CHANDIGARH HERITAGE WEEK
The Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi organized a two-tiered interactive event with well-known personalities under the auspices of the Third Chandigarh Heritage Festival. The venue was the UT Guest House where the Akademi has been holding many of its events over the last three years. Whereas in the last two Heritage Festivals the CSA invited writers in English and Hindi, this time the focus was on Punjabi and Urdu.
In the first session the Akademi show-cased the work of two local celebrities, Neelam Man Singh Chowdhary and Atamjit, both very well-known and popular in the city. Neelam has recently been awarded a Padmashri by the President of India and Atamjit is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award. While the latter writes play in Punjabi, Neelam has been staging plays in Punjabi. Both have received accolades at home and abroad and Chandigarh is proud to acknowledge them among its eminent citizens. This morning they were in conversation with an interested audience about their work and achievements. Interacting with them were well-known theatre, literature and art persons like Kamal Arora, Indu Bali, Seema Bhalla, Meera Malik and Mina Surjit Singh.
The post-lunch session focused on Urdu Shayari. Invited speakers were again well-known names: Shahryar and Sheen Kaaf Nizam. Shahryar, who is formally called Dr. Akhlaq Mohammed Khan is a doyen of Urdu poetry, best known for the lyrics he penned for films like Gaman and Umrao Jaan. He is from Aligarh and has taught at Aligarh Muslim University. He was awarded the 1987 Sahitya Akademi Award in Urdu for his poetry collection, Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai(1987). He became the fourth Jnanpith winner in Urdu
Sheen Kaaf Nizam hails from Jodhpur. He is an Urdu poet and critic. He has published 'Lamhon kee Saleeb', 'Dasht mein Dariya', 'Naad', 'Saya koi Lamba na Tha', 'Bayazein Kho Gayi Hai' and many other collections and anthologies. He has edited many Devnagari volumes of poets besides editing Deewan-e-Ghalib and Deewan-e-Mir . He has been honoured with many prizes including the Iqbal Samman, Bhasha Bharti Samman, the Urdu Akademi Award and the Begum Akhtar award. He has won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Urdu in December 2010.
In his soft-spoken way Shahryar recited his poems to a receptive gathering while Sheen Kaaf Nizam's forceful nazms and ghazals disarmed the audience completely. There was a lively interaction with the audience moderated by Madhav Kaushik, the Secretary of the CSA.
Prof Manju Jaidka, Chairperson of CSA, who earlier welcomed the speakers, gave a brief overview of the Akademi's activities. She announced that in the coming months the CSA would have its annual Round-Up, disburse awards for published manuscripts (now under consideration), invite fresh contributions, release new publications, and also organize a "Summer Bonanza" involving local and outstation writers. Also present and supporting the event was the Vice-Chairperson of CSA, Simar Onkar. Today's function was attended by a large and appreciative audience.
https://picasaweb.google.com/sahitakad2008/HeritageFest27Mar2011#
