People's Democracy

DUJ Organises First Scribes’ 

Meet On Premchand And Pablo 

FOR the first time in the country under the banner of a journalist union, the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), along with the Appan Menon Memorial Trust and the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), organised an exhibition on the life and work of the famous writer Premchand and poet Pablo Neruda.

The two-day exhibition, inaugurated on January 11 at the DUJ premises in Connaught Place, was followed by a meeting on the two great icons of the literary world with special poetry readings of the recently translated poems of Pablo Neruda and readings from Munshi Premchand.

The colourful exhibition was inaugurated by Dr Asghar Wajahat who wrote part of the script of one his tele serials ‘Boond Boond’ while sitting and interacting with DUJ members. Among the speakers included journalist Ajay Kumar, Professors Vibha Maurya and Vijaya Venkataraman,  Dr John Cherian, Professor Devjani Sengupta, S K Pande, B K Pal, advocate and Sujata Madhok. A special picture was presented to the DUJ by executive member photographer Sarvesh.

Special poems were sent by Manglesh Dabral, Rabbi and others which would be published shortly. The concept of the exhibition was planned by artist Sanjay Sharma with postcard inputs from Sahmat and many in the world of art like Vivan Sundaram, Arpana Gaur, Parthiv Shah Haku Shah, Nand Katyal, Gopi Gajwani.

Besides, the rare poems of Pablo and writings of Premchand with illustrations by artists and designers and selections from DUJ members and leaves of DUJ history were also on display, with concept by Rita Toteja, executive member DUJ.

The meeting ended with a special film on Pablo, ‘Il Possino’ (The Postman). This is a film by the British director Michael Radford and was nominated for the best picture for the academy awards in 1995. It is a film (played by Phillipe Noiret) about Pablo Neruda’s encounter with an Italian Postman (Massino Troisi) and their  conversations about art and life. (INN)