HYDERABAD: Renowned poets Hoshang Merchant, Syed Tamjeed Hyder, Kala Ramesh, N Gopi and Nishi Chawla recited a few of their masterpieces during the ongoing Hyderabad Literary Festival at Vidyaranya High School on Friday.
Hyderabad-based poet Hoshang Merchant began the session with a reading from his ‘Tagore meets Pound’ poem. “Poetry is nothing but beauty,” he pointed out, as he touched upon aspects such as poverty, a world without borders and visa-free travel, truth and perception, and more.
Poet Syed Tamjeed Hyder, who also works as the Public Relations Officer at the Consulate General of Islamic Republic of Iran in Hyderabad, regaled the audience with his Urdu ghazals and nazms that touched upon topics such as perception, friendship and enmity, materialistic life, etc.
Haikai poet Kala Ramesh narrated haibuns, which combine prose with haiku, drawn from personal experiences and fiction. Later, she gave examples of senryu, a sibling of haiku. A couple of humorous senryu rendered include – playing ball ... with my grandson ... my back goes for a toss, and ... loud music ... the entire neighbourhood knows ... my son is back.
Sahitya Akademi Awardee N Gopi, who invented a poetic form ‘naaneelu’ (the little ones) spoke about issues such as globalisation, materialism, issues in old age, philosophy and more. US-based academician Nishi Chawla read from her anthology ‘From Immigrant Diaries’, which showcases some of the problems faced by migrants in an alien land.
The writer can be contacted at shyam@newindianexpress.com