Motivational Mondays | Stories of Inspiration and Triumph

"The purpose of poetry is not to provide a solution or, say, to stop a war or prevent millions of people from dying, etc. Poetry can never do that. Poetry is all about keeping the dialogue alive. Poetry must bring forth, time and again, issues that need attention and are intentionally and unintentionally forgotten."

These are the words of Abhijit Sarmah, a poet from Assam, as he describes the purpose of poetry.?Sarmah was recently featured among the finalists of a top US poetry fellowship.?

The Poetry Foundation annually awards five 'Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships'.?Perhaps the largest award offered to young poets in the US, the USD 27,000 prize is intended to support exceptional poets in the US between 21 and 31 years of age.?

Sarmah has been shortlisted as a finalist for this coveted fellowship.?Sharing the news on Instagram, Sarmah writes, "I am thrilled to share that I am one of the finalists for 2023 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships... I am really humbled to be among such talented poets. Grateful."?

Abhijit is the only Indian on the list of 12 finalists announced on Wednesday.?No other individual from Northeast India has ever been featured in the list.

Apart from the grant, five fellowship recipients will get an invitation to publish in Poetry magazine.?Further, all 12 finalists will receive a stipend to attend a professional development opportunity of their choice.?Sarmah is currently a researcher of global?Indigenous writing.?

He had earned a master of philosophy degree from Dibrugarh University, India, and is a PhD student at the University of Georgia. Tap the image below to know more about him.

12 years after losing his father to cancer, Apple co-founder?Steve Jobs’ son, Reed Jobs,?has announced that he is starting a venture capital firm to fund and research new treatments against cancer.?

His firm, which started this month itself, has already?raised?$200 million?from investors, including venture capitalist billionaire John Doerr, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University, and M.I.T.

The cancer research and treatment firm, called Yosemite, is an offshoot of Emerson Collective, a hybrid investment, social impact, and philanthropic firm the late?Steve Jobs’ wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, founded in 2004.

According to a Forbes report, Yosemite derives its name from Yosemite National Park, where Reed's parents, Steve and Laurene, got married, according to the New York Times. Yosemite will run a for-profit business but also maintain a donor-advised fund in the hopes that, once a project is successful, it will become a benefactor of other promising ideas.

"I had never ever wanted to be a venture capitalist," Reed Jobs told the New York Times’ Dealbook. "But I realized that when you’re actually incubating something and putting it together, you can make a tremendous difference in what assets are part of that, what direction it’s going to take, and what the scientific focus is going to be."

"My?father got diagnosed with cancer when I was 12," Reed said, adding that this led him to begin focusing on oncology, starting with a summer internship at Stanford when he was 15.??

Steve Jobs' wife, Powell Jobs, has a net worth of $14.3 billion, according to the latest Forbes valuation.

Meet Falak Khan, the talented actor from Muzaffarpur, Bihar, who is making waves in cinema.?Her short film 'Champaran Mutton' has reached the semifinal round of the prestigious Oscar Student Academy Award, a remarkable achievement for both her and her team.?

Filled with gratitude and excitement, Falak acknowledges the collaborative effort that led to this significant milestone.?In an interview with ANI, Falak Khan described her film as a touching story that delves into the everyday struggles middle-class families face.?She said,?"I am thankful to the team for this achievement. This results from the hard work we all put in."

Ranjan Kumar, a director from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, helmed the film. This film portrays the resilient spirit of Bihar's people, showcasing how a man returns to his village after losing his job during the lockdown and strives to fulfill his wife's wish of eating mutton.

The lead roles in the 24-minute film are played by Chandan Rai, known as Panchayat Wale 'Vikas,' and # Falak Khan.?