The Indian Republic Day Kavi Sammelan & Mushaira Dubai 2008 brought together leading Hindi and Urdu poets from India as well as poets from Pakistan and the UAE to celebrate the rich literary heritage of India.
The event, held on Thursday at the Shaikh Rashid Auditorium, Dubai was organised by Syed Salahuddin and presented by Brooke Bond in collaboration with Dubai Shopping Festival.
Impressive
The show opened with Emirati 'shayar' Ahmad Al Amiri, who surprised and impressed the audience with his knowledge of Urdu and his love for the language and India.
The galaxy of well known names that followed presented a variety of compositions on diverse subjects ranging from romantic ghazals and light hearted takes on modern Indian society to stirring patriotic verse, political satire and profound observations on human relationships and situations.
Full house
The event attracted a full house with many people standing in the aisles. The audience was knowledgeable and involved, heartily applauding good compositions and making their disapproval equally clear.
They particularly enjoyed Shyama Singh Saba and Pakistani poet Tariq Subswari's compositions presented in tarranum, Popular Meeruti's comic verse and the emotional nazm's by US based Dr Abdulla. The show continued well past midnight.
