Nepali poets participate in literature festival in India

BY A STAFF REPORTER,Kathamandu, Dec. 18: A delegation of five Nepali authors led by poet Ram Gopal Ashutosh returned home on Tuesday after participating in the 7th annual 'Woodnotes Of Subarnarekha', a two-day literature and culture festival held in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India.

The other members of the delegation included Harihar Timilsina, Chandra Gurung, Prakash Thamsuhang and Avaya Shrestha. The cherishing festival, organised by Sur-O-Sahityo Welfare Trust, was held in the heart of the steel city of Tatanagar on December 14 and 15. The first day was the international poetic melody and the second was dance, music, Yoga and painting festival.

Legislator of Jharkhand Province Saryu Rai and five Nepali authors inaugurated the festival. Similarly, veteran Indian writer C. Bhaskar Rao, Nepali delegates and Bangla poets from Kolkata released the souvenir of the festival. 

General secretary of the festival Dr. Supriyo Bhattacharjee welcomed the Nepali delegates while legislator Rai and founder and trustee of Sur-O-Sahityo Welfare Trust Dola Bajpayee felicitated them. At the event, Rai opined that art and literature have tied the unity between the people of Nepal and India.

Poet Ram Gopal Ashutosh presented the outline and latest tendencies of Nepali literature.

 "Nepali literature is celebrating its golden era now and the poetry written in the latest time is the most significant among other genres," he asserted.

Avaya Shrestha termed the Nepali literature written in the latest time as the 'era of time consciousness'. "We dream of change, we dream of justice and we dream of peace in the literature. We do not dream of peace without justice. Without justice, peace is impossible," he opined.

Ashutosh recited his poem titled 'A Guerrilla Aganist Self' while Shrestha read out his three poems 'Rebellious Poet', 'An Evidence to Truth' and 'Doubt'. Prakash Thamsuhang recited two poems titled  Tatastha (Neutral) and Bhasa (Language) while Chandra Gurung and Harihar Timilsina read out one poem each titled  'Old Lampost' and "The Globe of Salt." The Nepali poets received great appreciation from the audience during their recitation.

Famous writers from West Bengal Shyamal Jana, Chinmoy Guha, Ranjan Gupta, Sugata Chaudhary, Dr. Mostak Ahmed and Mahibur Rehaman also participated in the festival. 

Moreover, Hindi poets C. Bhaskar Rao, Soni Sugandha, Sudipti Jethi Rout, Vivek, Sushant, Urdu poet Tanveer Akhtar, Santhali poets Bhogla Soren, Durga PD Murmu, Nibhai Soren, Rina Hasdah, Laxmi Murmu, Saro Hasdang, Laxman Mardi, Basanti Hembram and Prativa Tudu were among the participants. 

Similarly, Bimal Chakraborty, Nisar Amin, Dr. Aloke Debdas, Dr. Sunil Chanda, Sreemoy Ghosh, Utpal Dutta, Rafikul Islam, Arup Ratan Basu, Devraj Mahato, Rituparna Das, Mausumi Kole, Dipu Paramanik, Amit Kumbhakar, Palash Pandey, Nayan Kuiree, Banshidhar Singha, Bapan Ray, Shibram Kumar, Aatish Mahato, Aditi Roy Mukharji and others also participated in the symposium while musician Mrityunjay Chaudhary gave an insightful musical presentation.

Veteran Yoga instrutor of Jharkhand Suvashis Bhaduri, Nepali delegates, and poets from West Bengal handed over the prizes and certificates to the winners of the Yoga competition on the second day of the festival.  Avaya Shrestha, also a Yoga instructor from Nepal, presented some Yoga poses and gave tips on Yoga and naturopathy to the participants of the competition.