What started two years ago with just 30 members now encompasses a much wider expanse of our non-English literary world. The Mehfil-e-Gangojamun literary society now boasts 130 members, and is constantly looking to welcome more writers in Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi. Its third annual literary festival was held at the Ghalib Institute in Delhi on Saturday evening, where three young poets in each of the three languages were honoured. The awards were given away by Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung, and the ceremony was followed by a ghazal programme by Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan and a mushaira. The three awardees — Habib Saifi (Urdu), Vishal Bagh (Hindi) and Tarinder Kaur (Punjabi) — are all under the age of 45, and unpublished poets. “That is the whole idea,” said veteran Urdu poet Zafar Moradabadi, Executive Secretary of the society, adding, “We aim to bring up a worthy generation to whom the rich legacy of Manto, Premchand and Firaq Gorakhpuri can be passed on.” While Saifi is a journalist by profession, Bagh is an IT professional, and Kaur is a Punjabi language teacher. Moradabadi said that their ambition is to turn it into a pan-India event, and honour prose-writers as well. “The three concentric circles of Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi literature across India need to be merged to encourage a healthy exchange of thoughts,” he said. In its coming editions, the society with patrons such as veteran journalists Tavleen Singh and Arun Shourie; former minister Arif Mohammad Khan; and filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, is aiming to establish a lifetime achievement award for a veteran writer “who has spent his life in serving the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb in literature.” Jung, in his address, said, “People of my generation who are born in Delhi know all three languages. Sadly, today’s generation doesn’t speak any language right. Byron and Bulle Shah seem to have given way to the likes of Chetan Bhagat.”
