HINDI DIVAS, CHANDIGARH

September 21, 2008.

The Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi celebrated Hindi divas today by organizing a lecture on the state of the national language today. The main speaker was the well-known creative writer, Dr Indu Bali, Chairing the talk was the veteran journalist and commentator, Dr Radhe Shyam Sharma.

Indu Bali's talk was a hard-hitting one that targetted those who do not love the Hindi language as traitors to the nation. In an impassioned plea, she espoused the cause of the national language, stressing that we may consider ourselves truly free only when we give due respect and position to Hindi.

Dr Radhey Shyam Sharma pointed out that in all leading countries of the world Hindi is taught at institutions of higher learning and we in India should realise this and do our bit for the language.

DS Gupt, Vice-Chairman of CSA, summed up the views of the two speakers and reiterated that the Akademi should focus on the development and progress of Hindi.

Madhav Kaushik, Secretary of CSA, compered the event.

Creative Writing Workshop

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi organized a two-day Creative Writing Workshop for College Students in collaboration with Dev Samaj College for Women, Sector-45, Chandigarh, in the College auditorium on 3rd &4th September, 08. About 80 students from various colleges participated. Miss Meera Modi, Principal, Dev Samaj College, welcomed the guests and participants. Ms. Christina, Deputy Manager, British Library, was the Chief Guest and inaugurated the workshop. On the first day Prof. Mahendra Kumar, Chairman, Dept of Indian Theatre, Panjab University, lectured on the intricacies of writing a Play. Dr. D. S Gupt guided the students on how to write Poetry. Mr. Vivek Atray, Director, Public Relations & Tourism, U.T., distributed prizes to outstanding participants. Smt. Neelkamal Puri, a teacher and novelist from Govt. college for Girls, Sector 11, gave tips to the students on Story-Writing and Shri Phool Chand Manav guided them on writing Articles.

PLAY READING

On Saturday, the 30th of August, at 4 PM, Dr Narendra Mohan, a well-known Hindi writer who has earlier written eight plays, read from his new play "Had Ho Gayi Yaaron" at the CSA office premises in the State Library of Sector 34 on Saturday, August 30, 2008, at 4 pm.
Dr Narendra Mohan is a prolific author who has written poetry, drama and criticism. He has received numerous state and national awards for his creative writing.
The present play is about the fast changing and complex relationship scenario in today's socio-political milieu. The theme revolves around two women caught in the web of a lecherous religious head, a scamp and scamster, a dalit leader and above all the establishment. The two women, inspite of the odds, abuse and injury inflicted on them, carve out their identity as the play progresses towards the end.

multi-lingual kaavi sammelan

What is a poet?

One who can see the world in a grain of sand
Who can fly on the viewless wings of poesy
Who writes neither for fame or money
Who stitches and unstitches a tapestry of words all the time
“A line may take us hours may be….
But if it seems not a moment's thought
All our stitching and unstitching has been nought."
(misquotation perhaps, but you know what I mean.)

A poet would take a trip on the gossamer wings of a dragonglay
grasp a moonbeam and save it for a dark night
Or reach out for a sunbeam alighting on a mote of dust
gather the rainbow colors of a dewdrop before it evaporates
– and use those colors to paint the world in brighter hues.
grasp a fleeting moment, seek the ephemeral,
the transitory,
aeons of life lived in a nanosecond ----
All this and much more
....
Only to perpetuate it in black and white
On the printed pages of a book of verse.



CSA organized a multi-lingual Kavi Sammelan on the eve of Independence day in the Auditorium of Govt.College, Sector 11, Chandigarh.
Pradip Mehra, Adviser to the Administrator, inaugurated the event. Also present at the commencement was DPI Colleges, Raji Shrivastava.
City poets read their poems in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English.
Here is a group photo of the participants taken at the end of the program.

Creative Writing Workshop

The Akademi organized a one-day workshop on Creative Writing on August 9, 2008, in which about 150 students from different schools participated. They were given training by experts on writing Poetry, Prose, Short Stories and Plays. Resource persons included well-known writers who have made a name for themselves in the field.
It is proposed that similar workshops will be organized during September, October, November and December 2008.

KAVI SAMMELAN

CSA will organize a multi-lingual Kavi Sammelan on the eve of Independence day. This Kavi Sammelan will be held on 14 th August 2008 at 6:00 pm in the Auditorium of Govt.College, Sector 11, Chandigarh.

Sh. Pradip Mehra, I.A.S., has kindly consented to inaugurate

Poets participating in Kavi-sammelan
1. Dr. Atulveer Arora
2. Bhagwant Singh
3. Bhupinder Singh
4. Dr. Chander Trikha
5. Dr. D.S Gupt
6. Gurtej kaur
7. Jagmohan Chopra
8. Dr.Jyoti Khanna
9. Dr. Kulbeer kaur
10. Lalita Jagmohan
11. Manjit Indira
12. Madhav Kaushik
13. Madhukar Arya
14. Nirmal Dutt
15. Prem Vij
16. Dr. Prasoon Parsad
17. Pushpinder Syal
18. Rajinder Chand
19. R.D Sharma Taseer
20. Prof. R.P Chaddah
21. Ms Ratneev
22. Sultan Anjum
23. Sham Singh
24. Santosh Dhiman
25. Dr. Vibha Ray

FUTURE PLANS

Hindi Diwas will be celebrated on September 14, 2008 and Mahila Diwas in March 2009.


The Akademi plans to bring out a Directory of Chandigarh-based writers. All poets, playwrights, and creative writers who either reside or work in Chandigarh may send their particulars (Name, contact details, email ID, particulars of published work) to the Chairperson, Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi, State library 1st floor, Sector-34, Chandigarh. Submissions would also be made through e-mail. The email id for the same is sahitakad2008@gmail.com