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.