients and the environment.â
While those newfound aspects of Guptaâs life lit a desire to write, he credits his inclination for lyrical expression and rhyming to Hindi as well as Urdu, which is the predominant tongue of Pakistan and is also prevalent in India.
Ultimately, this youngest of nine siblings says his poetry is a product of the heart.
âIâve had no formal training,â he said. âThat is what I like about poetry. Itâs a compact way to express my reflections and my thoughts.â
With the publication of âDawn of Wisdomâ, Gupta said, he is now ruminating on his next writing project, which he anticipates to be more overtly autobiographical.
âDawn of Wisdomâ can be purchased through Amazon at www.amazon.com/dp/1685382800.
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