A Punjabi Kavi Darbar Erases the Borders between the Indian and Pakistani Communities
NOVEMBER 13, 2009

HOUSTON: The Punjabi Society of Houston arranged a beautiful Raseeli Shaam (Melodious Evening) Kavi Darbar on the evening of Friday October 30 at Houston Ballrooms, 14880 Bammel N. Houston.

First the poets and guests were served a delicious vegetarian dinner. Then the Kavi Darbar started at 8pm and continued until late at night until 11.45pm. The unique feature of the Kavi Darbar was the coming together of Punjabi loving poets from India and Pakistan on a common cultural platform.

Professor Sukhchain Singh, Executive Director of Sikh National Center presided over the mushaira and recited his poem relating to Mind (M`an) in an excellent melody. Charanjit Singh Sandhu and Dr. Afzaal Firdous compeered the mushaira by introducing respective poets.

Participants from the Indian community were Darshan Singh Khakh from New York, Professor Joginder Singh Virdi, Professor Sukhchain Singh, Professor Sampuran Singh, Baljit Kaur, Kulbir Singh Padda, Hira Singh Chamdal, Mohinder Singh, Gurdev Singh Sidhu, Charanjit Singh Sandhu, Jatinder Singh Sabharwal and Kuldip Singh.

Poets from the Pakistani community were Dr. Sayed Nisar Naqvi, Dr. Afzaal Firdous, Dr. Khalid Khawaja, Dr. Raza Sayeed, Amjad Niwaz, Javed Zedi, Sattar Qureshi, Tahir Bhatti and Ahmed Gazali.

Darshan Singh Khakh and Amjad Niwaz had specially come all the way from New York to embellish the Kavi Darbar with their melodious singing and wonderful poetic recitation.
Manohar Singh Mann, President and Hardeep Kaur, Secretary of the Punjabi Society of Houston honored the poets with beautiful plaques. The mushaira was attended by an elite Indian and Pakistani gathering.

The highlight of the mushaira was the unveiling and release of Agosh Preetaan Dee, a beautiful Punjabi poetry book written by Baljit Kaur Thandi of Houston, by Professor Sukhchain Singh and Dr. Sayed Nisar Naqvi. This poetry book of contains a laudable collection of very well written Punjabi poems depicting deep human emotions, feelings, thoughts and experiences.

The Punjabi Society of Houston expresses its deepest appreciation to

•Iqbal Singh Tony for providing professionally videoing the event free of any charges. He can be contacted at 713-480-3831 for DVDs of the program.

•Jaswant Singh from Singh Audio Video (281-890-8563) for providing and monitoring the sound system.

•The location for the Kavi Darbaar and Community Hall services were offered free of charges by Manohar Singh Mann and Dr. Hardam Singh Azad.

•Sattar Qureshi from the Pakistani community presented the unique CD, Aaj Kay Naam: Faiz, poetic work of internationally renowned Poet Faiz Ahmed ‘Faiz’.

•Sukhdarshan Singh Brar and Shaminder Kaur Brar for supporting the grand event for the Punjabi Society of Houston.