A new poetic impulse

After a hiatus of three years, the All India Urdu Mushaira lit up the city stage on Saturday. The evening, held at the Ganesh Kala Krida Manch as a part of the Pune Festival, brought together poets from all over the country – Indore, Bihar, Rampur, Delhi, Kanour, Nasirabad, Akola, Malegaon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Gondapur and Jabalpur. Dressed in white pyjama-kurtas with embroidered topis, they infused the evening with poetry that transcended borders. Yet, the ardent fans were missing.

'Tartib se zahan mein, main rakhta chala gaya, Ghar se tange hue the takaze, idhar udhar...' (I kept on putting the world in order, but my own house was going haywire with various demands.) These lines, recited by poet Ejaz Anjum, talk about the changing nature of Mushaira. A change that embraces their 'new' form to bring back the audiences .

Anjum, who has been reciting at mushairas for the last 12 years, chronicles the change in poetry beautifully. “I am a madai, a hasya kavi. For me, mushaira changed when popular culture embraced it,” he says. An emcee by profession, Anjum believes that the art form is being altered to suit the common man. “First, we would only write poetry dedicated to one’s beloved. Today, we write poetry that takes that love to other people and places . Love for brotherhood, nation and character, is now most written about,” he adds. What accounts for this change, according to Anjum, is the way Urdu has been embraced in popular culture . “Even now, while talking to me in Hindi, you have used so many Urdu words. It seamlessly blends with other languages . This is the impact of Urdu in films, songs and everyday conversations,” he says.

Full report here Indian Express

The suitcase Indian

Owning a home is no longer the great middle-class dream. the increasingly exorbitant ‘square feet’ has added to our general sense of uprootedness. Meet the new indian floating population

There are two senses of the word ‘home’. The first, in a wider sense, is where you grew up—your parents’ home, which for me always will be Bombay. The real sense of the term is well, really, in your head, isn’t it? Home is just a movable notion,” says Jeet Thayil, a poet-musician currently exploring the theme of dislocation, uprootedness and men with no homes in his second novel, with a working title The Book of Common Saints.

Thayil has moved homes too many times to count, and seven times between continents in the last seven years. He recently made the jump from Mumbai to Delhi, “because my lease ran out and when you are moving, it is as much the same thing to move between apartments as it is to move between cities”.

Thayil is no nomad without possessions. Each time he moves, he travels with furniture, kitchen, a lifetime’s collection of books and memorabilia, ties to friends and works in progress, and takes two-three months to start life from scratch, again. “Of course, it is disruptive, disruption is stimulation. I get dissatisfied in cities where I live longer. It is not about the city, it is something in me. When my lease runs out here in Delhi, I don’t know where I will go, but I will go,” he says.

Full report here Mint

Oral odyssey

Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty strikes up a conversation with H. Masud Taj, an oral poet, a rare breed in a scenario where anything literary means the printed word

Ottawa-based H. Masud Taj is certainly an experience if you can catch him reciting his poems, one couplet tailing the other, like dominoes falling to high winds. The words spoken have the power to drape you in implicit joy and you are easily immersed in his mood, wide-eyed. You hate to impede him, knit in a query only to ensure that he continues. As he recites the lines, his soft, silken voice rides a knoll at times, reacting to the string of words mouthed. And the effect is simply marvellous.

At a New Delhi hotel, striking up a conversation with this oral poet, you throw the obvious question at him at the first opportunity — so who is an oral poet? What makes him different from a regular poet? “An oral poet is one who recites his verses and may not publish them. They believe that a poem primarily belongs to the sound and sense,” he replies. Living in an age when anything literary means the printed word, you have long forgotten that the first works of literature were oral. “Beowulf”, “Odyssey”…all were first recited before alphabets took over.

Namdeo Dhasal introspects pain, nirvana

At a poetry reading evening, the Dalit poet well-known for bringing out the voice of the 'scum of the Earth' will take the audience through his journey of poetry from over three decades

I’ve made myself tired and unhappy here on this seashore of pain;
Sculpting with a chisel an image of many-faceted wounds.

Indeed, with an uncensored vocabulary which imparts a beautiful stain in his notebook, Namdeo Dhasal has shaken society's conventional notion of poetry. Like in these lines from his poem titled 'Autobiography' which appeared in his 1995 book Ya Sattet Jeev Ramat Nahi (The Soul Doesn't Find Peace In This Regime), Dhasal has prodded the classes and castes persistently to acknowledge the oppression against Dalits and the underdog. Common sense conveys that such evocative words cannot flow from the pen of one who has not been a witness and, often, victim, to the caste-based politics and ostracism himself.

Dhasal will himself let audiences travel with him into a time and space of his work, at a poetry reading session to be held on September 29, at Jnanapravaha, where he will read poetry from his earliest collection Golpitha of 1972, to Nirvana-agodarachi Pida (The Pain Before Nirvana) of 2010. English translations of his poetry would be done by Shanta Gokhale.

Full report here Mumbai Mirror 

Urdu poet Shaharyar to receive Jnanpith Award-2008

Noted Urdu poet Akhlaq Mohammed Khan, generally known,' Shahryar' has been selected for Jnanpith Award-2008 which is the highest literary award in India. This prestigious award will be given to him in the recognition of his contribution for Urdu language.

The Award was instituted in 1961 and is presented by Bharatiya Jnanpith, every year to different personalities for their outstanding literary works in different languages. The award carries Rs. 700,000, cash a citation plaque and a trophy.

His name was approved by selection committee comprising Professor Gopi Chand Narang, former president of Sahitya Akademy, Gurdiyal Singh, Keshu Bhai Desai, Dinesh Mishra and others.

Mr. Shahryar is also famous as a lyricist in Hindi films and has written lyrics in several famous films including Gaman (1978), Umrao Jaan (1981) and Anjuman (1986),

In 1987 he was awarded with Sahitya Akademy Award in Urdu for his poetry collection, Khwab Ka Dar Band Hai. Besides, he wrote a number of poetry collections which brought glory to him in literary world.

Full report here TwoCircles

Why civilisations clash in India

Log toot jate jain ek ghar banane mein, tum taras khate nahin bastiyan jalane mein. This couplet, written by the famous Urdu poet Bashir Badr after his house was burnt in a communal riot in Meerut in 1987, reflects the sentiments of a large number of Indians who have suffered communal prejudice in one form or the other. Communal riots have become a part of Indian psyche; we live with it, albeit with a feeling of pain and remorse.

Decoding Intolerance: Riots
and the Emergence of
Terrorism in India;
Prateep K. Lahiri
Roli; Rs 395

The Allahabad High Court’s judgment on the 60-year-old Ayodhya issue on September 24, 2010 may trigger another round of communal frenzy if we do not bury the past. Why is it that six decades since Independence, the country still suffers from communal riots and we are not able to do much about it? Why has the problem of communal riots not been resolved with the passing of the years? People are killed, women are raped, children are burnt alive, houses are set ablaze, and the country witnesses all this with a sense of loss.

As such, it is important that this recurring and entrenched problem has attracted the attentions of P K Lahiri, who has had a distinguished career in the civil service as an Indian Administrative Service officer spanning 36 years. Lahiri, who served as secretary in the ministries of mines and finance, had earned a reputation for being upright, fearless and honest. Lahiri has several encounters with communal riots during his career, and his experiences and sharp sense of social responsibility in dealing with this problem have probably prompted him to explore the subject. He does so with both objectivity and a personal touch that lend greater credence to his arguments. Thus, Decoding Intolerance: Riots and the Emergence of Terrorism in India is a very different kind of book that provides a hands-on analysis of a social reality that India and Indians need to understand and face.

Full report here Business Standard

Esenin a prophetic poet: Puthussery

Poet Puthussery Ramachandran on Thursday, Sep 23 remembered Sergei Esenin as a ‘’prophetic poet’’ whose meteoric passage through Russian and world poetry left an indelible mark.

Puthussery was speaking after receiving the second Esenin Award here on Thursday. Instituted by the Moscow State Esenin Museum and the Russian Cultural Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, the award commemorates Russian poet Sergei Esenin and is given every year for promoting Russian language and literature in Kerala.

‘’Esenin started writing at the age of nine and courted fame by the time he was 15. In fact, it was in St Petersburg that he became famous as a poet. As he had come to Petersburg from the country, many called him a farmer poet. But he pointed out that he was not a farmer poet, but a poet. Esenin was a prophetic poet,’’ Puthussery, who has translated several Russian works, including the poetry of Anna Akhmatova, said.

Full report here New Indian Epxress

Raees Amrohi’s 22nd death anniversary today

Sep 22 marks the 22nd death anniversary of Syed Muhammad Mehdi, known as Raees Amrohi. A noted Pakistani scholar, Urdu poet and psychoanalyst, Amrohi was assassinated on September 22, 1988.

Born on September 12, 1914 in Amroha, India, to a notable family of scholars, almost all of Amrohi’s family members were poets. He migrated to Pakistan on October 19, 1947 and settled in Karachi.

He was known for his unique style of Qatanigari (quatrain writing). For many decades, he penned quatrains every day for Pakistan's largest daily Urdu newspaper, Jang. Amrohi was a supporter of the Urdu language and Pakistan’s Urdu-speaking people.

Amrohi cannot be classified as a psychoanalyst in the traditional sense, as he perceived psychology spiritually, rather than scientifically.

Full report here Samaa

Kanakadasa’s literary works hailed

Bhakti movement saint-poet Kanakadasa was a unique personality having a combination of philosophy, economics, sociology and music, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said on Sep 21.

Inaugurating a two-day national seminar ''Saint-poet Kanakadas''s Literary Contribution towards Bhakti Movement in India'', Mr Moily said the 16th century poet was a person who combined "the intellect and the heart" to send across his message.

"Today, Kanakadasa has been launched to the world. Even before Karl Marx came out with a class struggle (theory), I think a seed of the caste struggle was injected by Kanakadasa through his works," Mr Moily said.

Full report here Mangalorean

Two-day seminar on poet begins

Bhakti movement saint-poet Kanakadasa was a unique personality having a combination of philosophy, economics, sociology and music, Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily said ob Sep 20.

Inaugurating a two-day national seminar ''Saint-poet Kanakadas''s Literary Contribution towards Bhakti Movement in India'', Moily said the 16th century poet was a person who combined "the intellect and the heart" to send across his message.

"Today, Kanakadasa has been launched to the world. Even before Karl Marx came out with a class struggle (theory), I think a seed of the caste struggle was injected by Kanakadasa through his works," Moily said.

Moily also released poems, literary works and other works of the saint in English.

The two-day event will also witness papers being submitted on the varied works of the legendary figure from Karnataka in Hindi and English.

Full report here MSN

Dr Surjit Patar awarded the Saraswati Samman

Renowned Punjabi poet Dr Surjit Patar was on Friday, Sep 17 awarded the prestigious Saraswati Samman for the year 2009 for his Punjabi poetry-collection Lafzan Di Dargah. Union Minister for Human Resources Development Kapil Sibal presented Patar with the 19th edition of the award, instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation in recognition of literary eminence in any of the languages included in the schedule VIII of the Constitution of India.

The award money has been increased to R7.5 lakh this year from R5 lakh earlier. Sibal said that he believed that any civilization, which does not honour its poets and writers, can never be progressive. “In our everyday life, we ‘evade’ ourselves. We fear to express ourselves. Poetry is rare form of expression that is qualitatively different. But it is dying.”

 “(So) it is important for us to recognise those who penetrate our souls,” Sibal said adding, “Patar’s poetry is immersed in reality of Punjab, yet it is universal in appeal.”

Full report here Hindustan Times

Poetry Africa international poetry festival

Poets from around South Africa, Africa and the world will descend on Durban for an exhilarating rollercoaster of words, rhythms and ideas.

The 14th Poetry Africa international poetry festival takes place from 4 to 9 October. Organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and with principal support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, Poetry Africa's exciting week-long programme is preceded by a three-stop Poetry Africa tour to Cape Town, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The tour will go to the ICC in Cape Town on 26 September, Harare, Zimbabwe at the Manneberg and Book Café on 28 and 29 September and the Blantyre Arts Festival in Malawi on 1 October.

Over twenty poets from twelve different countries will feature in the main Durban programme and the full line-up will each present an introductory poem on The Opening Night of the festival (4 October, Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre), providing an ideal précis of the diverse voices the public can expect during the rest of the week.

The week will thereafter feature 5 poets every evening, through to 8 October, before the rousing Festival Finale at the BAT Centre on 9 October. Each evening at the Sneddon Theatre will begin with curtain-raising performances by poets representing the various active Durban poetry circles. Another unique aspect of this year's festival is the residency of Concord Nkabinde and Erik Paliani. Nkabinde, an acclaimed bass guitarist who has performed with the likes of Johnny Clegg, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ray Phiri, Phil Manzaniera, Zim Ngqawana, Darius Brubeck, Deepak Ram and many others, will collaborate with Malawian producer, musician and singer-songwriter Erik Paliani in nightly musical curtain-raisers. Nkabinde and Paliani's passion for collaboration provides the perfect metaphor for the cross-cultural artistic meetings that Poetry Africa seeks to stimulate.

Full report here Artslink.co.za

Remembering Ayyappa Panicker

The friends and disciples of poet Ayyappa Panicker are planning to celebrate his 80th birth anniversary in a big way. A function will be organised at 5 pm on September 12 at VJT Hall to commemorate the late poet.

Eminent Kannada writer and Jnanpith Award winner U R Ananthamoorthy will deliver this year’s Ayyappa Panicker Memorial Lecture on the topic  ‘Indian Literature: Dalit Contribution.’ The lecture will be followed by a discussion on the subject.  Ayyappa Panicker Foundation president K Satchidanandan will preside over the function and vice- president T P Sreenivasan will be the moderator.

Poetry at Midnight, an English translation by P Ravindran Nayar of  Ayyappa Panicker’s last anthology of poems, ‘Pathumanipookkal , will be formally released at the function by Ananthamoorthy.

The function will be followed by a visual representation of selected poems by Ayyappa Panicker on stage. Groups of students from the All-Saints’ College; Mar Ivanios College; NSS College for Women, Karamana and the Departments of English and Malayalam of the Kerala University will compete with their adaptations of chosen poems of Panicker. The team selected for the best performance will be presented with the Ayyappa Panicker Poetry Trophy.

Full report here New Indian Express

Konkani Limerick Poets’ Meet on Sep 5

The state Konkani Sahitya Academy, under the aegis of taluk Limerick Sahitya Parishat will organize a meet of Konkani limerick poets at Canara College auditorium at 4.30 pm on Sunday, September 5.

MLA N Yogish Bhat will inaugurate the programme on Sunday evening.

State Konkani Sahitya Academy president Kundapur Narayana Kharvi will be the chief guest on the occasion.

Konkani Writers’ Forum – Karnataka president Paul Moras will preside over the programme.

Mangalore All India Radio broadcaster and poet Shakunthala R Kini will chair the poets’ meet.

Full report here Daijiworld

Best place to read Hamlet

No escapist haven, it is still an excellent place to seek seclusion. The statue of Tamil poet Subramania Bharathi (circa 1987) in a little plaza, off Maharshi Raman Marg, near Khan Market, offers the best urban evening in Delhi. As the sky turns crimson-blue, the bronze figure recedes into an illusionary dimness.

You feel for all those beautiful Tamil poems that you will never read because you don’t understand the language. The small plaza looks to the bungalows of Lodhi Estate. Behind is Kaka Nagar colony. The ground is paved with stone slabs. On two sides are weedy gardens with trimmed hedges. Both are raised on a platform, reached by a set of three steps. A triangle-shaped bushy plot is landscaped in front of the statue.

On rare evenings, there will be old men, sitting on the steps, discussing the state of the world. Once we saw a couple of boys doing acrobatics. Most likely you will be the only one there. But the plaza’s solitude is transient. You will never be able to feel completely alone for more than a few seconds.

Full report here Hindustan Times 

Poet Ahmad Rahi’s 8th death anniversary today

September 2 marks the 8th death anniversary of a legendary Punjabi poet and writer Ahmad Rahi. He was a recipient of the Pride of Performance, left for the world hereafter eight years ago on September 2, 2002, leaving behind a glowing trail of unforgettable melodies spanning over 1,900 songs and around 260 film scripts.

Ahmad Rahi was Born in the Eastern Punjab city of Amritsar on 12 November 1923. He wrote about the Partition of India. He also wrote hundreds of songs for films. His first book, Tarinjan, was published in 1952. It was a poetry book about the Partition of India.

His real name was Ghulam Ahmad but renowned poet Saif Uddin Saif, a very close fried and class fellow of the poet, asked him to have Ahmad Rahi as his name. The poet liked the name and was known by it till the end of his life.

After Intermediate, Rahi could not continue his studies due to financial constraints but Ahmad Rahi had many extraordinary achievements on his credit, besides being a great pillar of the Pakistani film Industry.

Another aspect of Rahi's poetry is the influence of Punjabi folk tales and folk music. The folk heroines Heer, Sahiban, Sohni all are present as living characters. Rahi got engaged in writing scripts and songs for movies. In his late 70s, Rahi no longer active in literary or film work.

Full report here Samaa

Nazrul's death anniversary being marked

The death anniversary of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam is being observed throughout the country, in line with the Bengali calendar.

The revolutionary poet and renowned Bengali lyricist died on Vadra 12, 1383 (August 29, 1976) at the age of 77.

Various socio-cultural and political organisations have undertaken day-long programmes to mark the occasion on Friday.

Bangla Academy, Shilpakala Academy and Nazrul Institute have chalked out separate programmes. Bangladesh Television and Radio and private TV channels will broadcast programmes portraying the rebel poet's life and works.

The day started off with Nazrul's family paying floral tribute at his grave around 5am.

Full report here BDNews24

Who will give Urdu the kiss of life?

Grave concern was expressed about the fate of the Urdu language by leading political parties in the parliament recently. Mulayam Singh, Gopinath Munde, Salman Khurshid and Sharad Yadav, besides many others, spoke in its favour. But Urdu’s uplift, as a language of the freedom struggle, courtesy and tehzeeb, is not possible unless it is introduced in schools as part of a trilingual formula. The plight of the language will continue unless Urdu medium schools are taken care of by the community itself.

Languages suffer when they are politicised. This is because politics creates hurdles, and destroys the shape, tone and taste of languages. If Urdu newspapers want to show leadership, they can follow the example set by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s Al-Hilal and Al-Balagh, newspapers that hailed nationalism above all concerns.

Himayat Ali Shair, the world-renowned Urdu poet, said: “Urdu language has no future. It is dying and bound to end. Even in Pakistan, where Urdu is the national language, it is dying.

People are following the trend of Urdu mixed with English, giving it a new touch but destroying the tone, tenure, texture and taste of the language. In India, Urdu will survive because of Hindi.”

Full report here DNA

Gulzar turns 75

Veteran lyricist and poet Gulzar celebrates his 75th birthday on Wednesday as wishes pour from fans and well wishers across the world.

Among them were melody queen Asha Bhosle and actor Shammi Kapoor, who wished him through micro-blogging site Twitter.

“Gulzar mere bhai janamdin ki badhai. Love” (Gulzar my bother, a very happy birthday! Love), tweeted Kapoor.

The lyricist, who shared an Oscar with composer A R Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire’s ‘Jai Ho’, is often described as one of the last standing legends of Indian cinema, and a writer who brought great respectability to the craft of lyric writing in Hindi music.

Honoured with a bounty of awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award, a heap of Filmfare and National Awards, and even the Padma Bhushan, Gulzar has garnered worldwide praise for his works.

Gulzar, having directed quite a few critically acclaimed movies as well, is characterised by his trademark style of including flashbacks into his films and his portrayal of human relations.

Full report here Indiablooms

Surve's sharp poetry struck an instant chord

Narayan Surve, who passed away in a Thane hospital on Monday, August 16, after a prolonged illness, will long be remembered for transforming the post-1960 Marathi literary scene with his acid-laced poems.

Surve's debut work, a collection of poems titled Aisa Gaa Me Brahma (1962), is considered a milestone in Indian literature. The self-taught poet, who grew up on the streets of Mumbai and was subsequently adopted by a mill worker, chronicled the life of the city's plebeians-their arduous struggle to eke out a living in a fast-paced, industrialized society, their fears and fantasies, travails and triumphs.

Taking on the prima donnas of Marathi literature, Surve wrote, "I am a labourer, a blazing sword. I wish to commit an offence.'' The rebel poet struck an instant rapport with readers, who loved his stark images and his colloquial, robust Marathi which was reminiscent of legendary saint-poets Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram.

Full report here Times of India