Maurya Kala celebrates Hindi Utsav and Dinkar Awards

Event aims to promote awareness of Hindi literature among Indian students

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 17: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” – Nelson Mandela.

The above quote from Bharat Ratna Nelson Mandela aptly summarizes the centrality of language in the identity of a person as well as society. Hindi, the constitutionally recognised official language and the largest spoken language in India, enjoys the same significance along with its other sister languages in India. Maurya Kala Parisar organises Hindi Utsav and Dinkar Awards every year to commemorate Hindi Divas (September 14th) and the birthday of Rashtrakavi (national poet) Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (September 23rd). The event is one of its kind in Kuwait to bring together students, teachers and other enthusiasts of Hindi. This year the event was organised in association with Indiansinkuwait.com, the popular Indian community portal in Kuwait, at Gurukul Auditorium on Nov 1.

Maurya Kala Parisar’s Hindi Utsav and Dinkar Awards event, running in its 6th year, is intended to promote awareness of Hindi literature and oratory among students of Indian schools in Kuwait. It includes competitions for students of class 6 to 12 and also felicitates students for their achievements in Hindi secondary examinations. Hindi teachers at Indian schools in Kuwait are also honored at the event for their valuable contribution.

The event was well attended with 81 students participating from 11 Indian schools in Kuwait, their teachers, parents, MKP members and other enthusiasts. This year, in addition to nominations from Indian schools, eligible students could also participate directly under open category by registering at Indiansinkuwait.com.

Competitions were held in three different segments at the event:

1) Hindi Poetry Recitation Competition

for students of Class VI to VIII

2) Hindi Debate Competition for students of Class IX to XII

3) Self-written Hindi Poetry Competition for students of Class IX to XII

For transparency in assessment, participants were assigned badge numbers and were instructed not to divulge their name, school and any other personal detail during their performance. For each category, judges were assigned and were provided with pre-determined assessment parameters.

The event commenced with lighting the lamp by the founder member of MKP – Ujwal Ritwik.

Poetry Recitation by students of class 6 to 8 was the first event. Children mesmerised the audience with their choices of poetry as well as their rendition. Students recited poems from the genre of patriotism, nature, philosophy etc while Sri Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and Harivansh Rai Bachchan appeared to be their favourite poets.

Results were as follows:

Poetry Recitation (Class 6 – 8) First prize: Mahek – Indian Community School Kuwait, Senior Salmiya (Open Category)

Second prize: Sheeza Fatima – Indian Community School Kuwait, Amman (Open Category)

Third prize: Vera Upadhyay – Indian Community School Kuwait, Amman (Open Category)

Hindi debate was the second event of the day with the topic being “Fear of climate change is baseless”. Each participant had two minutes to present their views on the matter and then one additional minute for rebuttal of other’s views. Results were as follows: Debate Competition (Class 9–12) First prize: Sanskar Mishra – Indian Community School Kuwait, Senior Salmiya

Second prize: Anisha Bhattacharya – Smart Indian School

Third prize: Al Aqsa Iqbal – Indian Learners’ Own Academy

It was encouraging to note that 17 students participated in the selfwritten

(Pic G) A photo from the event.

Photos from the event.

poetry category, the most challenging event of the day. Participants’ choice of topic, their usage of imagery and rendition on stage were enthralling. Their depth of understanding and poise were well beyond their age. Results were as follows: Self-written Poetry Competition (Class 912)

First prize: Sanskar Mishra – Indian Community School Kuwait, Senior Salmiya

Second prize: Sabiha Khan – Indian Community School Kuwait, Khaitan

Thired prize: Simran – Indian Community School Kuwait, Khaitan

The competitions were judged by persons with experience in imparting Hindi education, reputed poets and authors in Kuwait including notable MKP members. Their names are: Sunil Sonsi, Madhulekha Mohta, Radhika Bhardwaj, Vijaya Nair, Nazneen Ali, Syed Qamar Minto, Dr Navneet Gandhi, Sujata Kashyap, UjwalRitwik and Devesh Kumar.

MKP continued with its tradition of honoring the students for their excellence in Hindi secondary examinations. One Student from each Indian school was awarded with a trophy and certificate. Names of students and their schools are mentioned below:

Carmel School, Khaitan – Kanchan Kaur

Fahaheel Al Watanieh Indian Pvt School (DPS), Ahmadi – ShrutiTyagi

Indian Central School, Abbasiya – Clarin Menezes

Indian Community School Kuwait, Khaitan – Kimpreet Kaur

Indian Community School Kuwait, Senior Branch Salmiya – Hiba Hameed

Indian Community School Kuwait, Amman Branch – Neha Merin Robin

Indian Educational School (Bhavan’s), Abbasiya – Sana Nazim Parkar

Indian Learners Own Academy, Abbasiya – Zandra Catherine

Salmiya Indian Model School, Salmiya – Simar Preet Kaur

MKP honoured 13 Hindi teachers from Indian schools for their exemplary contribution in teaching the language. Their names are as follows:

Carmel School, Khaitan – Shikha Singh

Fahaheel Al Watanieh Indian Pvt School (DPS), Ahmadi – Archana Pant

Indian Community School, Junior Branch Salmiya – AmandeepKaur

Indian Community School, Khaitan – Neelam Gupta

Indian Community School, Khaitan – PriyankaDagar

Indian Community School Kuwait, Senior Branch Salmiya – KanwaljitKaurLamba

Indian Community School Kuwait, Senior Branch Salmiya – KanwaljeetKaurSabharwal

Indian Educational School (Bhavan’s), Abbasiya – SwarnaSaini

Indian Educational School (Bhavan’s), Abbasiya – VandanaKinger

Indian Learners Own Academy, Abbasiya – MadhuriJha

Indian Learners Own Academy, Abbasiya – Parveen Rani

Salmiya Indian Model School, Salmiya – Varsha K Smart Indian School – Mini Nair The entire event was very lively anchored by Ms Prerna, whose apt remarks kept the audience engrossed. Snacks and beverages were arranged for all the attendees.

Amitabh Ranjan, Second Secretary, Indian Embassy Kuwait was the chief guest at the event. Other guests of honor included Dr Ram Mohan Reddy, COO, National Insurance Co., Kuwait and Anil Parashar, Resident Manager, Oriental Insurance Co., Kuwait. The Chief Guest was highly appreciative of MKP’s efforts to promote Hindi at this land away from our own country. He fondly remembered the contribution of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar in Hindi literature.

Sabir Ansari, President of MKP welcomed the chief guest and other guests of honor. He presented an account of the day’s events and congratulated all the participants and teachers. He himself recited a poem from Dinkarji’s famous epic – Rashmirathi – in a very soulful way.

Representatives of Indiansinkuwait. com, Wilson D’souza and George Mathew graced the occasion and provided all the support.

A special accolade was added to the event with the release of poetry collection “Shabd Nihshulk Hain” by the popular Kuwait based author Dr Navneet Gandhi. At audience request, she narrated a portion of her new book at the event.

The event had an impromptu kavisammelan with fervent request from audiences compelling the members from Writer’s Forum to narrate their poems at the venue. Poetries of Sri Sunil Sonsi, Syed Qamar Minto, Radhika Bhardwaj, Madhulekha Mohta and Nazneen Ali were hugely applauded.

MKP General Secretary, Manoj Mishra, delivered the vote of thanks to all the participants, teachers, judges, volunteers and audiences whose presence made the event a grand success.

The successful celebration of 6th Hindi Utsav and Dinkar Awards was the culmination of tedious ground work put in by MKP volunteers. They included – Manoj Mishra, Radhika Mishra, Sabir Ansari, Bushra Sabir, Ujwal Ritwik, Divya Ritwik, Abhay Kashyap, Sujata Kashyap, Devesh Kumar, Mithilesh Pandey, Abdul Hamid Nakhwa, Afsar Alam, Md. Mahtabuzzaman, Nehal Ahmad, Sanjeev Kumar, Shankar Tiwari, Prerna, Syed Sabih, Uday Prakash, Nivedita Sinha and several others.