Discussion held at Doon Library & Research Centre on poetry collection, ‘Divija’
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 2 Jul: Doon Library & Research Centre organised a discussion on Indu Kumar Pande’s poetry collection ‘Divija’ in its auditorium on Sunday evening. It may be recalled that Indu Kumar Pande is a senior IAS officer who retired as Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand some years ago. Besides being a well-respected and efficient bureaucrat, Pande is a keen reader and writer, and also follows sports keenly. Even after his retirement several years ago, Pande remains socially active and currently lives in Dehradun. His collection in Divija includes poems in Hindi, Urdu and English.
In the discussion, Litterateur Dr Ram Vinay Singh discussed in detail with the author on various aspects of this poetry collection. There was also discussion about the characters appearing in the poems. The characters discussed on the occasion included Radheya popularly known as Karna, a unique character of the epic Mahabharata, Nachiketa and Maitreyi who represent the ancient Indian philosophical traditions. Pande said that these characters represented Yugdharma, the value system of a particular era.
The programme began with President of Doon Library & Research Centre and former Vice Chancellor of Kumaon University Prof BK Joshi welcoming the guests on stage and the audience. He reminded the audience that from time to time, Doon Library & Research Centre makes efforts to organise such literary discussions, film screenings, lectures, seminars and classical music.
About Indu Kumar Pande’s poetry collection, he said that a deep philosophy is reflected in each of his poems. These poems make a strong effort to present the deep mysteries of thinking and spirituality to the readers.
The chief discussant Dr Ram Vinay Singh said that being associated with philosophical consciousness, Pande has preserved the soft emotions of poems for a long time even in the busy compulsions of daily life. His poems sometimes reflect the religion of the age, sometimes his personal feelings, sometimes social sensitivity and sometimes also show detachment.
Indu Kumar Pande said that his poetry has been influenced by ancient Indian tradition, somewhat philosophical, whereas his Urdu poems are more topical relating to the modern times. Pande shared that he had started writing Shayari in the beginning and later also wrote Hindi poems. His first poem was Radhey, in which he has presented Karna as a unique character. He felt that poetry is created only from the eagerness to evoke feelings towards the God, Vachaspati, of the first mantra of Atharvaveda.
After the conversation, poet Indu Kumar Pande also recited several of his selected poems which were highly appreciated by the audience. A total of 51 poems are compiled in this collection, titled Divija. Among the poems recited by him on the occasion were Abhighat (trauma), Aspatal, Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya, Radheya, Nachiketa, Jagah (space). There was a also discussion about a poem, titled ‘Phate Joote Ki Atma-katha’, which is about utilitarian attitude carried to the extreme in modern times.
Later, an interactive session was held. The audience also asked questions, which were responded to by Pande. To conclude the programme, the current Director of Doon Library & Research Centre and also a former Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand, N Ravi Shankar proposed the vote of thanks. The programme was compered by Chandrashekhar Tiwari.
On this occasion, Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand, Radha Raturi, former DGP, Uttarakhand, Anil Raturi, Lavleena Modi, Shadab Ali, Rajiv Bhartari, Dr Sudharani Pandey, Dr Dinesh Upadhyay, Dr Shiv Mohan Singh along with many writers, literature lovers, intellectuals were among those present.
