The Great Indian 'Kavita'

Yippee !!! Exams are over..... So i'm a bit relieved now.... And i'm on a trot.... (not exactly a trot....) to Nakoda-ji, a Jain pilgrim centre in Rajasthan..... And there was a grand 'Kavi Sammelan' (english translation :: Poetry Recitation) organised for the night..... With all kinds of 'kavis' (read :: poets) reciting their creations, one can not sleep (not coz of the love for literature..... but coz of the large amount of noise created....) Though i'm not the one who likes the 'kavis' and their 'kavitas' (i'll use the Hindi words..... for the feelings....) much, i decided to attend the 'Kavi Sammelan' rather than cursing the poets and organisers for caring a damn about my sleep.... One can't sleep with that kinda noise being generated less than two hundred meters away..... and courtesy the modern inventions (read :: microphones & speakers) i was having a surround sound experience..... Huh !

Anyways it was a nice experience since i couldn't sleep..... The invited poets (and poetesses..... * i'm not anti-feminist) were so good that i was glued for almost 5 hours in the midnight..... There were a few of the poems which touched my heart..... Really.... I was assured that the decent and real poetry is still alive.....

Talking in general terms, the poets and their creations have stoop to such low standards, that the charm of the 'Kavi Sammelans' has almost been lost.... But this one recreated that charm in the minds of the people..... at least those present there, including me.... One of the poets narrated this incident. He attended one such 'Kavi Sammelan' where Mr Amitabh Bachchan was also invited.... Big B listened to all the poets.... In the end, he commented :

"If this is poetry, i wonder what my father did....
And if my father did poetry, then i'm wondering what is this??"

(for those who don't know, Amitabh Bachchan's father Harivansh Rai Bachchan was a great poet....)

This statement of the superstar clearly indicates the downfall of the great Indian 'kavita'..... Its not only the poets who are to be blamed, actually everything works on the 'Demand-and-Supply' rule.... What we want is what we get..... So on a larger perspective, the listeners are much more responsible for the degradation of the great Indian 'kavita'....

The list of the invited 'kavis' was quite impressive..... There were 'kavis' from all over the country.... All of them were quite awesome.... Since it was a pilgrimage centre, lewd and double-meaning (in short :: cheap & degraded) 'kavitas' were obviously out of question.... So that was a great thing.... Only nice 'kavitas' were allowed.... All of them were great.... Some of them were excellent pieces of work.... Some of them damn emotional & sentimental..... Some of them were filled with the colours of patriotism..... The comments on day to day life..... on the politics and politicians.....

In short, sacrificing my sleep was the least i can do to witness such a nice event.... Isn't it?

I wish i could've posted some of the masterpieces here, but then i thought, its their creation & posting someone else's creation isn't right..... On this note, I leave you with these beautiful lines promoting Vegetarianism.... (i liked them so much that i couldn't resist writing them here....)

"यदि आप शाकाहारी होंगे.....

तो पशु पक्षी आप के आभारी होंगे...."

(english translation ::
"If you'll become a Vegetarian....
Then Animals and Birds will be thankful to you....")