Tuesday, July 23, 2013

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:




Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Unpublished Manuscripts

The CSA invites city-based writers (working or residing in Chandigarh) to submit unpublished book-length manuscripts in Hindi, English, Punjabi or Urdu.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, 2013Length of manuscripts: Novels / short stories: 30,000 words to 60,000 words Poetry: 70 - 90 pages Plays: 30 - 50 pages (printed / typed)