BHOPAL: Ace lyricist Javed Akhtar was felicitated with Mir Taqui Mir Award in a felicitation ceremony organised by MP Urdu Academy here on Friday at Ravindra Bhawan. After felicitation, the veteran lyricist recited some of his popular poetry which won huge round of applauses from audience who were present in good numbers.
Addressing the meeting, Javed Akhtar said today’s younger generation lacks vocabulary because every child seems to be attending English medium schools. “Today, a Punjabi boy neither knows Punjabi, nor English well. To make matters worse, WhatsApp and other social media platforms are also having a disastrous impact on the language skills of the youngsters. He recited his poem ‘Waqt’ at the event.
Besides, some prominent poets and shayars, mostly from the state were also felicitated on the occasion. They were Javed Arshi from Indore, Anita Shrivastava ‘Tamanna’, Jabalpur, Rbaba Fatma Zaidi, Bhopal, Parveen Saba, Bhopal, Usha Bhadauriya, Iqbal Bedar, Farman Ziayai, Sironj, Akhter Wamik, Bhopal, Ziya Rana, Ujjain, Abhishek Shukla, Lucknow and Kunwar Ranjeet, Delhi.
The felicitation ceremony was followed by a Mushaira conducted by Muin Shadab and Badrwasti. The felicitated poets presented their works in Mushaira including ‘Yah gunahgar siyaposh chamakte chehre, gaur se dekho to kale pad jaye…,’ ‘majboori ke kisse kahkar sabhi gair ban jate hai, haath tham kar saath nibhana sabke bas ki baat nahi…,’ mesmerised the audience. Dr. Naresh , Chandigarh also presented some of his enchanting ghazal lovers.
The programme was divided into two sessions. The first session was presided over by founder of Jashan-e-Bahar Dr. Kamna Prasad, Delhi. On the occasion, Prasad and Sanjeev Saraf were felicitated for service to Urdu at national and international level. Manoj Shrivastava, principal secretary, culture was present as chief guest in the first session. Director of culture Rajesh Mishra gave welcome speech.