Patna came alive to poetry, music, and the romance of the written and spoken word over the past three days. The eternal poetry of Mirza Ghalib enthralled the young audience, as it reflected a unique way of looking at life and threats attached to it. Ghalib had mastered the art of bringing out human sorrow through his shayari in a subtle manner, something which is unique to this very day. Whether it was the recitation of Ghalib, or the tuneful Sufi Music of the Nizami brothers, or the discussions on literature, The intellectuals of Patna lapped it all up.

The three day Patna Literature festival concluded on sunday with great minds from the literature field coming on single platform. The three day Patna literature festival began at Gyan Bhavan on Friday with people from cross section of society attending.

Eminent shayars Quasim Khursheed and Sheen Kaaf Nizam discussed about the source that drove Ghalib to write shayaris. Khursheed talking about Ghalib said it is rare to find people who mock their own creation and Ghalib was one of them. Nizamon threw light on the fascinating imagery the Ghalib’s words used to paint for his listeners.

The day also saw release of two new books of Ganga Gill, who shot the fame with her travel diary “Awaak” which has been rated as one of the best travelogues in Hindi. Gills two books “Ityadi” and “Deh Ke Mudde Par” were released by Hindi authors and poets including Rambachan Roy, Alok Dhawan and Padma Shri recipient Usha Kiran Khan.

The final day was marked by several panel discussion with authors and poets from across the country discussing on varied topics, ranging from depletion of natural resources to image of migrants as potrayed by media, poetries and local dialects and work by Bihari Diaspora as per local news.

The panel discussion on women in Gandhi’s Satyagrah movement was attended by Sumedha Verma Ojha and Sujata Prasad, who emphasized on the importance of women’s role in Satayagrah movement.

The festival was organised by state art, culture and youth affairs department in collaboration with Navaras School of performing art.

The event started with participants paying tribute to the writers and poets passed way last year. Pawan K Verma author of several bestseller books, Taranand Viyogi, Rama Das and Tripurari Sharan paid tributes to former PM Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Annapoorna Devi, V S Naipaul and Kedarnath Singh among others.

Some eminent people present in the festival were Gulzar, Irshad Kamil, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak and famous writers like Ashwini Kumar, Pawan K Verma, Narendra Kholi Ganga Gill.

Verma talking about his new book “Adi Shankaracharya:Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker” said literary festival in Patna was like a golden tribute to the glorious and cultural legacy of civilization of Bihar.

On the first day authors talked about their books and several issues related to literature scenario in the state, the second day of the festival saw lively panel discussion on topics ranging from ancient history, contemporary literature,Indian cinema to the tussle between electronic media and print media.

 Literature enthusiasts thronged Gyan Bhavan during the festival. A student said “booklovers like me hardly get any opportunity to attend such festivals in the city it should happen more often so that we are able to enhance our writing skills.”

  literature, Patna