THE THIRD DAY
OF THE SPRING CELEBRATIONS of Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi featured two writers,
one acclaimed in Hindi, the other in Punjabi.
Jaswinder Singh, an engineer by profession, is an accomplished writer. He has
penned a number of collections of ghazals for which he has received several
honours and awards. Often invited to literary gatherings and mushairas, he was
recently awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2014. Jaswinder Singh was
introduced by the noted playwright Atamjit who engaged him in a lively
conversation, beginning with a recitation of some of his poems. This was an effective
introduction as Atamjit, being more of a performer, read the verses in his
sonorous voice with a lot of feeling and passion. The poet, Jaswinder, strikes
one as a simple, down-to-earth person, grounded in reality. Hailing from a
family in which not much interest was taken in literature, his love for
literature is entirely self-acquired.
His poems are full of ‘punjabiat’, the feel of the earth and the
fragrance of local landscape, rivers and plains, flora and fauna.
Manjula
Rana,
educationist and acclaimed writer of Hindi fiction, is not just a professor of
Hindi, she is also a member of the UPSC. She has authored several collections
of short stories for which she has received a number of awards. In her conversation
with Madhav Kaushik, she spoke at length of Kalidas’s wife, Vidytoma, who was in
fact his inspiration. Vidyotma’s story has not been told fully and Manjula has
looked at her plight through a sympathetic, woman’s gaze. A story that she read, “Jai Ghosh” had the
audience almost in tears; an unusual theme, it described the love of a woman (neglected
in her family) for a childhood friend. It is this love that keeps her going to
the end, a love like that of Dante and Beatrice. In conversation with Manjula
Rana was the Secretary of CSA, Madhav Kaushik, who introduced her, highlighting
her major achievements in the field of letters.
This is the
time of the year when the Akademi also gives away Awards of Recognition to
senior writers of the city. This year’s awardees are:
1. Sh. Madan Sharma 'Rakesh' (Hindi)
2. Smt. Taran Gujral (Punjabi)
3. Sh. Jai Gopal Kochhar - 'Ashk Amritsari' (Urdu)
4. Prof. Ramakant Angiras (Sanskrit)
Shri Vijay
Dev, Adviser to the Administrator, gave away the awards. Addressing the
gathering, he had a word of praise for the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi’s efforts
to promote literature and language in the city. The audience was delighted to
have him in their midst and it so turned out that Mr Vijay Dev is a literature
enthusiast, too. He recited several Punjabi poems and quoted Prof Mohan Singh, Shiv
Kumar Batalvi, Hashim Shah, Sufi poetry, and other Punjabi legends.
All in all,
it was a fitting culmination to a successful three-day event hosted by the CSA
Warm wishes
from
Chandigarh Sahitya
Akademi
