kritya2008


Kritya 2008, the fourth poetry festival celebrated by the Kritya organization, was held in Chandigarh (Punjab) in collaboration with the Punjab Arts Council and with the support of the Sahitya Akademi, CILL Mysore and other literary bodies in different countries.

During the three days of this Poetry Festival, we had readings of almost 50 prominent poets.
They included Ramakant Rath (Oriya) , Odveig Klyve (Norway), Keki Daruwala ( English), Natalia Toledo, Evelyn Holloway (Austria), Nand Kishor Acharya (Hindi), Triin Soomets (Estonian), Rocio Gonzalez (Mexico), Mamang Dai (Arunachal Pradesh), Hanane Aad (Lebanon, Uktamkhon Kholdorova (Uzbekistan), Kunwar Narayan (Hindi), Udaya Narayana Singh (Maithili), Ajmer Rode (Punjabi), Jaswant Deed (Punjabi), Parmindrejit (Punjabi), Jaswinder (Punjabi), Devneet (Punjabi), Nirupma Dutt (Punjabi), Neeru Aseem (Punjabi),
Dr. S. S. Noor ( Punjabi), Shri Kikkeri Narayan ,Purnima Varman, Vishvanath Prasad Tiwari (Hindi), Santokh Singh Dheer (Punjabi), Satyapal(Hindi), K. Satchidananadan (Malayalam), Margus Lattik (Estonia), Robin S Ngangom (Imphal, Manipur), Chandra Prakash Deval ( Rajasthani) , Dilip Jhaveri (Gujrati), John Siddique (Irish), Vanita ( Punjabi), Surjit Juj ( Punjabi), Swaranjit Savi ( Punjabi), Araceli Mancilla Zayas (Mexico), Shambhu Badal (Hindi), Jiban Narah (Assam-India), Peter Waugh (Vienna), Surjit Patar ( Punjabi), Rati Saxena (Hindi), and Amit Kalla (Hindi).

“In the sacred navel of our dreams”

-Ayyappa Panikkar

An Exhibition of Paintings by young contemporary artists was organized at the festival;
Arti Kadam (Pune), Amit Kalla (Jaipur), Daniel Connel (Australia), Divya Pandey (Allahabad), Kaustubha Pandey (Allahabad), Kuldeep Singh (Chhattisgarh), Vijay Kadam (Pune), Vijendra S Vij (New Delh), Vishal Bhuvania (Indore), Yogendra Kr. Purohit (Bikaner)

Speech of Rati Saxena

In this time of global crisis, we are all looking forward to a society oriented towards esthetic and wise solutions to keep ourselves from many kinds of artificial problems. And this was our aim at the Poetry Festival, Kritya 2008. In this land of ancient culture, we were there to reorganize and regenerate ourselves with the help of poetic thought. Poetry is indeed the most neglected but most important path to real knowledge and understanding in modern society. It is a human approach that will help us understand our universe, environment, society and self. This is the understanding which would lead us to more enduring resolutions.

Kritya Festival’s unalloyed mission is to achieve harmony, both cultural and linguistic. It will widen the scope and reach of global literature, arts and culture, and fulfill its goal of promoting the aesthetic experience through poetry and the allied art forms. It will also provide a common forum for poetry-lovers all over the world to come together, showcase their talents and exchange views.

Kritya 2008, the fourth poetry festival celebrated by the Kritya organization, was held in Chandigarh (Punjab) in collaboration with the Punjab Arts Council and with the support of the Sahitya Akademi, CILL Mysore and other literary bodies in different countries. Now, once again I am back in my office, at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, relishing the memories of the festival. When I left Kerala for the festival, I was rather apprehensive of its success, as arranging such a festival in a new place is not a very easy task. But as I always feel, Kritya finds her way out of any difficult situation, on her own.

I started from Kerala all alone with a lot of worries, and books. Amit, the young poet and artist joined me in Delhi. When I reached Chandigarh, a young energetic writer Kripal joined me in my mission. Vijendra Vij was regularly working from Delhi. Shalbha, the Trustee of Kritya, joined us on 13th evening, and I must say that these four young supporters were the pillars of the success of Kritya 2008.

The guests of Kritya started coming to Chandigarh from the 12th evening itself. And by the 14th morning, we had poets from all over the world. Our inaugural session started at 10 a.m at the Punjab Art council. It was inaugurated by a great Indian poet Kunwar Narain ji, who had recently received the Jnanpeeth Award, which is considered the biggest award in India. The function was presided over by Dr. Swarn Singh, the Principal Secretary of the Punjab Government.

Immediately after the inauguration, the first poetry session commenced. The renowned Oriya poet Ramakant Rath ji was the first poet to recite his poems. The English translations of his poems were shown by projector on the screen and the Punjabi translations were read by the Punjabi poet Vanita. It was a wonderful experience for the audience to get the taste of poetry in their own language, side by side with the original language of composition. The senior most poet of the Indian poetic world, his poetry certainly had a significant impact on the audience. Then came Odvieg, with her small poems that attracted everyone?s attention. Once the poetry session started, every one got deeply involved in poetry. It was wonderful to find that people from all walks of life came to listen to these poetic sessions. Amazingly enough, I even saw a few people in monks? habit. That is what we want ? that poetry should reach out to all categories of people.

Following the first session, we had the second and third sessions. After that we had a session devoted to Punjabi Poetry. On the first day we had the good fortune to listen to some noted poets like Ramakant Rath, Dheer, Odvieg, Keki Daruwala, K Satchidanandan, Kunwar Narain, Nand Kishor Acharya. Vishvanath Prasad Tiwari , Tirrin, Vanita and others. We enjoyed listening to Sufi music on the first night, which transformed the mood of the audience. Next day we had poetry from morning to night. It was like a poetry Yaga. A number of good poets recited their poetry. The great thing was that no one wanted to move out of the auditorium, though they got tired sitting so long.

During the three days of this Poetry Festival, we had readings of almost 50 prominent poets. They included Ramakant Rath (Oriya) , Odveig Klyve (Norway), Keki Daruwala ( English), Natalia Toledo, Evelyn Holloway (Austria), Nand Kishor Acharya (Hindi), Triin Soomets (Estonian), Rocio Gonzalez (Mexico), Mamang Dai (Arunachal Pradesh), Hanane Aad (Lebanon, Uktamkhon Kholdorova (Uzbekistan), Kunwar Narayan (Hindi), Udaya Narayana Singh (Maithili), Ajmer Rode (Punjabi), Jaswant Deed (Punjabi), Parmindrejit (Punjabi), Jaswinder (Punjabi), Devneet (Punjabi), Nirupma Dutt (Punjabi), Neeru Aseem (Punjabi),
Dr. S. S. Noor ( Punjabi), Shri Kikkeri Narayan ,Purnima Varman, Vishvanath Prasad Tiwari (Hindi), Santokh Singh Dheer (Punjabi), Satyapal(Hindi), K. Satchidananadan (Malayalam), Margus Lattik (Estonia), Robin S Ngangom (Imphal, Manipur), Chandra Prakash Deval ( Rajasthani) , Dilip Jhaveri (Gujrati), John Siddique (Irish), Vanita ( Punjabi), Surjit Juj ( Punjabi), Swaranjit Savi ( Punjabi), Araceli Mancilla Zayas (Mexico), Shambhu Badal (Hindi), Jiban Narah (Assam-India), Peter Waugh (Vienna), Surjit Patar ( Punjabi), Rati Saxena (Hindi), and Amit Kalla (Hindi).

We also had an open forum, in which the poets in the age groups 15 – 85 took part. Nayan Thara, a young poet from Kerala, came all the way to take part in this forum. This shows the importance of Kritya?s poetry festivals.

This time, the highlight of Kritya?s Poetry Festival was the art exhibition in which nine young artists displayed their artistic creations. Amit Kalla, Arti V Kadam, Daniel Connell, Divya Pande, Kuldeep Singh, Vijendra Vij , Vishal Bhuwania , Vijay Kadam and Yogendra Kumar Purohit were the artists who added a personal touch to the festival with their excellent creations. We had a double recording of festival, one in video, and the other in the sketches by these talented artists.

At the end of the Poetry Festival, the poet from Uzbekistan started dancing on the stage. All the others joined her on the stage and this was indeed a wonderful culmination to three days of poetic feast. In the evening we all went on a visit to the Rock Garden and met that great artist Neck Singh ji, who designed this marvelous garden.

Once again, Kritya’s poetry festival remains as a treasured memory in the minds of all who shared the joys of this occasion

Rati Saxena