Sri Lanka - Modern Perspectives from an Ancient Melting Pot

Megan Dhakshini : Sultry Stories of Love, Loss and Fierce Expression

• Dee Gibson • Season 1 • Episode 1

Share episode

Exploring the creative universe of multi-disciplinary creative Megan Dhakshini.

In this very first engaging episode of 'Sri Lanka: Modern Perspectives from an Ancient Melting Pot,' host Dee Gibson introduces poetess, art director, and trilingual voiceover artist Megan Dhakshini. Megan discusses her poetry collections 'Poison Apple' and 'Softly We Fall,' which delve into themes of love, loss, and longing, and she performs her poems 'Now You See Red' and 'All of the women in me.' The conversation also highlights Megan's shift to spoken word to meet evolving audience preferences.

Megan also shares insights into her new silver jewellery brand 'Raatchasi,' inspired by traditional Tamil and Indian designs and aimed at redefining 'demoness' as a symbol of fierceness.

Join us for an exploration of Megan's artistic vision and the vibrant creative scene in Sri Lanka, reflecting her passion for creativity and self-expression.

Episode Highlights

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast

01:04 Meet Megan Ducheney: Poetess and Performer

02:02 A Poetic Performance: 'Now You See Red'

06:10 Megan's Journey in Poetry

07:40 Exploring Megan's Inspirations and Influences

09:17 The Creative Process Behind Megan's Work

13:32 Live Reading: 'All of the Women in Me'

15:44 Reflections on Womanhood and Creativity

16:50 The Sri Lankan Creative Scene

17:57 The Power of Spoken Word

19:05 Showcasing Jewelry and Fashion

21:02 Introducing Ratchasi

26:57 Creative Residencies Experience

31:10 Final Thoughts and Where to Find More

Follow Megan on instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/megan_dhakshinishatrughan/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/raatchasi_silver/?hl=en

Buy Poison Apple:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poison-Apple-Megan-Dhakshini/dp/194702129X

Dee Gibson is the award winning designer and founder of boutique hotel Kalukanda House in Sri Lanka, www.kalukandahouse.com ~ Conde Nast Best Places to Visit in Asia 2024 & HIP Hotels Best Hotels 2025. You can follow on
instagram @deegibson2017 or @kalukandahouse

This podcast lifts the veil on what, and more importantly WHO this island is with conversations about all the things you never read about in the travel pages. Dee showcases a fascinating modern society reclaiming their identity and taking ownership of their narratives on the global stage. No subject is taboo so expect guests talking about everything from activism through art and yoga, why sari was modified by British colonisers, a performance on love and lust to episodes on forgotten heroines being narrated back into our history books and much more.

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Sri Lanka, modern perspectives from an ancient melting pot, the podcast that shares conversations of a dynamic modern day Sri Lanka. I'm your host, Dee Gibson, a British Sri Lankan designer living in London and founder of boutique hotel Kalukanda House on the south coast. I'm going to lift the veil on what, and more importantly, who this island is. So join me and my guests as we talk about all the things you never read about in the travel pages. I'll show you a fascinating modern society reclaiming their identity and taking ownership of their narratives on the global stage. No subject is taboo, so expect conversations on activism through art and yoga, why Sari was modified by British colonisers, a performance on love and lust, and episodes on forgotten heroines being narrated back into our history books. There's plenty more besides. And this is the island I see and want to share with all of you. My very first guest is Megan Duxney, a published poetess, art director and trilingual voiceover artist. She is poised and elegant and confesses to be shy and retiring. But when she performs, she lights up and the rebel within shines through. She feels most comfortable in her writer skin. and on stage, performing poetry and music while exchanging exhilarating energy with audiences. She says, I'm a sucker for the sad stuff and I dabble in short verse about love, loss, lust, longing and lingering things. Megan is a multidisciplinary creative and spends some of her time on Instagram performing spoken word reels, Tamil cover songs and writing and art directing poetry posts. She's also managing her new silver brand, Ratchesy. We start this episode with a performance by Megan of her poem, Now You See Red, written for her daughter when she came of age. This is a conversation about being a woman and the many different people that we are, and a glimpse into the creative process of this incredibly talented artist.

SPEAKER_02:

Should I tell you what I know now, my girl?

SPEAKER_01:

That this crimson smear is only a warning of all the red you will greet and meet and slip on. But you will be known by many names that are not your own. That your prefixes and adjectives will sink or celebrate your worth and well-being. That you will be a goddess because your body is a temple but maybe not yours to pray at till you finally find your way there. That you'll wax and wane with the moon and the pain will shrink and grow with her too. That greedy fingers will always reach out for a taste and maybe you will be a feast for a few too. That lust and longing and all the lurking disguised as love will change the light in your eyes. That how high you hold your head will determine how well you navigate all of the lies designed to shame and maim your voice. That beauty is a bad word that will weave itself into every layer of your life. That you will either be beautiful or beautiful inside, like all of the ads selling stuff and rejecting them will tell you. That there is no right way to be. No, never. that you are what your closest and most well-meaning people tell you you are, that mirrors will make and break you, and you will break some too, that your heart, oh, your heart, is like water, like steel, and also just a piece of flesh covered in crimson, but not the same dirty, muddied crimson that leaves you month after month, year after year, putting you in your place, ruling your space, and giving people permission to tell you what, how, when you should be, could be, would be, baby. That you hold the strength of the universe, yet your eyes will spill over and flood your worth. That you will fall and break and bruise and rise up and walk your way out of every rut that you are designed to provide and be precious. And that your purpose is a pursuit. And your existence is wondrous, wondrous pain and pleasure and a battle in waves every step of the way. Should I tell you this?

SPEAKER_03:

Now you see red.

SPEAKER_00:

Hi, Megan. Welcome to

SPEAKER_01:

the podcast. Hi, Dominique. Lovely to be on the podcast. This is my first podcast.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, it's your first podcast, but it's our second recording, isn't it? Because we recorded it once before and had a bit of a disaster, but we're back now. I really want to talk to you about so many different things. I admire you so much for your creativity and all the different things you do. And I was lucky enough to meet you earlier on this year when you came to a creative residency that I held at Calacanda House. where you unveiled more layers of your talents. But I first want to talk about your poetry. You recently wrote a book of poems that you shared with me, but tell me all about that and what the book of poems represents, what it's called, and what was your feeling as you were pulling those poems together? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So my second book of poems is called Softly We Fall. That's the one I launched this year. And it was a follow-up to Poison Apple, which was my first collection. Both books actually deal with the themes of love, lust, longing, lust, and a lot of, sometimes it touches upon depression, grief. But they're all very short, bite-sized kind of poems. Because when I started putting out my writing some years back, Instagram was like the social media platform. And I trained myself to write the poems short enough to suit that platform. So they ended up being like six, seven lines. And then that sort of became a trademark of my writing. And so over the years, I collected many of these poems and they were on the same theme. And so they fit in quite well into this collection. I think Softly Weak Fall compared to Poison Apple has a few more longer, I would say more melancholy pieces. But yeah, so that's the book.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm interested whether you've always written simply poetry.

SPEAKER_01:

I used to write a lot of stories, a lot of prose stories. So this is when I was like, what? 14, 15. That age. Apart from being the hallmark girl who used to write everyone's cards for them. And that was poetry.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I started out writing prose and for some reason I can't go back to it now. I've been doing the poetry for maybe 12, 15 years. And it's kind of stuck now. I'm trying to write short prose, that kind of thing, but it always ends up reading like a prose poem it's funny that I don't even read poetry the poetry I read also is poems that I seek out I actively seek out and read poems online or I would there are certain authors I like like Charles Bukowski or Leonard Cohen whose poems I'd find and read or I'd buy a book of their collection. I read fiction all of the time. It's fiction that I'm drawn to. I love fantasy, hymns, books, all sorts of fiction. I don't even read memoir or biographies or any of that. But for some reason, I write lame poems. It's a strange situation.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's beautiful, actually. And I know that you've put one of your amazing poems to music. You read a beautiful poem to us in June called Now You See Red, which you explained to us was written for your daughter when she came of age and she started her periods. But it was more than a poem about becoming a woman. There was so much kind of narration in there about emotions and Growing into your womanhood.

SPEAKER_01:

I think I was overwhelmed with emotion and sort of that feeling of, oh, there goes that little bit of childhood and a fear of what's to come. And knowing what I know now, I started thinking about, oh, what would I tell her about what being a woman is like? And so I just wrote that in one go. I think that's one of the rare poems that just flowed right onto the page in one go. I didn't have any edits, any redos, none of that. It just came. And I sent it around, yeah, just like that.

SPEAKER_00:

So you just burst the poem just like that? I think it was

SPEAKER_01:

just, you know, the...

SPEAKER_00:

That's amazing. The

SPEAKER_01:

amount of emotion I felt that day, and it had to kind of, it just had to kind of flow. But then I just sent it around to a couple of friends. Yeah. You know, other women who I knew would relate. And by chance, it went over to a lady who I got to know online with the singing class that I was taking online. And she loved it and it moved her. And she was like, would you like to set this to music? We can get some musicians here in India to collaborate, maybe compose something for it. I was like, yeah, let's do this. It's called Now You See Red. You can find it on any of the streaming platforms. Something very close to my heart.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Well, I will be sharing it if I can stitch it into this recording to try and do that. Do I have your permission to do that, by the way? Oh, of course. I don't break copyright. I'd like to go back to your first collection of poems called Poison Apple and the name. Yes. Because it immediately makes me think of Adam and Eve.

SPEAKER_01:

It's almost a story told in poems about unrequited love and about two people who weren't destined to be together. So I have divided the book into sections where... It's from his point of view, her point of view. Then there's a little bit, like a steamy bit in the middle. Then there's like the inevitable distance and the break and the fact that they cannot be together. And the poems that talk about the emotions they're feeling because they can't be together. So that was Poison Apples. Softly Before was basically the aftermath of that. You can say it is a kind of a story, but the second one, the whole thing is an aftermath. It's about the actual fall and the healing and the letting go. So yeah, they are related.

SPEAKER_00:

This could be lessons in love. Actually, because I'm listening to you talk and we've got Poison Apple, we've got Softly We Fall. Within that, we've got a poem called Now You See Red. There's another piece of work that you have called No One Is Listening.

SPEAKER_01:

That was done by the British Council in Sri Lanka. So one of my poems is in that anthology that's called No One Is Listening.

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm really excited that you also said that you're going to do a live reading for us. What is it you're going to read for us now?

SPEAKER_01:

All of the Women in Me. So this is not a poem about love or loss, since we have a lot of that going on. I think it would relate to a lot of the women listening in about the many roles we play, about the many things we have to juggle. Yeah, so why don't we listen to it and then dissect it afterwards. All of the women in me have fizzled out. Some of them are fighting for space to breathe, to cuss, to curve and curl into desired things, but all of them have fizzled out. In their place, fatigue holds fort in the caverns, Hopeless, filled in the crevices neatly, unnoticed. In the mirror, sultry siren fades. I try to speak with mother, sister, friend, but they reside on the surface and are currently unreachable. Traitors, mask wearers. Lover is a lick away. still twinkling and counting synonyms for desire down there, cheated. I am awake, a whirlwind, not a woman, wandering and wandering through these multitudes and mirages, maintaining conversations with ghosts and gatekeepers. My favorite dreamer is aloft somewhere, still wearing smiles and carrying stars, but even she, I sense, is doing what fluorescent lights do when they reach their end. Flickering, still a spark, but not too long.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. Did you find yourself somewhere there? That's just amazing. It's

SPEAKER_01:

a lot of people in us.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you so much for sharing that. I think it's so relevant to a lot of women who are also going through sort of menopausal changes and there's so many things and when we're judged by society according to what we say what we do how we look how we behave yeah and we've crafted some of these women that you've just described in to fit with society and and then something changes physically and we can't fit into that mold anymore so it's beautiful piece um yeah it's gorgeous I'm interested actually in being a creative in Sri Lanka. I have come across people like you and a few others who you know through our HERA Project X community that we're building, who are so talented and create so much of this incredible, you know, whether it's physical artistry, words, film, music. dance, all of these different things. What's it like being a Sri Lankan creative at the moment? Do you feel like you're being heard and seen outside of Sri Lanka?

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, that's a difficult one. Personally, I don't think that I am being seen and heard outside of Sri Lanka, but I do know of many others who are. And I think it's kind of like all of the talent is kind of losing out of the cracks. right now. It's a time of coming out. There's a lot of change makers. There's a lot of storytellers. Females who are doing incredible work and I see them being noticed and taking their stuff elsewhere. Especially with fashion and jewelry and pieces of art. I think blooming right now. Yeah, but it's going to, I think I'm going to

SPEAKER_02:

have

SPEAKER_01:

to, not a lot of people actually read today. So it is taking a while to get my work out there, which is why there's a lot of spoken word that I'm working on. My Instagram has a lot of videos of me reading my work rather than, earlier I used to actually put the printed word out as a post, but now I appear in videos and read out my work because I feel like okay the audience may be able to listen and view stuff and digest things better than when they read so I'm trying to see what works better but I think yeah in time it will reach where it should

SPEAKER_00:

I think also you've touched on something which is just very relevant. Ever since social media came along, we've become much more visual. As a global society, I would say, you're right. I think people read less. So you performing the work that you have written, so spoken word as opposed to written word, I think is a lot more powerful because people, it just brings it to life, doesn't it? So in terms of fashion and jewellery, those are very transportable things. You know, we can buy, we can wear, we can enjoy it without having to sit down and, you know, use the brain. So I think whilst it's a shame that, as you say, people don't read so much anymore, I think it's a joy for us because as a voice artist and a bloody good one at that, then you to be able to perform your own work is a gift.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it was a push in the right direction to actually start performing my work. Someone once asked me, they think my words would work without me, whether they work on the page as opposed to as a performance piece. And I was like, oh, that's something to think about. Because the work I have been putting out lately, which is not in the books, the new work has always been performance pieces.

SPEAKER_00:

And it would be interesting to see your reaction to somebody else performing some of your poetry and whether it was interpreted in the same way. What I also want to sort of really kind of talk about as well is, you know, now that we can see you performing via social media and YouTube and so on, What is fantastic as well is it gives you the opportunity to showcase your jewelry range, which when I met you in June and I remember, I suddenly had this moment where I saw, oh my God, that woman's jewelry is absolutely amazing. And I remember commenting on it. And you said, oh yeah, well, you know, this is my new jewelry range. So you've got to tell us about that. And you've got to... Now, I'm going to try and pronounce it and see if I can. Ratchasi. All

SPEAKER_02:

right.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Because I know you wanted to try and get a few of us to pronounce it. But can you tell us what that stands for? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_01:

Ratchasi is the word. Its literal translation is demoness. It's a Tamil word that means demoness. But I want to reclaim it. I want to rechristen it. I want to change the narrative. And I want it to relate to anyone who identifies with being fierce, with being fire, with being fun. And the name is something close to my heart. It's kind of like an alter ego, if you will. Because to most people, I am a quiet, introverted, good convent girl. But there is also this inner rebel. And she is loud and colorful and very passionate. And I think that side of me comes out when I'm on stage or when I'm performing or when I'm with my closest friends. So the word varchasi kind of resonates with that inner soul. So with the jewelry, silver jewelry has always been an obsession for me. I love nose rings. And I tend to wear them large. And many people started noticing and asking me where I got my stuff. And it was almost always stuff I used to get made, custom made. Because they don't make silver nose rings here in Sri Lanka. They make a lot of gold, but they don't make them in silver. Or I would have to get them down from a few favorite brands in India. Whenever someone was coming down, I'd say, oh, hey, can you stop over at the store, get this nose ring for me. And yeah, the nose rings have kind of become like an identity for me. And I thought, okay, people are asking about them. Why don't I actually... make a few more and see if people would be interested in buying my style. So that's how Ratchasi came to be. I'm not making only nose rings. I've got a couple of other pieces that I'm making and I want to kind of revive traditional Tamil jewelry or Indian jewelry and kind of give them a a modern or a contemporary twist. So pieces that everyone wears anyway, like Jhumkars or the Mokuti. I'm excited about the festive collection, which I'm launching next month, which has Amata, which is like the little ear chain thing that Tamil ladies have worn forever. But I want to see how I can... introduce them in a contemporary manner. I

SPEAKER_00:

love it. I think your jewelry is amazing. And it's funny you say it's part of you because actually, if I were to see you without one of your

SPEAKER_02:

amazingness,

SPEAKER_00:

I would notice that there was something different. But it's just so beautifully done. And I don't, what's the difference between Tamil jewelry and Sinhalese

SPEAKER_01:

jewelry? So the Kandyan single-use jewellery, which is a different style, also very, very beautiful. I love those old Kandyan pieces from South India. So they have a lot of things from the rest of India also. But I am currently with what the old parties in India used to wear, where they had multiple... piercings all over their ears and each piercing had a name and they would have these huge gold heavy baubles on their ears that would actually tear their ear down with the weight and such beautiful interesting pieces that I want to draw inspiration from them and make more contemporary versions of the same stuff bring them back it's like a revival

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, well, I look forward to that. I can't wait to see that. I mean, I also love the fact that you named it Ratici and Demoness and you're reclaiming the name because Hera is also the name that we're reclaiming of the Greek goddess, which is, you know, she's always had a bad rap. Yeah, let's change the bad rap for her. Yeah, let's change the bad rap. Absolutely. I think that's fantastic. And I could see in you, when we got to know each other in June particularly when you were reading that you know the way you look the way you perform the words that you put on the page very much you convey someone who is absolutely not not a shy wallflower so there's obviously that person inside you so you've obviously got this rebellious streak but you are a kind and gorgeous soul and it's coming out through your creativity which i think is is wonderful and i really enjoyed meeting you in june when you came to our creative residency now at the time we were all talking about these kind of creative residencies were not happening either they were not happening or they were very few and far between And what I'm noticing is that there are more of these now happening, which I think is fantastic. As a creative, living in a country that people travel to in order to retreat themselves, to find themselves, all of this kind of thing, what was your experience of coming to a creative residency at Calacanda Health and being immersed with other women did you find that I don't want to put words in your mouth but how did you find

SPEAKER_01:

that? So first of all it was my very first creative residency and I thank you for having me there and putting me in the midst of all those amazing women in that amazing house. Just a side note for the listeners out there if you're coming to Sri Lanka you have to stay at Kalukonda House. It's amazing. The architecture is beautiful. Dini has preserved the Sri Lankan traditional architecture and just made it so beautiful. I loved staying there. It was gorgeous. Thank you. And about the residency, gosh, I think you would have observed how it just tore everything open. I hadn't expected it to be that intense because everyone who shared had so much to give and I had so much to learn from them and it was actually quite overwhelming because it was discussions about so many topics and no one really goofed about or took a break from their passions and I was like, wow, these guys are full on. But what it did do in being among fantastic people doing fantastic things, it did give me a lot of confidence to stay authentic and not try to conform. This was before I had launched Rajasi and I was having second thoughts about, okay, cater to ABC standards. this kind of person. But it gave me the confidence to just start the brand for someone like me. That gave me the confidence that I would be able to find another Megan out there who would relate to this. And I didn't have to change anything about it.

SPEAKER_00:

There are so many Megans out there and so many wannabe Megans as well. I

SPEAKER_01:

haven't formally learned jewelry design or anything. It's just something that It's just a part of me and something I enjoy. And I have an eye for things. So I thought, okay, let's try and dive into this. But all the second guesses were put to sleep with the amount of advice and confidence that these ladies gave me. I would take that with me.

SPEAKER_00:

Amazing. Well, I'm really, really pleased to hear that. I also think that sometimes... The things that we learn in inverted commas just put us into kind of, in some ways, a factory of how things have always been done or how things have been done before. And I think creativity should just be allowed to flourish, whether you're taught in inverted commas or not. Because if you need the tool to make a piece of jewelry, you can go and find a silversmith. But to design... And, you know, give it heart and feeling is something that just comes from within you. So, listen, we're coming to a close, but I'd like to know, how can we find more about your line of jewelry, more about your spoken word?

SPEAKER_01:

My personal blog is megan.akshini.shatrugan. But if you search for megan.akshini, you should be able to find me. Rachasi is beautiful. The handle is Racha C. Silva on Instagram. And Poison Apple is available on Amazon. Softly Weak Fall right now is only locally available, but you can buy it. If you're in Sri Lanka, you can buy it at Sarasavi or at Barefoot. And if you're a reader, I hope you do. It's a lovely chat and I enjoyed talking to you.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was really, really good. And so you heard it here first. I have permission to take a little snippet. Yes. Now you see red and I shall try and insert into our recording because it's especially the one with the music because it is so, so beautiful. And thank you for coming on. Yes. You know, I will share about your new range when it comes out, the festive collection. All right. It's good to see you, Megan. Thank you so much.

People on this episode