‘A patriot can show love for India by promoting its languages’

‘...ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country’ — this famous quote by former US President John F Kennedy is one of the favourites of Dr Padmesh Gupta, a native of Lucknow, who lives in UK.

And perhaps it’s this quote and the immense feeling of patriotism that eventually fetched Gupta the prestigious National Award from the President of India for promoting Hindi, Urdu and Hindi writers abroad. Dr Padmesh Gupta, who himself is an acclaimed poet, writer, an academician of international repute and a founder president of United Kingdom (UK) Hindi Samiti says, “It’s my own style of showing patriotism and love for my motherland.”

“It’s not necessary to pick up a gun or to raise patriotic slogans to show your love towards your country. A patriot can show his love towards his country in different ways also. And one of which was promoting Indian languages, which I did to make the world aware of our culture, languages and rich heritage,” said Gupta, director of Oxford Business College, UK. He was felicitated with ‘Padma Bhushan Dr Moturi Satyanarayan Award’ – a literary honour which Kendriya Hindi Sansthan and Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) confer on prolific writers in Hindi literature – under NRI category. He was felicitated on May 30, 2017.

On Saturday, Gupta was here in his hometown to launch his book on poems —‘Pravasi Putra’. It was released by Governor Ram Naik. “It is my third poetry book that again describes the feeling of an NRI son towards his country, who is missing motherland and its culture badly,” said Gupta.

Gupta said he was fortunate enough to have two options to inherit. “Since my father Dr Dauji Gupta has been ex-mayor and MLC and is also a prolific writer, I had two options to choose. I chose to be literati than to be called a politician,” he added. Gupta studied in La Martiniere College, Lucknow and Christian College, did a diploma course in perfumery from Institute of Roure Bertrand Dupont, France and Research in Cosmetic Industries in France. He began his patriotic innings two decades back in UK. He has published and edited a Hindi magazine ‘Purwai’ in UK for 18 years.

DR PADMESH GUPTA HAS RECEIVED NATIONAL AWARD FROM THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA FOR PROMOTING HINDI, URDU AND HINDI WRITERS ABROAD