Arun Shourie's Book

Arun Shourie on his book:

He is a man who calls a spade a spade. He is not afraid of ruffling feathers. He has been there, done that and has no regrets. A man with a deep sense of commitment who does not believe in living in delusions: that is Arun Shourie for you. 

Dr Arun Shourie was in the city on an invitation from the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi. A PhD in economics, he is well known as a statesman and journalist but this morning he donned another mantel and spoke to an extremely receptive audience as writer: a man who has been through intense suffering and emerged as a strong and noble soul. Shourie is the father of a special child and the spouse of one who suffers from a debilitating Parkinson's disease. What is it like being trapped in such circumstances and how does one cope? He survives and keeps going with the help of a positive approach to life. He is not afraid of talking about his experiences, relating them to wider issues, reaching out to the world beyond his immediate circle. 

In his address today Dr Shourie remained focused on his book Does He Know a Mother's Heart? that begins with private pain but transcends to a public plane as the author shifts his attention to theology and religion. If there is a all-knowing God the father, he asks, why does he make his children suffer? Why does he cause them pain? Why does he punish them, torture them, crush them under piles and piles of suffering? There are no answers to these questions but we human beings, seeking a momentary stay against pain and grief, hang on to the abstract concept of an omnipotent deity.

So what is his advice to those who are faced with similar situations? Arun Shourie lists a few practical steps. Help others, he says, particularly those who are unable to return your favours; focus on the essentials, not on trivia; never look for reasons or for a purpose behind your suffering (for there is no design, no purpose); do not lapse into self-pity; do not be under the delusion of reprieve for fore will be none; above all, accept your situation cheerfully. Sounds like easy advice but Arun Shourie has actually been practising all this over the last three decades and more, ever since the birth of his son, the special child. 

The audience listened spell-bound to Shourie. It was evident that he had touched a sensitive spot in the hearts of all those who were present. When he finished there was a barrage of questions for him, asking him practical advise on the everyday management of suffering. With wit, humour and infinite patience, Dr Shourie responded to their queries. He further mentioned that he is now working on a book on spirituality and mysticism, exploring the many things that are beyond the ken of the human brain.

 

The session was organized under the auspices of the Chandigarh Heritage week being held in the city. Tomorrow (on 18th August) CSA will hold a session with the poet-lyricist Nida Fazli at the UT Guest House at 5.45 pm.

Photographs of this morning's session with Arun Shourie will soon be posted on the CSA blog and Facebook.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
CHANDIGARH HERITAGE FESTIVAL

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi invites you to a special session with the
statesman, leader, journalist and writer whom we all know so well 

ARUN SHOURIE 

the author of Does He Know a Mother's Heart?
will speak of writing as a therapeutic process
on 17 August 2013
at 10.45 AM 

AND

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi 
invites you to a special session with the
POET AND LYRICIST

NIDA FAZLI 
on 18 August 2013
at 5.45 PM 

Venue for both events: UT Guest House
Sector 6
Chandigarh

Join us, please!

Kavita Rim Jhim

KAVITA RIMJHIM

Chandiagarh Sahitya Akademi this morning organized a poetry session interestingly titled “Kavita Rimjhim” in keeping with the monsoon conditions. It rained poetry at UT Guest House where the audience in a packed conference hall was treated to verses in four different languages: Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English.felicitated by the Akademi, B. Madan Mohan who hails from Yamunanagar and writes poetry and fiction in Hindi, and Roshanlal Sharma who is equally versatile in English and in Hindi. The session was chaired by the veteran writer, Prof Virendra Mehendiratta, ably conducted by the secretary of CSA, Madhav Kaushik.

Shri Ram Arsh, the seniormost poet, recited his poems in Punjabi and Urdu. His poems glossed over various themes, mainly people-centric, several of them shot through with gentle humour. For example, “Teri zulfon ki tarah hoti toh suljha leta, / Meri zindagi toh uljhi hai jataon ki tarah.”

Roshanlal Sharma read some poems in English and in Hindi. He may justly be called a nature poet; his verses hovered over themes related to the monsoon: the clouds and the rain, the gentle winds and the gushing rivers. Extending these ideas to human relationships, he evoked the passions that rage in the human heart.

B. Madan Mohan began with his poems on “aam aadmi”, the common man and deprived children in the streets. He recited extempore, his verses seemingly emerging from the depths of his heart. His sequence of love poems, “Saathi Pehli Baar” was greatly appreciated, as was his children’s poetry culled from his forthcoming collection “Gubbarey ki Udaan.”

In his concluding remarks, Virendra Mehendiratta praised the efforts of the CSA in transforming the city into a literary hub. The Chairperson of CSA, Manju Jaidka, thanked the audience for being supportive, announced that some more interesting programmes are slated in the coming weeks, information of which will soon be circulated on Facebook and Blog. Photographs of today’s function are posted on Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/chandigarhsahitya.akademi/posts/695198000497277

Unpublished Manuscripts

The CSA invites city-based writers (working or residing in Chandigarh) to submit unpublished book-length manuscripts in Hindi, English, Punjabi or Urdu. Some funding is available for Grants-in-aid and the best entries would be given financial assistance for publication. 

The following categories will be considered:Poetry 

• Short Fiction
• Novel
• Play
• Children's Literature

Entries may be submitted at the Chd Sahitya Akademi office on the 1st floor of the State Library, Sector 34. Deadline for submission is August 30, 2013. Length of manuscripts: Novels / short stories: 30,000 words to 60,000 words Poetry: 70 - 90 pages Plays: 30 - 50 pages (printed / typed)

MAYTIME MEHFIL

Thank you to those who came!

Those who didn;t -- we missed you!

CSA

REPORT OF TODAY’S EVENT:

MAY-TIME MEHFIL: CREATIVITY AND MORE

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi today held yet another literary event at the UT Guest House. It was an impressive gathering of litterateurs, academicians and poetry enthusiasts. Intellectual exchange took place in a multi-lingual form, through different languages: some English, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. In addition to three writers in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, there was a fourth invited guest, a scholar of Sanskrit who spoke in English about the language of computers. So, in all the event was one that brought together many languages, human as well as machine.

Narendra Mohan is a well-known writer who has written a lot of poetry and drama. He talked about his creative journey, punctuating the account with anecdotes and remembered incidents from the past. His presentation was highly appreciated as he read in his gentle sonorous voice. Tracing the graph of his experiences through the ages, he talked about the difficult times of his youth, the partition days and his personal traumas. A recurrent image in his work is that of a dancer. The writer, according to Mohan, is one who would like the world to understand the rhythms that move him and make him dance. Invariably, however, the music to which he sways remains unheard by others and the writer is left dancing solo.

Krishan Kumar Toor, another noted writer who practices his art in the Urdu language, talked about writing ghazals, a genre to which he has dedicated his entire life, and recited several of his compositions. Toor has won several awards for his writing and is the editor of an Urdu poetry journal. His poetry is remarkable for its simplicity directness. The Urdu that he uses is a mix of Hindustani, so it is easily comprehended. Interspersed with aphorisms, he regaled the audience with his wit and verse.

Gurtej Koharwala hails from Ferozepur where he teaches Punjabi in a local college. He is a young man who has been writing poetry for almost two decades now; he has made a niche for himself and his poems are invariably included in all anthologies of contemporary Punjabi poetry.  Letting the poetry speak for itself, Gurtej recited his poems to a riveted gathering. He writes poetry with a purpose and it seems to emerge straight from his heart, with no artifice.

The fourth speaker today was Girish Nath Jha, associate professor at the special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, JNU, Delhi, where he teaches Computational Linguistics. Girish has a Master’s degree in Natural Language Interface from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, a PhD in Machine Translation, and has been a software engineer in the US for four years before joining JNU. He made a very powerful presentation on the use of Information Technology for the promotion of Language and Literature, making the audience aware of how the internet is being used and how software is being developed by his school for transliteration, so as to enable knowledge-sharing and transfer of information from one language to another. The subject is very new and there is a lot of scope for future development. Girish pointed out the road that literature is likely to take in the coming times.

Today’s event, with four different speakers using as many as seven different

languages, was greatly appreciated by all. From the effusive reactions of the audience, it was obvious, that Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi events are not only popular but also informative and much-awaited.

Chairperson Manju Jaidka, Vice-Chairman Anil Raina and Secretary Madhav Kaushik interacted freely with the audience, thanked everyone for the continued support and assured them that CSA would continue to hold literary events of a high order.

Link for pics will be uploaded on FB and Blog.

2  pics are attached herewith.

Chairperson, CSA

Round-Up 2013

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi held its Annual Round-Up 2013 this evening at the UT Guest House. Presiding over the event was Shri K.K. Sharma, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator. Several well-known personalities of the city were present on the occasion; the hall was packed to capacity and many people in the audience could not get sitting space. This is a measure of the success of CSA events in the city

The highlight of the evening was the annual report of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi presented by the Chairperson along with a slide show of events that were held through the year. A brochure was released to mark the event. This is the fifth Round-Up being held by the CSA and all five brochures covering events of the last five years were presented to the Adviser.  

On this occasion the the CSA also released books written by six city authors who were given a Grants-in-Aid by the Akademi. Ajay Singh Rana, Neena Kanaujia and Dinesh Chandra were given the award for poetry.Ratan Chand Ratnesh, Nirmal Jaswal and Subhash Sharma for short stories.

In addition, three city writers who have been awarded for their books in print (for 2012) read excerpts from their works. Vijay Kapoor read his poems while Nirmal Jaswal and Dr Gargi read from their short stories.

Another talk this evening was by  Rajnish Wattas who is a professor of architecture and has served as the Principal of the local College of Architecture.  Prof Wattas is a die-hard fan  of the noted writer R.K. Narayanwhose 12th death anniversary takes place in another two days, on May 13th. Wattas made a power-point presentation on the life and works of Narayan, sharing his passion for the creator of Malgudi and his deep involvement with the various characters that people this fictional world. 

Shri KK Sharma, the Adviser, who was accompanied by his wife, Mrs Ninette Sharma, in his concluding remarks, praised the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi for the excellent work being done in the field of literature and for making the city a vibrant hub of intellectual activity. He appreciated the work of Chairperson, Manju Jaidka, Vice-Chairperson Anil Raina, and Secretary Madhav Kaushik.

Photographs of this evening's event are being uploaded and the link will soon be available on CSA's Facebook page and Blog.

The next CSA event will be on 25th May at the UT Guest House.

Round-Up 2013

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi invites you to its
ANNUAL ROUND-UP 2013
Presided over by 
Shri K.K. Sharma, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator

on 11 May 2013at 3.45 PM 
at UT Guest House
Sector 6
Chandigarh

Highlights of the session:
Round-Up of 2012-13 by the Chairperson, CSA
Slide presentation on R.K. Narayan by Prof Rajnish Wattas
Interaction with select award-winning writers of the city
Join us, please!

Manju Jaidka
Chairperson, CSA