CSA event on 21st October 2012
Chandigarh Sahitya
Akademi held a three-tiered session today at the UT Guest House. The invited
speakers were Dr Veena Sharma, independent scholar and Fellow of the Indian
Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla; Shri Gyan Prakas Vivek, celebrated poet
and novelist in Hindi; and Ms Neena Sahai, amateur photographer and artist who
writes poetry and has also published.
Dr Veena Sharma, who is an independent scholar with expertise on
African literature and culture, gave a baroad-based yet incisive talk on
African Literature which emerged from the rich oral traditions of the Dark
Continent. The literature of the region, according to Dr Sharma who has a PhD
from JNU and has been a Fellow at the IIAS, Shimla, is intimately related to the
oral traditions on the one hand, and also to humiliation suffered by Africa
under the colonial rule. She spoke of racialism and the harsh colonial policies
of the French, the British and the Portuguese which led to the first literary movement
called Negritude. Which actually was a celebration of black colour.
Dr Sharma invoked African
symbols like Sankota (return to the past – ‘go back and get it’), Nwe Mu Dua
(measuring stick) and Siamese crocodiles (which symbolize solidarity, the idea
of ‘one for many, many for one’). She mentioned the sense of community. That is
strong in Africa and comes across prominently in the literature. Dr Sharma,
like the traditional African ‘Malimu’ or teacher / leader in African culture, opened
up new ground for the CSA audience to explore and appreciate.
Gyan Prakash Vivek, who is an acclaimed poet and novelist, spoke at
length about his recent novel, “Chai ka Doosra Cup”. This is a book that
revolves around the aftermath and the sad plight of children who, in large numbers,
supposedly get lost every year. What happens to these hapless innocents? Aks
the author. Some of them get roped into the flesh trade, others are exploited
by a heartless society; their body parts are sold for mercenary gains, like
organ transplantation.
For the world,
however, a lost child is reduced to just another statistical figure in the
files of missing people that gather dust in government offices. For their
families the trauma is unmitigated. Gyan Prakash’s novel tries to capture the
various aspects of the loss and sorrow, the gloom of the families and the utter
callousness of an indifferent society. Devdutt, his protagonist, whose son gets lost,
is at his wits’ end and does not know how to reconcile to his loss. Gyan
Prakash’s story, revolving around the sad plight of the father, reached out to
the audience that responded whole-heartedly to the reading.
Ms NeenaSahai is an enthusiastic photographer. She has spent much of
her life accompanying her diplomat husband, Paramjeet Sahai, on various postings
all over the world. Her experiences in far-flung places such as Washinton DC,
Singapore, Zambia, Malawi, Yemen, Moscow, Switzerland and Malaysia have been
captured in her camera. Last year she put these photographs together along with
a detailed commentary and brought out a delightful coffee-table illustrated
travelogue appropriately entitled “Journeys Diplomatic and Artisitc”.
In today’s session
Ms Sahai spoke at length about her lifelong passion for photography, her varied
experiences in foreign lands, and her new-found love for poetry. This was
followed by a slideshow of her photographs. “With silent eyes I watch the world
go by,” says a line in her poem. Ms Sahai has not only watched the world go by
but also participated actively in the world and frozen its myriad moods with
the lens of her camera. This was an unusual session, a heady mix of creativity
and autobiography and the audience much appreciated the visual treat.
Chandigarh Sahitya
Akademi has, by now, a more or less regular audience that attends all its
events enthusiastically. Events slated in the near future will be announced on
the CSA blog and Facebook. Photographs will be uploaded on the Facebook.
