Poetic delight

India Habitat Center’s Amaltas Hall recently witnessed a unique program combining poetry and music Kavi Ek Rang Anek.  Eminent poet Lakshmi Shankar Bajpai rendered his poetry in eleven different formats –  geet, ghazal, doha, haiku, savvaiya, kshanika, mahiya, ghanakshri, triveni, muktak  and free verse.  His poetry dealt  with contemporary subjects and everyday situations relating to life with the common man. 

The beauty of the language and the sensitivity of the poet’s thoughts won the audience’s hearts. Bajpai spoke of the urgent need to preserve the various forms of poetry which form India’s rich cultural heritage . Some of Bajpai’s ghazals were composed and sung by ghazal singer  Shakeel Ahmed. Ahmed’s compositions were raag based and infused a vibrancy and fresh colour into the ghazals. 

The audience too joined in and sang the refrain of Khoob naare ucchale gaye, Log baton mein taale gaye. Ahmed proved his virtuosity with the heart wrenchingly beautiful Poora Parivaar, ek kamre mein which brought alive the plight of the urban middle class. Mridula Satish Tandon, president of SAKSHI who organised the show said “It is an urgent need of the times to revive an interest in India’s cultural heritage and to bring it to today’s audience in a setting and form which they can easily understand and relate with.”