Staff Reporter –
Back in the 1980s, when the Editor of this newspaper was a journalist based in the Kingdom of Bahrain, he would attend at least one Mushaira a month. Each of these would begin around 7 pm and depending on the stamina and competence of the participants would go on for five to six hours, until the small hours of the following morning.
Each of them was a perfect setting for strengthening the fraternal bond between Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and people in other countries proficient in Urdu, the ‘Language of the Learned.’
There was no talk of politics, economics and even religion. Everyone respected everyone else and the environment would be charged with positive energy of literature and people behind the poets would feel truly blessed.
Grand Revival
Against such a backdrop, it was an assuring revival of Urdu and Hindi languages and a growing sense of satisfaction and oneness at the ‘Mushaira and Kavisammelan’ organised by the Urdu Hindi Cultural Association of Auckland at Freemans Community Hall in Ponsonby on Saturday, May 23, 2015.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Member of Parliament and Patron of the Association, people of lore and community leaders were present at the event reinstating the belief that all of them belonged to one Diaspora.
Significant attempt
Says Syed Mujeeb Hyderabadi, General Secretary of the Association and the man who organises the event with passion, “Mushaira and Kavisammelan remind us of our roots and allows young people to experience the richness of our culture and tradition and their value in the context of unity in diversity. The programme was a small but significant attempt,” he said.
Those were undoubtedly the hallmark of humility to which he subscribes, but such modesty neither undermines the value nor the significance of the calibre of the participants, who not only represented different religions practiced in India but also the larger communities in South East Asia.
Abbas Raza Alvi of Sydney was the Chief Guest.
First Session
Following a brief address by Association President Nafees Akhtar, ‘Shaam E Ghazal,’ led by Roopa Suchdev commenced.
Among the participants were Karanjeet Singh, Azeem Anwar, Arvinder Vasudeva, Yashi Yamini, Mayur Tendulkar, Preeti Bhartwal, Sandeep Singh, Rajan Bakshi, Moushmi Yamani, Saima Siddiqui and Prabhjeet Singh.
Second Session
Adnan Mirza, who hosted the Second Session, introduced the Members of the Association,
Mr Bakshi later released the fourth edition of ‘Dhanak,’ the annual magazine.
Floral tributes were paid to Mr Alvi (by Mr Akhtar), Mr Bakshi (by Mr Hyderabadi), Jeet Suchdev (by Programme Host Ghouse Majeed), Priyanca Radhakrishnan (by Tahseen Sultana), Ella Kumar (by Farah Rais Alvi) and Atta Ur Rehman (by Patrick Bennett).
Unity Platform
In his speech, Vice President Mirza Taimoori eulogised the value of Hindi and Urdu as ‘Languages of a growing number of people around the world’ and their unifying force.
“Hindi and Urdu have integrated communities and provided a platform for cultural and literary exchange. Mushaira and Kavisammelan is an excellent example of multicultural unity in action,” he said and paid tribute to Mr Alvi on the Conferment of Commendation Award by the Government of Japan recently.
Among the other participants were Tauqir Khan (Piami), Preeta Vyas, Atta Ur Rehman Quereshi, Shiv Bhagirat, Naeem Latif, Sangath Singh, Dr Mona Verma, Syed Mujeeb Hyderabad, Suman Kapoor, Bal Madan, Ghouse Majeed, Somnath Gupta, Farah Alvi, Urmila Seth and Brijinder Singh.
Photo:
National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi with (from left) Abbas Raza Alvi, Ghouse Majeed, Tahseen Sultana, Syed Mujeeb Hyderabadi, Roopa Suchdev and Tauqir Khan (Piami) at the Mushaira
Mushaira in progress in Auckland with Tauqir Khan (Piami), Syed Mujeeb Hyderabadi, Suman Kapoor and Abbas Raza Alvi
