Poetry, music, culture last week saw it all

Nagpur: Apart from the regular musical, theatrical and dance events, the week that just passed by played host to some excellent literary, motivational and psychological talk.
Unforgettable Shantabai…
Legendary Marathi poetess, lyricist and author Shanta Shelke’s legacy was recalled through a blend of poetry presentation, prose recital and rendition of her popular songs at Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh (VSS) on Saturday.Author Dr Vandana Bokil-Kulkarni presented different aspects of Shantabai’s persona in ‘Anawat Shantabai’ event. Her well-known poems, memorable Marathi songs and some select prose were recited with many memoirs. Reading of her prose was done by Deepali Datar, Gauri Deshpande while Anoop Kulthe provided excellent violin accompaniment that created a nostalgic ambience. Justice (retd) Vikas Sirpurkar, SCZCC director Dr Deepak Khirwadkar and theatre veteran Ajit Diwadkar were amongst the audiences.
Ghazals of U R Giri…
Marathi poet U R Giri is known for composing excellent ghazals in Marathi following the technical and rhythmic format of this Urdu poetic expression. He passed away in 1986, but poetry lovers still remember his work. October 10 is birth anniversary of poet Giri. To mark the occasion, Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh (VSS) organizes poetry summit. This year, many young poets presented excellent works with contemporary subjects and expressions during this poetry summit. It was held in two sessions, thanks to the overwhelming response by poets. Senior author and critic Supriya Iyer presided over. Giri’s poems and his ghazals were recited and discussed which made many in the audiences go nostalgic as one of his poems ‘Sakal’ used to be a part of Marathi textbook in schools during late 1980s.
New Age Buddhist theatre
Artists, playwrights and theatre veterans from Nagpur attended the 44th state-level workshop on ‘Buddhist theatre’ held in Parbhani earlier this week. Playwright Premanand Gajvi, critic Dr Satish Pawde, Dr Nilkant Kulsange and theatre activist Virendra Ganvir participated from Nagpur. Buddhist theatre has a glorious history and it is believed to be the base of contemporary theatre in India. Ashwaghosh is considered to be the first playwright in India. The theatrical activity got suppressed with the reestablishment of the Vedic thought. Now, the new age playwrights have taken it as a mission to bring back the golden era of the Buddhist theatre. Many such workshops will be held in future.
Teach culture with pride
Spiritual orator and motivational coach Jaya Kishori was in Nagpur this week to deliver a talk on ‘Yogiraj Shrikrishna’. Her effortless style of explaining the otherwise complicated spiritual points to people, right from children to elderly, was visible as she spoke on ‘Krishna’. She said that the Indian culture and history is full of heroes and heroics but unfortunately it’s not shared with our young generation with pride and honour that it deserves. “Our children need to know our culture, heritage, history and thought behind our traditions and festivals. Once they will realize the greatness of our own heritage, there will be no need of motivational speakers,” she said.