More than 20 years ago organisers had to make a special effort to bring in NRIs to a "Kavi Sammelan" - a poets conclave - in the USA.
Not only special invitations were send to the NRIs, several phone calls were made by the organizers, but also food too was promised in case they attended the "Kavi Sammelan".
This was two decades ago. In new millennium, Kavi Sammelan, according to organizers have become instant hit among the first generation immigrant Indians and are willing to even pay to attend one of these conclaves.
As a result, event organizers are now charging somewhere between $15 (about Rs. 650) to $50 (about Rs. 2,200) – depending upon where one wants to sit and which city he is in -- to listen to Hindi poems from popular Indian poets.
"Over the past few years, Kavi Sammelan in the U.S. has emerged as regular commercial entertainment show like any other cultural and entertainment program," Nandlal Singh of the International Hindi Association told Hindustantimes.
Actively involved in organizing Kavi Sammelans since the first such event in early 1980s, Singh said the event still has not been successful in attracting the 2nd generation migrants. Unlike Bollywood programs, or other cultural events, Kavi Sammelan is mostly attended by the first generation Indians, who want to go back to traditional programs, he said.
It is the Association, which started the practice of holding the poets conclave in various U.S. cities every twi years, but now several other organizations have emerged who hold such an event on their own.
{{/usCountry}}It is the Association, which started the practice of holding the poets conclave in various U.S. cities every twi years, but now several other organizations have emerged who hold such an event on their own.
{{/usCountry}}"We are now getting more response and people are showing desire and interest in coming to a Kavi Sammelan," said Ajay Jain of Uttar Pradesh Association of Detroit, Michigan, which is organizing the event this year on August 13.
"We have been organizing this for the past three-four years and normally 200-250 people turn up," Jain said.
In large cities like Houston and Dallas in Texas Kavi Sammelan is attended by more than 500 people. "Now, we do not have to make such effort. We make a public announcement and that is all. It automatically attracts large number of people," Singh said.
Making plans for this year's series of Kavi Sammelan tour to the various U.S. cities in September and October, Singh, who runs has software business in Dallas, Texas, said so far many of the popular Hindi poets have performed in the United States incuding Kaka Hatrasi (in 1980s), Hullar Muradabadi, Gopal Das Neeraj, Ashok Chakradhar, Suren Sharma and Sarvesh Sharma. "Here people are more interested in "Hasya and Vangya", bsides songs," Singh said.
Given the increasing popularity of the Kavi Sammelan, some of the Indian non-profits have started using it as platform to raise funds for running various community projects. For instance, Sewa International held a fund raised with Kavi Sammelan.
Singh said because of the problem in getting a visa, they had difficluties in promoting young and upcoming Hindi poets, as a result they had to rely mainly on popular Hindi poets.