Poet and storyteller Ruchika Lohiya is taking her Candlelight Poetry & Music Show across India, creating intimate spaces where poetry, music and emotion meet. As the live experience arrives in Hyderabad, Lohiya opens up about her creative process, audience connection, authenticity and the enduring power of storytelling.
There is something different about hearing poetry in a room where hundreds of people have temporarily put their phones aside.
For poet and storyteller Ruchika Lohiya, that shared silence is an important part of the experience. Her Candlelight Poetry & Music Show combines spoken poetry, music and carefully created ambience to turn a conventional recital into something more intimate.
The format has travelled across cities and attracted audiences looking for an experience that feels personal rather than purely performative.
As the show arrives in Hyderabad, Lohiya reflects on what makes the city’s audience distinctive, how her poems develop and why live storytelling continues to find an audience in an increasingly digital world.
Why Hyderabad Has a Special Place in Lohiya’s Journey
Lohiya says Hyderabad has always stood out to her because of the way audiences engage with art.
She describes the city’s audience as receptive, calm and deeply attentive, with an appreciation for poetry, music and storytelling that goes beyond simply attending an event.
For her, that temperament works naturally with the atmosphere of the candlelight show.
She also sees an interesting difference between audiences in different cities. While she describes Delhi audiences as more outwardly expressive, she says Hyderabad audiences often absorb emotions more quietly.
That does not mean the emotions are any less intense.
In fact, Lohiya says she enjoys encouraging Hyderabad audiences to loosen up during her performances — to laugh openly, cheer without hesitation and allow themselves to experience the complete emotional range of the evening.
Her hope is that people leave the venue having laughed, cried and felt something genuinely personal.
The Stage Comes After the Writing
For Lohiya, performance is not the starting point.
She says she writes because she has something she wants to express, rather than beginning with an imagined audience or a future stage performance.
A poem may first emerge privately, on a smaller stage or through social media before eventually finding its place in a larger live production.
That process also gives her a different form of validation from performers working in comedy or other live formats.
A comedian can often immediately judge a joke through laughter. For Lohiya, the response can be quieter.
She says seeing an audience member cry can tell her that the poem has reached them emotionally.
For her, those moments represent a particularly powerful form of audience connection.
How Candlelight Became Part of the Experience
The candlelight concept came from an experience Lohiya had while attending a candlelight concert in London.
The atmosphere stayed with her, and she began imagining how a similar setting could work with spoken poetry.
The result became an important part of her performance identity.
According to Lohiya, candlelight changes the pace of a room. The softer environment encourages audiences to become quieter and more attentive, creating space for the words to carry greater emotional weight.
She also connects the symbolism of fire with warmth, hope and emotion.
Rather than treating the candles as simple decoration, the production uses the environment to influence how audiences experience the poetry.
Her Poetry Is Not Necessarily Her Personal Diary
One of the assumptions Lohiya has encountered repeatedly is that emotional poetry must directly reflect the writer’s personal life.
She says that is not necessarily the case.
Audiences have sometimes assumed that the emotions in her poems reflect heartbreak or circumstances she is personally experiencing. Lohiya explains that she generally writes only after she has processed an emotion.
By the time a poem reaches an audience, therefore, the experience that inspired it may already belong to the past.
She prefers not to explain the personal circumstances behind individual poems.
Instead, she allows listeners to interpret the words through their own experiences.
That distance between writer and audience can ultimately make the poetry more universal.
When Performances Become Conversations
Although Lohiya describes herself primarily as a writer, her live shows often develop into conversations between performer and audience.
She says she does not necessarily plan for that interaction to happen.
For her, writing can feel instinctive — as though emotions and words arrive without being consciously constructed.
Once an audience connects with those words, however, another creative exchange begins.
People frequently approach her after performances to share personal stories and experiences. Some of those conversations later influence her writing.
She also uses social media to invite audiences to suggest emotions, situations or themes they would like her to explore through poetry.
The relationship therefore works in both directions: Lohiya writes for her audience, but the audience can also become a source of inspiration for what she writes next.
Can Poetry Stay Authentic in the Age of Algorithms?
For digital creators, the pressure to understand algorithms can sometimes appear incompatible with artistic authenticity.
Lohiya does not see the two as necessarily conflicting.
She acknowledges that reaching a larger audience matters to her and says she is willing to understand social media platforms and adapt her approach when necessary.
But she has noticed something interesting about her own work.
Some of the poems that performed best online were written without trying to satisfy an algorithm.
That experience has reinforced her belief that authenticity remains central to the work.
The algorithm can determine how widely something travels, but the emotional connection still has to come from the content itself.
Why Audiences Turn to Poetry During Difficult Times
For many people, poetry becomes particularly meaningful during periods of grief, heartbreak, uncertainty or personal change.
Lohiya says she does not view that connection as an overwhelming responsibility.
Instead, she considers it a privilege.
Knowing that someone has chosen one of her poems during a difficult moment gives her a sense of gratitude.
For an artist, she believes being able to provide even a small amount of comfort, hope or strength can be deeply meaningful.
That relationship also explains why emotionally direct poetry continues to resonate even in an era dominated by short-form digital content.
Why Live Poetry Is Finding a New Audience
The resurgence of live storytelling comes at a time when much of entertainment has moved onto screens.
People can watch films at home, consume short videos while commuting and access music instantly through their phones.
Lohiya believes this abundance of digital entertainment has actually made physical experiences more valuable.
The desire to step away from constant scrolling and spend time in a shared environment has become increasingly important.
A live poetry performance provides something a recorded video cannot completely reproduce: the collective experience of being in a room with other people responding to the same words at the same time.
For Lohiya, technology may continue changing, but the underlying human desire to connect emotionally remains.
Letting Emotion Decide Between Words, Music and Silence
The Candlelight Poetry & Music Show does not attempt to maintain a rigid formula between spoken word and music.
Lohiya approaches each emotion differently.
Sometimes poetry is the most effective form.
Sometimes melody can communicate something that language cannot.
And sometimes, she believes, silence can express more than either.
Instead of forcing a predetermined balance between the elements, she allows the emotion to determine whether a moment requires words, music or stillness.
That philosophy gives the live show a fluid quality rather than making it feel like a fixed sequence of performances.
A Writing Process Built Around the First Draft
Lohiya describes her writing routine as relatively straightforward.
She may spend between one and three hours writing a poem. Once she feels the poem is finished, she generally considers the work complete.
Unlike writers who repeatedly revise their drafts, she says she rarely edits extensively because she believes the first version can contain the most direct expression of an emotion.
That approach places instinct at the centre of her creative process.
For her, overworking a poem could potentially remove some of the immediacy that made the original idea meaningful.
What Comes Next for Ruchika Lohiya?
Lohiya’s current focus is touring.
Her performances have expanded from smaller studio settings to larger auditoriums, giving the show a broader national footprint.
She describes the growth as fulfilling but remains ambitious about what could come next.
Her philosophy is straightforward: aim high, remain open to unexpected opportunities and continue building.
The Hyderabad performance represents another step in that journey.
And if Lohiya’s vision for live poetry is any indication, the future of the format may not be about competing with screens at all.
It may be about offering something screens cannot provide — a room full of people sitting together, listening closely and allowing themselves to feel.
Editorial Note
This article is an original editorial adaptation based on the interview information supplied. It does not reproduce the source article’s prose. Hunterfly should independently verify the Hyderabad venue, event date, tour details and all direct quotations against the original interview or event source before publication. Any claims concerning audience numbers, ticket sales or the show’s commercial performance should be supported by independently verifiable evidence.
