By DU Beat:
The much-awaited literary festival of Hindu College, Mushaira 2018 witnessed students flocking myriad of colleges in Delhi. The event started with the 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.
The first session was on “Ignored languages and their revival with special emphasis on Urdu” by Nasera Sharma. She made strong points about the current generation before talking about her subject on holding power to resolve issues that the current generation created. Ms Sharma said, “Sarkar aati jaati hai par naagrik bane rehte hai (Governments come and go, but the citizens stay).” She protested the idea of eliminating the use of English to promote Hindi before illustrating 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 people have today, she mentioned how Urdu has been victim to political divisions. Concluding her talk, she shed light on how the originality and beauty of the Hindi language is dying.
Maintaining the poetic vibe, the Hindi Kavi Sammelan happened next. More than 10 guests were invited to speak at the sammelan. Madhyam Saxena was the first speaker who started the session on a humorous note leaving the audience in giggles. 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 sheen 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, a Hindu College alumna.
The last and the most anticipated performance of the day was a Qawwali session by Junior Qutbi Brothers. They began their performance by informing the crowd about the 800-year-old tradition of Qawwali, 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.
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