All of 25, poetess, storyteller, performer and content creator Ruchika Lohiya is already building a sizeable audience with her Hindi, English and occasional Urdu poetry. But the journey to the stage was hardly planned. Growing up in Jodhpur, she began writing in diaries as a child, using them to process everything from everyday hurt to her grandmother’s illness.

Years later, after moving to Mumbai to study filmmaking and pursuing acting, she found her way back to writing by casually posting a poem online, that changed the course of things.

Currently, with over a million followers on social media, Ruchika presents her poetry and stories to packed venues and recently performed in South India, in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, as part of ‘Chikka on Rolls’, her popular candlelight storytelling, music and poetry show.

She spoke to Provoke Lifestyle about finding her voice, the audiences she loves performing for; her dream of learning a South Indian language, and why she wants to take her poetry beyond India.

Tell us a bit about your childhood. Were you always someone who liked writing and telling stories?
I was brought up in Jodhpur and writing has always been an integral part of my life. Even as a kid, I would journal a lot, much before journalling became the trend that it is today. It came to me organically. Whether anything happened at home or someone said something that hurt me, I would write it down. I remember when my grandmother had cancer. I was very young to understand what was going on. She was away in the hospital for a month and every day I would write in my diary, “Dadi, kaise ho? (grandmother, how are you?)”, like I was talking to her. Then when I was around 13 or 14, there was a boy I really liked. We were friends, but eventually we stopped talking and that was a major loss of friendship for me. I was quite heartbroken and started writing in English to process my emotions.

Did you ever imagine that writing, one day, would become your profession?
Not at all! I came to Mumbai to study filmmaking because I wanted to become an actor. I gave three years of my life to acting, but it didn’t work out. When that happened, I was quite lost. I had a degree but wasn’t sure what job I could get with it so, I had to go back home. It was also COVID time so I was trying out different things, doing internships and copywriting. Then I wrote my first Hindi poem and casually posted it online. It ended up getting a lot of views and I thought, let me continue writing. And one thing just led to another.

Do you remember your first live performance?
Very clearly! After I started gaining followers on Instagram, IIT Bombay invited me to speak to its students. My parents were incredibly proud. They always joked that their daughter would never get into IIT. So, when IIT invited me to speak, it was a particularly proud moment for all of us.

Who were some of your early inspirations?
Priyanka Chopra was a big inspiration. More than her acting, I love the way she speaks and gives interviews. I would sometimes play her videos at night and listen to her talk about motivation and taking things one step at a time. Selena Gomez and Olivia Rodrigo also inspired me, not simply because they are Western pop stars, but also because they started young and turned their experiences and heartbreak into music. I always thought, if they could turn their pain into a purpose, I could do that too. I also read a lot of self-help books, which my friends find very strange because they keep telling me I should read more fictional Hindi stories! One book that was really life-changing for me was The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. My best friend gave it to me when I was about 12 or 13. I also really like Unposted Letters by Mahatria Ra.

You have performed several times in South India. What do you make of the audiences here?
There is a difference between audiences across the country. I feel North Indian audiences are louder and more expressive, whereas South Indian audiences are more subtle. Cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad have a young and energetic crowd, perhaps because of the job culture here. I’m also planning to perform in Chennai soon, which I’m really looking forward to. One of my main goals currently is to learn a South Indian language. I want to write poetry in it so that I can connect more with audiences here and eventually perform much more in the South enough to write poetry in it.

Which are your favourite places to perform at?
Bengaluru and Mumbai are two places I really enjoy performing at. And Chandigarh is another favourite of mine. The energy there is crazy. Even when you are on stage, you can feel the audience’s excitement. I sometimes feel like they are just going to get up and start doing bhangra!

Your poetry can sometimes sound very personal. Do people assume everything you write has happened to you?
All the time. People are always confused about whether my poems are real or not. And honestly, I want them to remain confused. At the end of the day, it’s storytelling. Everything is exaggerated. I’m 25 — I couldn’t have possibly gone through all the heartbreak that I write about! It’s a combination of imagination and feeling.

You’ve now built a huge audience online. Does posting and constantly creating ever feel like pressure?
Honestly, I don’t find it challenging. I really enjoy posting on social media and performing on stage. People often ask me how I manage posting so regularly and whether it gets to my head, but I’ve wanted this since I was a child. Now that I have it, I really respect it. It doesn’t feel like pressure to me. It motivates me to do more.

You recently introduced candlelight poetry to your auditorium shows. Where did that idea come from?
I was in London and saw a candlelight concert. From that day, I had this idea that I wanted to create something like that for poetry. I had always told my organisers that once we started making some money from the shows, I wanted to invest in production as well. This time we finally did it — we added candlelights to the auditorium show — and it looked beautiful. It made the experience feel very different.

What are you hoping to do next?
Right now, my focus is completely on shows. I want to make them bigger and take my poetry and stories around the world. I want to do a world tour as soon as possible. And, honestly, I want to do stadium shows — as big as a Taylor Swift concert! Over the last three years, around 7,000 people have come and met me through my live performances. My dream is to have one performance where 7,000 people come together at the same time. That would be amazing.

And somewhere in all of this, is acting still on your mind?
Absolutely. Acting was my original dream. I’m still waiting for a South Indian director to cast me! If people come to my show, they’ll understand that I’m also very much an actor. So yes, I’d definitely love to see where that takes me.