Events

Mushaira 2018: Performing Poetry of Dissent

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The much awaited literary festival of Hindu College, Mushaira 2018 witnessed students flocking from a myriad of colleges of the University of Delhi. The event started with customary lighting of lamps by Nasera Sharma, Guest Speaker, along with Dr. Anju Srivastava, the Principal of Hindu College, and Manisha Pandey, Speaker of Hindu College Parliament. Muhammed Daniyal, Minister of Literary Activities of the Hindu College Parliament delivered the keynote address delineating the problems they had to face to come up with the speakers line-up. He presented a timeline of how the society evolved from the stage of genesis to the present day. He painted Mushaira as a stage to revoke the atmosphere of hysteria and intolerance.

Nasera Sharma began with the first speaking session on “Ignored languages and their revival with special emphasis on Urdu”. She made a strong point about the current generation before talking on her subject, about holding the power to resolve the issues that the current generation created. She quoted “Sarkar aati jaati hai par naagrik bane rehte hai”. She protested the belief of eliminating the use of English in order to promote Hindi before telling about how different languages like Pashto and Sanskrit are related through grammar. She emphasised on how India came close to the Middle Eastern countries through literature. Bemoaning the lack of knowledge of people she mentioned that Urdu is a victim of political divisions. Concluding her talk, she shed light on how the originality and beauty of the Hindi language is dying.

Maintaining the poetic vibe, Hindi Kavi Sammelan followed next. More than ten guests were invited to speak on this event. Madhyam Saxena was the first speaker who started the session on a comic note leaving the audience in giggles. The short poems or shayaris as we know them revolved mainly around romance. Some notable guests who came up to mesmerise the audience were Shambhu Shikhar and Azhar Iqbal. The presence of such renowned artists added to the lustre of the already entertaining event. Even though it was the longest session of the day, but the laughter didn’t let the enthusiasm fade. The session also featured some university poets such as Nitin Kumar of KiroriMal College and Sanjana Jha, who is a Hindu College alumuna.

The last and the most anticipated performance of the day was a Qawali session by Junior Qutbi Brothers. They began their performance by informing the crowd about the 800 year old tradition of Qawali, which they believe, is an integral part of the cultures of the Indian subcontinent. They serenaded the crowd with devotional songs like Chaap Tilak as well as popular hits like Coke Studio’s version of Afreen Afreen by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The first day of Mushaira 2018 ended on a soulful and melodious note.

 

Feature Image Credits: Sahil Chauhan for DU Beat.

Oorja Tapan
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Karan Singhania
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Sandeep Samal
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Bhavya Banerjee
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