APJ-struck

Yesterday evening I went to listen to a lecture by A P J Abdul Kalam organised by Sahitya Akademi at the India International Centre. The lecture was scheduled for 6 pm and I reached the auditorium five minutes before to find that it was choc-a-bloc. Let along sitting, there was hardly any place to stand. No doubt, Kalam’s popularity has made this auditorium seem small. I regretted the fact that I hadn’t come in earlier.

Today morning I met Surendra Sharma, the famous hasya kavi over breakfast. Surendra Sharma has made a name for himself at home and outside India with his iconic style of delivering four-line poetry. He’ll be in Kolkata along with some other poets from 15-20th March for various kavi sammelans during Holi.

In the early evening, I met Namita Gokhle the co-director of Jaipur Literary Festival along with Malashri Lala. They both edited a book titled In Search of Sita. They presented a copy of the book to me and we discussed about organising an event related to this book in Kolkata.

From Kolkata, Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Reba Som and Amit Chowdhury have contributed in the book. My gut feeling is that it would be good event.

In the evening I was at the bar of India International Centre and met many familiar faces from Delhi. I in fact chanced upon Ardhendu Sen, the ex-chief secretary, Government of West Bengal, yesterday evening at the IIC itself.

-ess bee