The evening of poetry and verse, celebrated by the Writers’ Forum, Kuwait, on December 29, at the residence of Mrs. Nazneen Ali, was graced with several moments of celebration. There were achievements and maiden forays and glories of the past recollected. The meeting was presided over by Hindi poet- Dr. Radhika Bhardwaj, while English & Punjabi poet- Mrs. Parminder Kaur was requested to be the Chief Guest for the evening. Rajesh Verlekar, the General Secretary of the Forum, conducted the proceedings. At the outset the Forum’s President’s message for the New Year and WFK’s upcoming Kavi-Sammelan on January 26th , was read out to the members. The Jt. Secretary of the Forum—Sunil Sonsi then read out a poem written by senior Punjabi and Urdu poet--Shri Kidar Nath Kidar who had graced the WFK’s meeting (as a guest from India) on several occasions in the last quarter of 2017.
Noted Urdu writer- Maimuna Ali Chougle who is also the current President of WFK was congratulated for the release of her new book titled: ‘Mata-e-Fikr’. Similarly, Mr. Vibeesh Thikodi & Mrs. Madhulika Mohta were also congratulated for the respective release of their poetry collection, viz. ‘Vakkinte Vazhikal’ (A Track of Words)’ in Malayalam and ‘Nazar Andaaz’ in Hindi.
The session began with poetry reading. Members read out their creative works in different Indian languages. Those who read included: Dr.Navniit Gandhi, Madhulika Mohta, Nazneen Ali, Aamir Diwan & Umesh Sharma (all in Hindi), Chhaya Athavale in Marathi, Rajiv Athavale & Chhaya Thakkar in Gujarati, Dr. Sabiha Bilgrami, Rajesh Verlekar & Maihr Kaur (daughter of Parminder Kaur) in English, while Ibrahim Sange Kasid, Saeed Nazar Kadpawi & Sabir Galsulkar recited in Urdu. The meeting was also graced by Mohan Singh, Harjeet Singh Kalsi and Nuzha.
Towards the conclusion of the program, the Chief Guest- Parminder Kaur, then presented her views about the creative expressions of all present at the meeting and also recited her poetry in Punjabi. Dr. Radhika Bhardwaj then read out her poetry in Hindi and expressed gratitude towards WFK for placing such honours upon her.
The meeting concluded with a note of Thank You to the hosts—Nazneen and Ali.