VATAYAN PRESENETS EKANT SHRIVASTAVA 19 May, Vatayan : Poetry on South Bank held a special poetry event at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London, to hear the distinguished visiting poet, essayist and novelist, Ekant Shrivastava, who is on a Europe tour. He is also Editor of the reputed Hindi magazine, Vagarth. Organised in association with the UK Hindi Samiti and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London, this programme was chaired by Dr Satyendra Srivastava, ex Reader, Department of Oriental Studies, University of Cambridge, who himself is a renowned author. After Dr Nandakumara, Executive Director of Bhavan and poet and Satyendra Srivastava lit the auspicious lamps, Mr Ekant Shrivastava was formally welcomed with the presentation of a shawl and Abhinandan Patra by India Russel, the well known English poetess and Jutta Austin, the German scholar and translator. Dr Padmesh Gupta, President of the UK Hindi Samiti, compered the programme in his free and inimitable style. The first half of the Goshthi was devoted to international poetry. India Russell read a poem which had a spiritual nuance, Doppelgänger, which was translated into Hindi by Jutta Austin, who also read two other poems in German with their Hindi translations. Dr Nandakumara recited his poem on Lord Rama in Kaanada with its English translation followed by a Malaylam poem with its English translation by Kakkasseri Natrajan, whose poem Grandfather, described the modern wedding trends in Kerala. Dr Hilal Fareed (Urdu), Shail Agrawal and Mohan Rana read their poems in Urdu and Hindi. Each and every poem received rounds and rounds of applauds from the discerning audience. The second half was devoted entirely to the poems of Mr Ekant Shrivastava. He has published several books including, Ann hain mere shabd, dharti se kahoonga dhanyavad, Naagkesar ka ye desh. His short and simple poems had the power to carry the audience on a special journey to his own world. English translation of some of his poems by well known poet and translator, Sunita Jain, were read eloquently by Chaand Chazzel, film-maker and author. The programme concluded with a vote of thanks by Divya Mathur, Founder of Vatayan, expressing her heartfelt thanks to the audience who came in great numbers inspite of train cancellations, Bhavan’s excellent team including Nandaji, Parvati Nair, Shanti Venketesh and Narainji, Vatayan’s team including Shikha Varshneya and Shobha Mathur. Light refreshments were served, courtesy Malabar Junction, prior to the event where guest mingled and chatted with the multilingual poets. The distinguished guests included Ismail Choonara, well known artist and playwright, Kailash Budhwar, Vijay Rana, Editor of Health & Happiness, Chitra Sundaram, the distinguished Bharatanatyam choreographer-dancer, Dr Shyam Manohar Pandey, former Reader in the Dept of Asian Studies, Oriental University, Naples, writers Dr Nikhil Kaushik, Usha Raje Saxena, Kadambari Mehra, Mahendra Davesar, Kavita Vachaknavee, Indira Anand, Shikha Varshney, Toshi Amrita, Surekha Chofla and Swati Bhalotia, amongst many many more.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:51:12 +0000
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