The Writers’ Forum Kuwait’s monthly meet, held at the residence of their President Mrs Maimuna Chougle on 29th November 2019, was by all means a literary celebration. The meeting clubbed with the book launch event of Mrs Maimuna Chougle’s Poetry Book “Ehsaas ko chu kar guzarti saatien”, in Urdu and Hindi script, left everyone enraptured.
The Anchor of the day was Ms. Nazneen Ali, Gen Secretary of the Forum. In her opening remarks, Nazneen Ali mentioned that it was a special evening due to the presence of eminent guests; Dr Mustafa Punjabi, a renowned erudite, social and business icon from Mumbai and Mr Umesh Sharma, former President and founder member of the Writers’ Forum, both of who are currently on a visit to Kuwait.
Writers’ Forum is a platform that promotes literature and encourages budding poets with a motive to enlighten their young minds with the power of words. In continuation to its efforts in this direction, two young poets – Sabiha Khan and Sanskar Misra, students of Indian Community School, Kuwait were invited as guest poets at the meeting.
Mr Umesh Sharma was requested to be the President of the meeting while Dr Mustafa Punjabi was the Chief Guest of the evening.The meeting incepted with Nazneen Ali reciting couple of poems from Mrs Maimuna’s new book. She mentioned that “Ehasaas ko chu kar guzarti saatien”, is Mrs Maimuna’s fifth book and the first book that is a compilation of poetry, after her previous four books as an Urdu Critic.
Nazneen mentioned that like the previous books, this book also reveals the power of the author’s thoughts and her penning down skills. The book leads the reader to a different world, touching various emotions and different aspects of life. The book was launched in two scripts – Urdu, by Dr Mustafa Punjabi and Hindi, by Mr Umesh Sharma.
The evening continued to the next session where Mrs Maimuna read review of the book “Nazar Andaaz” – a compilation of Hindi poems composed by Forum’s member Ms Madhulika Mohta. She was followed by Ms Priyanka Bharanwal, who read a motivational story in Hindi, titled “Jeevan ke Rang”.
The meeting then proceeded into its next session where poets recited their poetry on varied issues and subjects like attitude, climate, women empowerment, life, emotions, love and laughter. Among the literati, were the poets who presented their poems – Ms Madhulika Mohta (English), Ms Chhaya Athavale, Ms Nazneen Ali, Ms Kalpana Shah, , Ms Pallavi Nitin, Aamir Diwan, Sunil Sonsi and Shabih Ahmed in Hindi, Saeed Nazar Kadpawi and S. Qamar Minto in Urdu. A guest member Ms Anupama Chaturvedi also recited her poem in Hindi.
In his remarks, the Chief Guest, Dr. Mustafa said that our tongue has the power to bind as well as separate hearts, so everyone should be careful while speaking. He said that writers and poets are gifted with the art of expressing themselves for the benefit of others, so they should use their words responsibly for the betterment of the society. He also mesmerized the audience with some best couplets of legendary poets.
The President of the evening, Umesh Sharma, recited his poetry which was highly appreciated. In his remarks he expressed his contentment on the progress of Writers’ Forum. He also mentioned that progress can only be achieved if we are flexible and accept and adopt good changes.