November 16 at the Book Fair

At the Book Fair today the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi was busy indeed, first with book launches, then with an author-interaction, and finally with a kavi sammelan.

Among the local authors whose books were launched was a fifteen year old girl from Bhavan Vidyalaya. Ishita Aggarwal has penned a novel entitled Lieability in which the main protagonist is a  high school girl from the eighth class who has the uncanny ability to detect lies! Ishita spoke about her book and her love for writing and her talk was much appreciated particularly by the youngsters in the audience.

A Banker who Writes:

Ravi Subramaniam hails from the south but he considers himself a punjabi. "I am a Punjoo at heart," he says, "having lived in Ludhiana for 17 of his formative years.

An IIM Bangalore graduate who became a best-selling author with his If God Was a Banker, Ravi is serious about his creative writing although he says he will never give up his regular job for the sake of novels. His inside information of the banking system, gathered over almost two decades of his career, gave him the raw material for his books. Although he is steeped in non-literary subjects like banking and economy, he uses his background as a framework against which he builds his stories.

Ravi writes thrillers which sell like hot cakes because they portray men and women who are not super-human beings but ordinary creatures that his readers can identify with. 

His latest book is Bankerupt, again on similar lines and Ravi is happy with its sales.

Not only did Ravi talk about his novels, he also spoke of the art of writing, the techniques he follows, and the need for pushing the sales of a book. Writing, he feels, is the easiest part of being a novelist. The major challenge lies in pushing the sales and many a good book suffers because it is not marketed properly.

The audience appreciated the author's candid talk and his account of the discipline and regularity he had to practice in order to produce his novels.  Of particular interest to all was the fact that Ravi Subramaniam's father was also a writer and his daughter had published her first novel last year at the age of thirteen. So much for the literary leanings in the family!

The grand finale of the evening was a Kavi Sammelan in which several poets participated, reciting their poems in Hindi and in Punjabi. Among those who recited their poems were Laaj Pushp, Kumar Vinod, Gyan P Vivek, Virendra Madhur, Dr Mukta, Sharanjit Kaur, and Janak Raj. 

Tomorrow the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi will hold book launches and author interactions in the morning. In the evening there ill be a discussion with writers Nitika Singh and Sachin Garg.

Stories from the Kitchen

Day 3 at the Book Fair

So this was Tara Deshpande, the lady with the dimpled cheek and the winsome smile, with a bagful of stories gathered from the kitchen space. Stories with the flavour of cinnamon and pepper, and cloves and garlic.

At the Chandigarh Book Fair this evening the star attraction was Tara Deshpande who opened for the Chandigarh audience a totally new take on literature.  Whereas the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi has encouraged its speakers to explore the various dimensions of literature and its multifarious connections with diverse fields like music and art and painting and cinema, this evening a totally novel perspective was unravelled before the packed hall at the Book Fair: cuisine and creativity!

Tara Deshpande has donned many hats in her career: as a stage artist, as an actress, writer, former model and MTV VJ. She has appeared in several acclaimed films such as Sudhir Mishra's Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin and Kaizad Gustad's Bombay Boys. She played Begum Sumroo in Alyque Padamsee's play of the same name. Since her marriage to an American citizen and moved to Boston in 2001, she has shuttled betweeen Bombay and Boston where she has been running a catering agency. Her husband, a graduate of Harvard Business School, is in finance. Tara published her first book, Fifty and Done (Harper Collins) at the age of 23. Her latest book A Sense for Spice: Recipes and Stories from a Konkan Kitchen (Westland Publishers 2012) has become a best seller.

In an animated conversation with CSA Chairperson, Manju Jaidka, Tara explored the relationship between food on the one hand and folk-lore, myth, history and culture, she spoke at length on how cuisine can be a bridge of understanding between peoples and how food and literature are inextricably intertwined.

A fascinating talk indeed, on a subject the is of interest to one and all, it was attended by a number of dignitaries and their wives. Mrs Ninette Sharma, wife of the Adviser to the Administrator, was present in the audience and felicitated the speaker.

Bhaag, Milka, Bhaag!

Chandigarh Book Fair 2013

This was soon after the inauguration of the Book Fair by His Excellency, the Governor, Shri Shivraj Patil.

The especially erected main hall of the exhibition was packed to capacity. From a distance you could hear the din. The heaving crowd within the tent roared, almost as though it were baying for someone's blood. From time to time there were catcalls and hoots and whistles.

But if you mustered up enough courage and approached the tent you would see that the noise did not emanate from anger or any other negative emotion. The young and the old packed like sardines were full of enthusiasm. Their excitement was almost palpable. They were waiting for their celebrity, Milkha Singh, the Flying Sikh.

And they waited! Waited patiently for the legendary hero.

Milkha Singh came slightly late. But he dashed in and almost dashed out. It almost felt as though he were running a 400 metre race, teasing his captive audience, cocking a snook and challenging them with a "catch me if you can!"

In the very precious half hour that the Flying Sikh spent with the tumultuous crowd he told them about his achievements and the lessons he had learnt in life. He exhorted them to work hard, not to cut corners, and keep on persevering until they reach their goal.

Apart from his bio-pic, "Bhaag, Milkha, Bhaag," the sportsman of yesteryears has penned an autobiography with the help of his daughter. It is entitled "The Race of my Life". Published this year by Rupa, it is an inspirational account of the ups and downs of his life, the courage and fortitude with which he overcame obstacles, and the hard lessons he learnt.

The crowd sat spell-bound and listened. But when Milkha Singh wanted to leave they all rushed on to the stage and mobbed him. The Flying Sikh had to do a disappearing trick and was whisked away deftly by the very efficient security guards provided by the UT Administration.

All in all a great start to a long-awaited Book Fair.

AKADEMI AT THE CHANDIGARH BOOK FAIR 2013

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi will be very busy at the upcoming Chandigarh Bookfair to be held at the
Parade Ground, Sector 17, from 13th to 17th November. 

Take a look at what we are doing:

Nov 13: Ru-ba-ru with Sh Milkha Singh at 6pm

Nov 14: Childrens' Day Celebration at 11 am to 1 pm

Nov 15: Interaction with Sh Surjit Patar at 6pm

Nov. 16: Meet the author, Ravi Subramaniam, at 5 pm
              Kavi Darbar at 6 pm

Nov. 17: Book Launches and Author interactions from 11 am to 1 pm
             Meet the Writers: Nitika Singh and Sachin Garg from 6 to 7pm

Voices from the City

VOICES FROM THE CITY: A GATHERING OF POETS

Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi organized “Voices from the City”, a multi-textured poetry session with twenty local poets reciting their choicest poems in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. While in the recent past the CSA has been holding major events in which speakers from outside dominated, today’s session was solely dedicated to the talent of the City Beautiful. Established poets as well as budding writers vied with each other, holding the attention of the audience with their verses. Their enthusiasm was evident in the gusto with which they read their poems.

Those who held the platform this evening included the following (in alphabetical order):

Amandeep Singh

Amarjit Amar

Balbir Tanha

BD Kalia Hamdum

Chander Trikha

Gurdeep Gul

Kedarnath Kedar

Manjit Indra

Mrs Pannu

Nirmal Dutt

Santosh Dhiman

Shams Tabrizi

Shashi Prabha

Sultan Anjum

Sushil Hasrat Narelvi

Taaran Gujral

TN Raaz

Urmil Sakhi

Vibha Ray

Yojana Rawat

The session began with the debut poet, Amandeep Singh, presented a poem that drew comparisons between the West and the East, between America and Punjab, focusing on the changed lifestyles of the people in contemporary time, lamenting the loss of values and traditions. Sushil Hasrat’s poem on “Beti”, focusing on the various roles donned by a woman, was greatly appreciated. Highly topical, it spoke of the rising crimes against women and the need for social awareness and reform. Veteran poet, Balbir Tanha’s verses, “Dil main chahat ke chiragon ko halye rakhiye… laut aayengey, musafir hain safar pe nikley…”  “unki yaado ko seeney se lagaaey rakhiye” won a lot of applause.

Amarjit Amar displayed subtle humour and self-directed irony in his poems while Urmil Sakhi, in a gentle, mellifluous voice, rendered a sensitive poem of love, loneliness and loss couple with patriotism and sacrifice for the nation. “Madari ban woh mere Bandar man ko nachaata hai...” “Sakhi who aayega ik din laut kar… “

Vibha Ray, in a sequence of minaiture poems, painted different colours of life, including women’s issues like “Arre o aadmi nazar zara jhuka ke rakh teri is mehfil main aurat mahfooz nahi.” Shashi Prabha, too read short haiku style poems.

Yojana Rawat’a verses spoke of relationships in the lap of nature, with rivers and mountains representing human emotions and bonding. “Rang toh hamesha hi hotey hain hamarey andar” began one of her poems, evoking the colours of Holi and then went on to show how these colours may be  destroyed by political violence.

Santosh Dhiman sang a longish poem on “Betiyan” which was appreciated by the audience even though the lights went off and the hall was plunged in darkness. The session was temporarily disrupted by a sudden storm that blew out the lights and caused a temporary suspension of poetry but the veteran hasya-kavi, TN Raaz, soon brought the show back on the rails with his humorous poems, one of them lamenting the time when “Ek alhad si haseena humko baba keh gayi.” Although advanced in years, the resounding applause TN Raaz received proved that old is indeed gold.

Among the women poets it was Taaran Gujral who stole the show, reciting her poems on childhood. She sings her poems and her composition “Matthe na lage ilzaam” was greatly appreciated as she crooned in a voice mature and controlled. Gurdeep Gul, another seasoned poet, recited deftly crafted couplets with ease and felicity.

 Kedarnath Kedar’s topic was the atrocities perpetrated on women, referring to ageing money-laden sheikhs from the Middle-East who marry adolescent girls young enough to be their grand-daughters. Kedarnath writes in Punjabi and recites in a compelling, forceful manner, effectively jolting the conscience of society. Birendra Kaur Pannu, who writes in Hindi as well as Punjabi, sang a dirge lamenting the loss of a loved one. Manjit Indira’s poem captured with nostalgia the lost ambience of “Babul da Vehra” and the blessings of Ammi in a bygone childhood.

Shamz Tabrezi, the Urdu poet, insisted that one needs to be destroyed by love in order to be a good poet. “tu agar ishk main barbaad nahi ho sakta toh achcha shayar bhi nahi ho sakta.” Seriousness and levity were intricately woven into his verse. Sultan Anujm, another senior poet who writes in Urdu, recited his poems weighed down with ideas in a slow, sonorous, deliberate style: “Jinke chalney se kaampey gulaabon ke dil, gulshanon ko khuda woh hawayen na de.”

Nirmal Dutt, writes in Punjab; he, presented his compositions in a sophisticated, restrained manner, “katra katra, hauka, hauka,” liberally sprinkling his poems with titli te jugnu (butterflies and fireflies).

“Kalam se khoon kya tapka nahi hai / gazal ka rang kya nikhra nahi hai / sare bazaar isko na uchhalo / hamara dil koi sikka nahi hai,” said BD Kalia, Humdum, who is equally skilled in Hindi and Urdu.

Chander Trikha brought the session to a grand finale with his couplets. “Aadhey sach ki aadat chhod aur peed parai likh” was his advice. Write for others, write with a purpose, was his parting advice to all.

In this evening’s session there was rhyme, rhythm, blank verse; there were ghazals and couplets; there was love, romance, emotion, anger and much more reflected in the poetry. Besides these poets there were many others who expressed their keenness to present their poems. In the dark interlude when the lights went off, a couple of senior citizens willingly came to the rescue and held forth with extempore recitation of poems.

Manju Jaidka, the Chairperson of CSA, announced that a similar event would be held in the last week of October to accommodate poets who did not get a platform this evening and for those who write in English.

The event was ably conducted by Shri Madhav Kaushik, himself an accomplished poet. Although the rain had tried to play spoilsport, it was nevertheless a successful evening and the audience felt enriched by the variety and range of poems presented.

 Manju Jaidka

Chairperson, CSA

Voices from the City

You are cordially invited to listen to VOICES FROM THE CITY (our very own poets) in a Tri-lingual Kavi Sammelan.

Venue: Hotel Parkview, Sector 24
Date and time: Sunday, 15 September. 5.30 pm,

Join us, please! Bring your friends and family along.
...And stay on for refreshments after the event.

Nida Fazli

CSA’S EVENING WITH NIDA FAZLI. 18 Aug 2013

 

“Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahaan nahi milta

kahin zami to kahin aasmaa nahi milta.”

“Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kya
Bekhudi Kya Cheez Hai
Ishq Ki Jaye Phir Samajhiye
Zindagi Kya Cheez Hai….”

“Tu is tarah se meri zindagi mein shameel hai

jahan bhi jaun yeh lagta hai teri mehfil hai….”

Immortal lyrics, these! We have been humming them for quite a while now. So much so that they have become part of our day-to-lives. So how do we react when the composer of these verses decides to visit our city? We throng in large numbers to get perhaps a fleeting glimpse of the man who has said so much on our behalf, so much love, emotion, pain and ecstasy in the most appropriate, in the barest minimum words!

This is exactly what happened today when Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi organized a session with the Urdu poet lyricist Muqtida Hasan Nida Fazli, popularly known as Nida Fazli, who has been writing verses for almost half a decade now.  At the UT Guest House the hall overflowed with listeners who listened with rapt attention as Nida Fazli recited poem after poem, one doha after another, ghazal after ghazal. He was quite unstoppable. When the torrent of poetry stopped the audience would not let him go. They engaged him in a lively conversation, not just about his poetry but also on wide-ranging topics, from the language used by poets to the politicization of literature, from the literature of partition to the commercial aspects of lyricism today. Nida Fazli, being the seasoned veteran and expert public orator that he is, remained unfazed as he engaged with the audience.

Mr Fazli is an extremely well-read man. He makes frequent references to Amir Khusrau, to T.S. Eliot, Wordsworth, Whitman and other writers from across the globe. At the same time he comes across as well-rooted in Indian culture and tradition, bonding strongly with the aam aadmi, the common man rather than the privileged classes. He is a man deeply committed to literature and repeatedly emphasized the need to respect men of letters. The worth of a society, according to him may be measured by the respect it shows to its writers. He does not believe in barriers that divide man from man. On the contrary, he is convinced of a common human spirit pervading mankind, no matter what religion and background one hails from.

'Duniya jise kehte hain jaadu kaa Khilona hai

Mil jaaye to mitti hai kho jaaye to sona hai'.

The evening had a certain magic about it: the golden halo of poetic creativity that surrounded the poet seemed to expand and grow to such an extent that it enveloped the entire audience sitting in the hall and also spilling out of it. There was a bonding between the speaker and the listeners which lingered long after the session came to an end.

Some photographs of the session are attached. Others will soon be available on CSA’s FB and Blog.