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Warming up to Enlightenment
Poetry
anthology Kosse Channan –II released
Jagmohan Singh
 LUDHIANA:
I do not remember the last time I went to a poetry reading session
and that too a Punjabi poetry reading session. I spent a good part
of the day listening to one young poet after another rendering their
poems –someone ready to engage the audience and some in a matter of
fact way. Contemporary themes resounded in verse after verse, though
there it was dominated by love and Heer Ranjah stories. I was a
little surprised that there was little political awareness amongst
the young poets and they did not indulge in satire at the present
state of affairs.
Online orkut
communities are generally frowned upon as most of the time; it is
used as a forum for engaging in meaningless talk or abusing someone
at a distance because of the anonymity provided by the Internet.
The Kosse
Channan Sath decided to be different. Taking advantage of the huge
potential to harness young poetic talent in the Punjabi language,
Amarinder Singh, Yudhvir Singh, Parminder Singh Aziz and other
net-savvy poets, set out to build a Punjabi poets community,
sometime in 2006. As a result they now have two books in less than
three years and with the launch of their website
www.punjabizm.com, they
propose to go the whole hog and provide a forum for all who have the
flair to express in Punjabi.
The anthology of
poems, Kosse Channan –II was released by Dr. Surjit Pattar at
Punjabi Bhawan, Ludhiana on 10 May, after a remarkable poetry
session by the celebrated poet.
 This first
publication of Kosse Channan Publishers contains writings of thirty
poets from various countries. Writers hailing from
Punjab
and other states of
India, USA, UK,
Australia, Spain, Philippines and Hong Kong have written in the
genres of geet, ghazal, nazm and blank verse. The poems touch
contemporary issues like female foeticide, what does it mean to be a
girl child in Punjab, and dowry deaths.
Kosse Chanan
Sath (Group) had come up with their first book Kosse Chanan in 2007
which was appreciated in India and abroad in the Punjabi speaking
areas alike.
The
book contains works of Dr. Lok Raj, Parminder Singh Aziz, Seema
Sandhu, Rajveer, Yudhvir Singh Virk, Amrinder Singh, A.S. Sukh,
Gurvinder Gill, Harjot, Dr. Sanket Kochhar, Iqbal Mavi, Arinder
Arora, Ratinderpreet Kaur Anu, Sandeep Kaur Dhaliwal, Preet Dhanoa,
Manu Raabia, Poornima Malhotra, Harkeerat, Amardeep Australia,
Manisha, Jasleen, Arvinder Singh, Daman Tiwana, Gursharanjit Singh,
Amrinder Sidney, Richa Singh, Saurabh Sharma, Jot Ghuman, Jaswinder
Kaur and Manveer Singh.
It was sheer
delight to listen to the poems of Jaswinder Mehram, Navdeep Kaur and
Davvu Manku and Parminder Singh Aziz.
 Deep Jagdeep
presented a well researched paper about Punjabi presence on the
internet, particularly in the area of networking sites and blogging.
He pointed out that though there were as many as 10,000 active blogs
in Hindi, there were only 60 in the Punjabi language. He said that
the orkut group of Shaheed Bhagat Singh has the maximum membership
of 53,000 followed by 24,000 of Gurdas Mann.
He made the
interesting remark that, “whoever uses the internet is young.” He
also made the interesting observation that most of the bloggers and
online community members blame themselves for the present status of
the Punjabi language. Significantly, Dr. Surjit Pattar remarked
that this awareness is a healthy sign as the first step of
recognizing the problem and the cause of it has been taken.
He pointed out
that the operating software Firefox was now available in Punjabi.
Deep Jagdeep was categorical in stating that we should welcome
healthy criticism as the Punjabi internet sites showed that
generally we do not tolerate criticism,
Dr. Surjit
Pattar while releasing the anthology called it a historic event and
said that he is glad that what the older generation had been
attempting crying hoarse from rooftops has been achieved by a group
of young poets who have come together courtesy the internet. He
alluded to the fact that the community had good listeners and good
admirers like Manisha who had come all the way from
Goa.
He said that such efforts promise a good future for the Punjabi
language.
He also advised
the young poets to learn and understand the technical aspects of
different genres of poetry and offered to conduct annual or even
bi-annual workshops for new writers. Jaswinder Mehram and Dr.
Surjit Pattar both emphasized the need to inculcate good and regular
reading habits, if one has to shine in the field of literature. He
emphasized Kosse Chanan Sath on conducting annual workshops in
poetry. Jaswinder Mehram suggested the new writers to read a lot and
read the best.
Commenting on
the oft-repeated and oft-seen slogan, Puttar Mithde Meve, Rab Sabh
Nu Deve…Boys are sweet offerings and let God gift them to all,” Dr.
Surjit Pattar said it was time to change it to Bachhe Mithde Meve,
Rab Sabh Nu Deve…Children are all sweet and Let God gift them to
all.”
Kosse Chanan –II
is a well produced and reasonably priced book which lovers of the
Punjabi language must read and enjoy.
Jagmohan Singh may be contacted at
jsbigideas@gmail.com
13
May 2009
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