Shayri Ki Ek Sham

By Neeru Saluja

On the June long weekend, poetry lovers received a special treat.  Directly from the heart of our literary homeland arrived renowned  poet Dr Kunwar Bechain. The result was an enchanting afternoon  of poetry, shayari and singing at the Epping Leisure Centre.

The brainchild behind the event was Sydney’s eminent poet and writer Rekha Rajvanshi, founder of ILASA. The Indian Literary and Art Society of Australia Inc.(ILASA) is a non-profit organisation of language/literature lovers and artists of Indian origin in Australia. “Every year ILASA aims to bring together poets, writers and artists of Sydney to promote art, languages, literature and culture. A lot of languages are dying as UNESCO estimated that, if nothing changes, half of the 6000 languages spoken on the planet today will be gone by the end of this century and with them, world’s embedded history, ” says Rekha.

 

For those who don’t know, Dr Kunwar Bechain is a well known poet from India and author of several books. He has performed in 4500 Kavi Sammelans, 21 countries, has written more than 32 books in different styles. His poems/songs are sung in the film ”˜Bhavishya – The Future’. One of his famous folk song is ”˜Badri Babul ke Des Jaiyo, Jaiyo Barasiyo kahiyo, ye hain Babul teri Bitiya ki Ankhiyan’.

The event started with an introduction by Rekha, who was also the MC for the event accompanied by young poet Gaurav Kapoor. The program started with the lighting of the auspicious lamp by the visiting dignitary Kunwarji, Dr Shailja Chaturvedi, Strathfield Councillor Raj Datta, Dr Shailja Chaturvedi,Hindi Samaj;  Dave Passi. ISGH; Pradeep Upadhyay,  Hindi Samaj and Mala Mehta,  IABBV Hindi School.

The audience was entertained for two hours by soulful and humorous poetry by Kunwarji, guest shayars Arif Sadiq Sahib, Farhat Iqbal and local poets Bhawna Kunwar, Rekha Rajvanshi, Rajeev Kapoor and Gaurav Kapoor.

Every poet had a different and unique style with their recitals leaving their fans thanking and encouraging the poets with their ‘wah wah’s’.

But the event was not only about poetry. Singers Richa Srivatsava, Aparna Nagashayana, Murali Venkatraman, Sumathi Krishnan and Arun Nanda sang beautiful renditions, which accompanied the poetic aura of the program. It was an evening solely dedicated to ghazals and geet.

 

Thanks to ILASA’s relentless hard work and enthusiasm to bring poets from Sydney and India on one platform to share their creations. It was a mesmerising afternoon leaving the audience spellbound!

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