Audience giggles, claps & taps

IF THE success of a poetic symposium was to be measured in terms of making people laugh, the hasya kavi sammelan organised by Hindi Hindustan and HT at Ravindralaya was a hit. And if the success of such a function was to be measured by the depth of the poems recited, Wednesday night’s programme was a super hit.

Some Hindi poets, who gathered under one roof to make people laugh, deftly interspersed meaningful messages in their poems.  Their words made people sit back and wonder at the deterioration in standards, morality and culture.

Surendra Sharma, whose ‘gharadi’ and ‘main bolyo’ is part of the folklore, was in keeping with the poetic tradition: Having the best man have the last word.

Around midnight, when the people trudged homewards, the significance of his and the poems of others was not lost on them.

Sharma said, “Log jhooth kehte the deewaron main dararein padti hain, haqeeqat yah hain jab daraarein padti hain tab deewarein banati hain” and then again, “Pehle main ma baap ke saath rehta tha, ab ma baap mere saath mein rehtein hain” and conveyed how the advent of consumerism was playing havoc with the Indian family system.

Sharma advised: “Ameeri ki akaad tabhi tak rehti hain, gareebi jab tak ussey niharti rehti hai” and then proceeded to give an example between a proud river and a humble well to illustrate his point.  “Nadi ne akadkar kuen se poocha teri auqat kya hai, keun ne haath jodkar kaha, bahanji kucchh toh farq hoga, bhatkav aur thehrao main.”   There were giggles and laughter after every word of Hullad Moradabadi. He said, “Waqt toh ek aaina hai, asliyat dikhlayega, yeh koi neta nahi jo noton se bik jayega,” and again, “Democracy ka yahi toh saar hai, aam aadmi bhookha hai, lachaar hai.”

Senior-most poet, amidst the galaxy of poetic lights, Om Prakash Aditya, spoke on how pecuniary considerations were fast deciding the fate of relations. Manik Verma touched another topic. “Ucchh koti ke neech logon, sharab peete ho? Bhookh ka nasha kya kam hota hain jo sharab peeke marte ho?”

Surendra Dubey said, “Hamare desh main jab bhi bimaari aati hai, apne saath main accha budget lekar aati hai.” He also commented, “aaj ka daur Aids ka daur hai, koi kehta hai, yeh kaam main lao, who kaam main lao, par koi yeh nahi kehta ki agar Aids se bachna hai toh apne charitra ko ucha uthao.” Dr Sunil Jogi commented on Sonia Gandhi’s influence on the Union Government stating, “Maine Soniaji se poochha, madam aap mein aur Manmohan Singhji mein kya antar hai.

Woh bolein, ki ek sardar hai, ek asardar hai.” Lucknow’s SK Pande had the people in splits when he commented on Sourav Ganguly and Salman Khan’s fate. “Ek hua run ke chakkar mein bahar, ek hiran ke chakkar main andar, ek shirt pahan ke lahrata, doosra shirt hi nahi pahanta.”

Dr Suman Dubey won applause for her melodious rendering of poems and Sardar Manjeet Singh, Dr Suresh Awasthi and Neeraj Puri enchanted the audience.

Sarvesh Asthana’s poetic interruptions, as the coordinator of the show, received accolades.