CELEBRATING WOMEN'S LITERATURE
20-21 November 2010
Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi has been working assiduously to promote the literary and cultural scene in the city. Over the last two years and more it has organized literary events with remarkable regularity, involving the residents of City Beautiful in seminars and symposia, book launches and lectures, discussions and talks. The coming fortnight promises to be a very busy one for the Akademi.
On 20th November, Shri Pradip Mehra, Adviser to the Administrator, inaugurated a 2-day event "Celebrating Women's Literature" at the UT Guest House. The invited speakers included well-known names from the city and some speakers from Delhi. Prof Manju Jaidka, Chairperson, CSA, reminded the gathering that the Akademi was observing the birth anniversary of Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and felt the need to focus on women's writing which is generally ignored in a patriarchal world. Mr Mehra, in his opening remarks, spoke of the contribution of women to world literature and the fact that some of them managed to reach great heights of fame.
The first speaker of the day was Dr Anirudh Joshi, Professor of Sanskrit who retired from Panjab University, Chandigarh. He spoke on "Women in Sanskrit Literature" and held the audience riveted with his wide-ranging references to classical Indian literature.
The well-known theatre person, Rani Balbir Kaur, speaking on "Women Behind the Footlights" highlighted the contribution of leading women associated with the stage. She also spoke of her personal experience, theoretical and practical, in the field of performing arts.
The post-lunch session comprised a talk on "Diasporic women writers from India" by Dr Manpreet Kaur and on "Women in Indian Cinema" by Vivek Sachdeva, both Associate Professors from IPU, Delhi. Finally, the poet Nitoo Das, who hails from Assam but is now settled in Delhi, read her work and concluded the day's events.
On 21st Nov, the second day of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi's event "Celebrating Women's Literature" the speakers were Prof SS Noor, the Vice-Chairman of the National Sahitya Akademi, Punjabi writers Dr Vanita and Paul Kaur, and Dr Sunita Jain - creative writer in Hindi. They spoke of their work and read some of their poems. Ms Anu Chatrath, Mayor, presided over the inaugural session and addressed the gathering.
The Mayor, Ms Chatrath, expressed her appreciation of the good work that the city's Sahitya Akademi has been doing over the last couple of years and assured the gathering that the Municipal corporation would do its best to support the Akademi's activities.
Prof S.S. Noor, in his survey of Women's contribution to Literature, spoke eloquently on Punjabi poetry and also touched upon women writers from other parts of the country, notably those writing in Telugu, Kannada and Marathi. In particular, he focused on women's writing from the North-Eastern states, drawing attention to recent Penguin collection of their works. Prof Noor is one of the leading poet-critics of today and he has done a sizable work in the field of translation, too. Backed by his long years of experience, he spoke of the distinction between good poetry and bad poetry, asserting that among Punjabi poets no one has equalled the stature of Amrita Pritam.
Dr Sunita Jain began her career teaching English to college-students, wrote poetry in English in the early years but moved on to Hindi Poetry. for her the Chandigarh visit was a nostalgic homecoming of sorts and she recited several poems suited to the present experience.
Dr. Vanita'a presentation was a balance between the emotional and the intellectual. She has been teaching and writing in Punjabi and her works combines theory with practice. Reading from her poems, she effectively presented various facets of women's poetry.
Paul Kaur, who began her poetic career while still a child, writes Punjabi poetry, too and teaches in Ambala. Hers is powerful poetry that does not believe in defeatism or submission. Her idiom and delivery was thus different from the gentle persuasiveness of Vanita or the emotional appeal of Sunita Jain's work.
The secretary of the CSA, Madhav Kaushik, ably compered the event which was followed by an animated discussion by the interested audience which comprised well-known names like N.S. Rattan, V. Mehndiratta, Gulzar Sandhu, Indu Bali, and others.
The event closed with a vote of thanks from the Chairperson of the Akademi, Manju Jaidka, and with a sincere promise from S.S. Noor that the national Sahitya akademi would take a keen interest in the literary activities of Chandigarh hosted by the CSA.
It may be noted that the Akademi's popularity has increased manifold. Its Facebook and Blog are regularly visited and reports and pictures of all events are posted almost immediately.
Forthcoming events of CSA include a Quiz on Science Fiction and a competition of Shair-o-shayari, both at the Chandigarh Carnival, 26th and 27th November 2010. More details are available on FB and Blog. For further inquiries, those interested may email sahitakad2008@gmail.com
Although this event is dedicated to Women's Writing, the involvement of men is significant because, as the CSA Chairperson pointed out, in a complete world men cannot be excluded; there has to be a mutual harmony and cooperation between the genders.
Pictures of the event:
http://picasaweb.google.com/sahitakad2008/WomenSLiterature1?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmx_L2I7MCtOg#
