Home-New | Arti Jain

Poet | Author | Storyteller

Arti Jain is an award winning spoken word artist, a poet, an author and a storyteller. Her works have appeared in numerous international literary journals and anthologies. She lives in Doha, Qatar, with her husband.

About Me

Latest Published Work

Published in the Hooghly Review

Aap, Hum and Comfort in a Banarasi Traffic Jam

2019 Benaras Ganga Aarti near Aassi Ghat

Photo by Goutam Dutta (Wikimedia Commons CC)

Subah Banaras, shaam Banaras

Rehta har dum jam Banaras

Morning Banaras, evening Banaras

Stuck forever in a jam (traffic) Banaras

Khatt-khatt-khattak—khatt-khatt-khattak—the rhythm of the train, a lazy sun, trees, shrubs, grass—snuggled, smothered under winter fog, soft and surreal—sprawled across the window—came to an elaborately drawn-out noisy halt at precisely ten a.m.

Published Books

Don’t Climb on the Bullock Cart

Children’s Book

It was the summer holidays in Dehradun, Northern India. The children had been told to stay indoors to avoid the hot afternoon sun, but Arti found it impossible to sit still.

Little Arti’s adventurous spirit and her wild imagination make a great story for children of any age

And all the SEASONS in between

Memoir

Nostalgia: sweet, tangy and utterly unforgettable will take you to a garden in Dehradun in the late seventies and the house that was attached to it.

Unique, relatable and beautifully written, the story of Artemis and the memories of the author’s childhood come together as one story, party lived, party dreamed.

Jamun Tree

You can’t play with those boys under the jamun tree!” warned his grandmother as Amit reached out to push the heavy black metal gate open.

“Why?” He wanted to scream the why out, but knew better.

Published Creative Non-Fiction

Accoutrements of Hiraeth

Deep winter. Dehradun. I’m five years old. Papaji, my grandfather, is collecting glowing embers of coal from my grandmother’s chullah (earthen stove) in the courtyard. He’s using a pair of old iron tongs, no bigger than his large farmer’s hands, to scoop out...

At Home in My Skin

Born of Punjabi stock, I've inherited the following traits: 1. An innate urge to use made-up, superfluous, and rhyming words. For example, kee laoge—cha, sha, ya paani, shaani? (What would you like? Tea/shea or Water/shawter?) 2. An involuntary impulse to...