Staff Reporter –
info@indiannewslink.co.nz
A popular actor of the Hindi film industry and a former academic showed his prowess in Mushaira, Ghazal and pure Urdu poetry at an event organised by the Urdu Hindi Cultural Association (UHCA) of New Zealand recently.
Yusuf Hussain, who performed a short role in the Hindi blockbuster ‘Dhoom 2,’ was a spirited participant at the ‘All New Zealand Mushaira, Kavi Sammelan and Sham e Ghazal 2016’ held at Fickling Convention Centre on April 30, 2016.
“I was delighted to be a part of this impressive event. Programmes such as ‘Kavi Sammelan’ remind us of our roots and provides an opportunity to the younger generation to understand our rich culture, literacy and languages. The beauty of Urdu and Hindi is admired and appreciated by millions of people, including those who do not speak these languages in their homes,” he told Indian Newslink.
Indo-Pak-Bangla Meet
Pakistan’s renowned Poet and Sahitya Academy Award Winner Professor Mohammed Rais Alvi presided over the Mushaira, with UHCA General Secretary Syed Mujeeb inviting the audience to participate in the event and Roopa Suchdev starting the Mushaira and Kavi Sammelan session.
Professor Alvi, Ataur Rehman, Farah Alvi, Hannan Khan, Rohit Kumar, Anil Ahuja, Shiv Shankar, Shafi Haider Siddiqui, Shiv Bhagirath, Ghouse Majeed, Dr Yusuf Qureshi, Somnath Gupta, Brijinder Singh and Bal Madan held the audience in rapt attention with their chaste poetry.
Professor Rais Alvi presented gifts from Pakistan to Labour MP Phil Goff, Priyanca Radhakrishnan, Preeta Vyas, Ghouse Majeed, and Jeet Suchdev.
He also released the annual edition of ‘Dhanak’ (Spectrum of Colours) magazine with Mr Hussain.
UHCA President Adnan Mirza said that the progamme cemented the fraternal relationship of people of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin and kindled their love for the cultural and traditional values of the Indian Sub-Continent.
Dr S D Mathur hosted the third session with Ghazals by Nissar Mirza, Sandeep Singh, Arvinder Vasudeva, Prabsharan Singh, Karamjeet Singh and Karamveer Chinna.
Impressive march
Established on December 5, 2009 in the name of ‘Hyderabad Urdu Cultural Association’ and later changed to its current title, the literary body has National MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi as its Patron and many other lawmakers including Phil Goff, Mahesh Bindra and Dr Parmjeet Parmar as its supporters.
The Association conducts at least three major programmes every year and publishes ‘Dhanak,’ (Spectrum of Colours) at its final meeting in December.
Crossing borders
Mr Hyderabadi said that the poetic nights transcend manmade barriers of religion, nationality and ethnicity, bringing together people keen to promote Urdu and Hindi as languages of respect and lore.
“It is a delight to see not only people who understand, converse and compose poems in chaste Urdu and Hindi but also those with a fleeting knowledge of the languages. There are many others including our New Zealanders of European and Maori origin who evince interest in our programmes. Their presence helps us in achieving our objective of living in peace and harmony,” he said.
Photo:
Yusuf Hussain, Professor Mohammed Rais Alvi and Syed Mujeeb Hyderabadi (to the right of the picture) with others at the ‘Sham e Ghazal’ on April 30
