At the monthly meeting of the Writers’ Forum, Kuwait (WFK) held at the residence of Mrs. Chaaya Athavale and Rajiv Athavale on the 21st of July, some very insightful and beautiful words—in poetry and prose, were presented by its members. A Short Story, an Essay and Poems were narrated and recited in English, Hindi, Urdu, Oriya, Sanskrit, and Tamil. The Forum is unique in the sense that it unequivocally cherishes each and every Indian language and encourages the amateurs and the stalwarts to share space and thoughts on the same platform.
While the evening was presided over by Shakeel Jamshedpuri who writes poetry in Urdu, the Chief Guest on the occasion was Ameeruddin Amir who writes poems in Kannada and Urdu. The meeting was steered by Rajesh Verlekar.
In the first session, the current President of WFK Maimuna Ali Chougle presented a critique on a great scholar and poet Nazir Fathehpuri. The article was very well received, and so was the short story that followed in English, penned and narrated by Rajesh Verlekar. It was titled ‘Lingua Franca’.
The second session comprised the recitation of poetry of Parminder Kaur (by her father Mohan Singh) in English, Umesh Sharma (Hindi), Milind Rajgolikar (Sanskrit), Dr. Sabiha Bilgrami (Hindi), Preeti Rajgolikar (Sanskrit), Afroz Alam (Urdu), Sayeed Nazar Kadapavi (Urdu), Satya Narayan (Tamil), Chaaya Athavale (Hindi), Tushar Misra (Oriya) and Dr Navniit Gandhi (Hindi). Others who were present included Sunil Sonsi, Rajiv Athavale, Biswa Ranjan and Ms. Mateen Siddiqi.
The Chief Guest Ameeruddin Amir weaved his sentiments beautifully into words and expressed his happiness on the contributions by poets and writers. He then recited his poetry in Hindi. Shakeel Jamshedpuri who was presiding over the evening also expressed his elation and contentment, while listening to all the members. He also expressed his satisfaction on WFK’s success in bringing and keeping together the languages and poets of all seasons. He too recited a gripping poem in Urdu.
The hosts – Chaaya and Rajiv Athavale were thanked for their gracious hospitality.