Literature Binds Hearts, Can Create a
New World
The regular
readers of Kritya may remember the "Festival of poetry- 2005", at
the time of launching of the journal. It was our wish at that
time that the next celebration of Kritya should be held in Jammu,
since a very active member of our editorial board, Dr. Agnishekhar was there. Infact, the idea of Kritya was to
bring all of Indian literature on to a single platform in
front of world literature. That is why Kritya started with "Khasi poetry" in the north east and
"Kashmiri poetry" in the
north, including "Malayalam poetry" from Kerala, in the south.
Thus Kritya could outline a triangular boundary, which brought
Indian literature upon a single platform.
I reached Jammu on 2 July. In the
evening there was a meeting with young artists, poets and
writers of Jammu at Rangayan Theater. The programme started
with the formal introduction of Kritya and it ended with a
very informal discussion regarding literature and the future
of Kritya. It was very encouraging for me as the editor that a
number of readers were comfortable with the new technology. At
the same time they had a good understanding of standard
literature on the net. We talked on a number of topics such as
translation of literature, font’s problem on the net, shayari
in Hindi poetry and the future of Indian literature in the
international stage and many more. A number of lecturers
were present there - Sanjana koul, Ravindra , Liyaqat , Shekh
Muhammad, Agnishekhar, Sanjay , and many others.
That night itself we planned
to go to Vaishno Devi, which was an eye opener to me regarding
how useless my body had become as far as reaching out to
nature was concerned. We came back on the evening of
third July, tired
and rather disappointed by our own discomfort and weakness.
The 4th of July was an
important day for us as Kritya had Festival of Poetry - 2
and release of Dogari special in Abhinava Theater
in collaboration with the J&K Academy of Arts, Culture and
Languages at 6 pm. I had been interviewed by Ravindra Koul for
Z TV, Jammu for the program Guftagoo in the morning itself. It
was nice to know that viewers of Jammu channel are there all
over the world.
The Line editor, Dr. Agnishekhar had
planned every thing in such an interesting way that Nukkadh
Natak ( street play) ) - “theeth” (insight) was played by Rangayug
artists in the opening in front of the theater. The esteemed
group of artists and lecturers enjoyed the play as much as the
common men of the city. The play portrayed the image of
contemporary Jammu and its problems. The problems touched
everything from population explosion to pollution, and even
the falling moral values. I feel that every growing city is
facing the same problems. This play and the posters made on
Dogari poetry by a young artist were a big draw. By the time
the audience took their seats in the theater, the stage was
ready with noted singer artist Naina Sapru,
who
sang a beautiful Dogari folk song- “ Pal bhar bai jana kol
jinde”; after that singer Nirbhay singh Salathiya presented “
meri gali cha fera daal ja tu mra ji nii lagada”; afterwards a
duet was presented by both the singers- “kapde dhoaan kanne
roaankunjua bitch button nishani O..” The flute, tabala and
other instruments that accompanied the songs added to the
overall charm.
After the songs, by the time the
hearts and minds of the audience were completely ready for
poetry, three artists recited the poems of famous Dogari
poets. Rajkumar Bahrupiya , noted actor of Rangyug recited
Kehari Singh Madhukar’s poem- “be charag bastiyan”
followed by “mu uain par mullah jade mane cha jaldi
jalan aih mre samen da chalan aih.” Chanchal Sharma, the
noted singer, presented Padma Sachdeva’s poetry and Dr Sudher
Mahajan recited the poem of Mohan Lal Sapoliya. 
By the time Dr Agnishekhar welcomed
the gathering, the audience had already entered the world of
poetry. He stressed the need to keep pace with the changing
times in terms of literature as well. Literature or more
appropriately languages, which are a means of communication,
are also changing in the era of “Globalization” and
“Industrialization.” He mentioned that Kritya is keen on
presenting the best Indian poetry - this particular issue of Dogari is important not only for readers of Dogari literature,
but for readers in other languages also, as more and more
people can read literature of the Dogari language. Thus Kritya
will try to cover all Indian languages one by one. 
As editor of Kritya, I explained the
future plans of Kritya . Kritya is not a web journal but an
institute, which tries to bring Indian literature on the world
map and world literature for Indian readers. Thus we are
making our place on the world stage. The next issue of Kritya
will be in Kashmiri (in the Hindi section); we will bring out
world literature also in the same manner
Prof. Ved Bhasin , the chairman of “
The Kashmir Times” group of publications- congratulated the
Kritya team for making an effort to explore the gems of
literature in the regional languages and providing them
exposure at the international level. He said - regional
languages have a literary treasure trove, which needs to be
explored and brought at the international level. The great
living litterateur, Pro. Ram Nath Shastri’s presence in the
audience was encouraging us. Most of the writers, poets and
artists of Jammu were there among the audience.
Dear readers, in
“Editor’s Choice” in this issue, we feature Ali Sardaar Jafri,
Urdu poet and an intellectual of the left as well as a major
figure in the Progressive Writers' Association. “Our Masters”
in the present issue portrays the great English poet Byron. In
the section “In the name of Poetry” enjoy reading “Byron- An
Introduction” by A. S. B. Glover. As usual, in “Poetry of our
Time” we have a number of versatile poets, from English,
Telugu, Dogari and Hindi, whose poems provide delightful
reading. A specialty this time – we do not have paintings, but
lovely pictures of Ladakh. Enjoy viewing those!
Once again, my dear readers, I strongly believe that hard work
will surely bear fruit, if our intention is good. I hope and
wish that the next “Festival of poetry” by Kritya will be
celebrated in the north-east, may be in Assam or Sikkim. 
Amen!!!
