Roundabout | Flying on the wings of verse from Chandigarh to Delhi

So, the past Wednesday found some 10 poets of our city, ranging from the well-known to beginners, exploring the existential experience at a cafe dedicated to Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and others

It feels good to be in the warm embrace of poetry and more poetry, during the past week, for its capacity to connect one to the other. The power of poetry is celebrated in all cultures and languages and it is considered the highest form of literature.

Visiting US poet Franklin Abbot. (Diwan Manna)

Poetry pre-dates the written and is said to have emerged in hymns and chants as frail humans made an effort to reach out to the invisible in different cultures and languages.

Interestingly, the African hunting songs are considered the as the first examples of verse. In India, the Rigveda is the oldest Sanskrit text with 1,000 verses dedicated to divinity and written with finesse. Now, before my friends wonder at this ongoing obsession with words and verse, let me tell you that the past week passed with inspiring poetry from Chandigarh to Delhi and back.

The catalyst for this poetic was a visiting poet from the US, Franklin Abbot, who is a close friend of my writer sister Kamla as both live in the same neighbourhood. Then my sister made a sweet suggestion that could I arrange some poetry reading for him in Chandigarh? In Hindustani they say, “Neki aur pooch-pooch,” meaning that if you are asking me do something I love, then why the question mark? So I quickly offered that I will do it in Delhi too, the city of my dreams. Abbot suggested to call other poets too for he would like to listen to Indian poets. This was yet another classic case of “Neki aur pooch pooch”!

The existential experience

So, the past Wednesday found some 10 poets of our city, ranging from the well-known to beginners, exploring the existential experience at a cafe dedicated to Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and others. This cafe has been started by a well-known student activist, and a close friend, to serve as a den for discussion of existentialist philosophy following the down slide of the rigid Left. This friend is Kanwaljeet Singh, one of my fond sources when I wrote the “The Ballad of Bant Singh”.

It was this cafe that became the chosen spot for the literary meet titled, “The Moving Finger writes”. The recitations of poetry, besides the visiting Abbot, included senior Punjabi poets like Manmohan Singh, Paul Kaur and Arvinder Kaur, as well as Vinod Khanna of the city Readers and Writers Society. Two younger persons, journalist Amarjot Kaur Virdi and school teacher Maninderjit Singh, added some freshness to the readings. The former recited two evocative poems and the latter read some pieces of poetry and prose on the LGBTQ pride and the prejudice against them. The entry of the young ones is heartening because mostly the literary meets seem to have writers in the age group of 60 to 80 and above, for the young are more busy online. A fine surprise was the recitation of a poem in English by Poonam Singh, editor of the heritage Punjabi magazine “Preetlari”. The poem was dedicated to the well-known editor of the magazine, Navtej Singh. The latter was a very talented writer of short stories and had shaped the magazine he inherited from his father, legendary Gurbaksh Singh ‘Preetlari’, very well. The occasion was that the poetry meet marked the centenary of Navtej Singh. Manmohan Singh enthralled the audience with his beautiful poems from his city of origin to making Chandigarh his home. The cherry on the cake was the presence of photographer Diwan Manna who captured the poets reciting in the glory of monochrome.

Dilli o’ Dilli laced with poems

Since the heart wanted more poetry, we moved to Delhi, collaborating with Shumita Didi of Eclectica films and holding yet another symposia with the poets of Delhi, writing across languages at The India International Centre, on January 10. Presiding at the recital was writer and activist Sayeda Hameed, who started the symposiums with the recitation of a lyrical poem by communist poet Madan Lal Didi:

“Waqt ki phir barrhi tez aandhi uthhi..

Kashti-e-dil ke sab baadbaan khol do..’

(The winds of time blow gustily again..

Throw open the sails of your boats..)

This was followed by some delightful recitations by the “Dilliwalas” with poet and editor Sukrita Paul as the guest of honour.

What followed was some delightful poetry across languages with eminent poets Asad Zaidi and Anamika reciting in Hindi, Roomy Naqvi and Amlanjyoti Goswami in English, and this time Paul Kaur recited her Punjabi poems followed by their translations English. Rajinder Arora of “Ishtihar” read a delightful piece of poetic-prose: “When Frida came calling”. Well-known painter of the delicate brush, Neeraj Bakshi, read poignant lines from his graphic novel on Kashmir. Shumita Didi Sandhu charmed the listeners with a poem in English and another on Heeramandi in Punjabi. Kanika Aurora made a fine dramatic presentation of her poems in her haunting husky voice. She added: “The celebrated Spanish poet Jaime Gil de Biedma is known to have said that I wanted to be a poet but deep down I just wanted to be a poem.” Let me share a secret, that evening we saw poets become poems, dear friends.

nirudutt@gmail.com