CHICAGO: The Consulate General of Chicago in collaboration with Hindi Lovers Club of Illinois arranged a book reading by poet Sandeep Kishor on Monday May 7 at the Consulate premises in Chicago Downtown. It was attended by a good number of elite and Hindi lovers from across Chicagoland.
The Hindi/English poetry collection “Old Seeds of a New Tree” is the second collection of the visiting poet Sandeep Kishor. The first collection named Your Shadow Wants to Walk Alone received a very good response from the readers all over the world inducing Sandeep to move forward publishing his second book.
Sandeep Kishor is the CEO & MD of Zensar Technologies, a leading digital solutions and technology services company in Silicon Valley, California. Poem writing is his way of expressing his deep and intense thoughts through simple Hindi words. He decided to translate his Hindi poems in English by himself to reach people worldwide to understand his thoughts.
The event started with Consul General Neeta Bhushan’s welcome speech. In a reminiscing mood, she talked about her school days and her education in Hindi. She talked about her first meet with Sandeep ji a few years ago and how he impressed her with his simplicity and literary genius. Then she invited Gurbachan Kaur Neelam, the founder and president of Hindi Lovers Club of Illinois to say few words and recite her poem. Gurbachan Kaur spoke about the importance of speaking in Hindi in day to day life to bring Hindi among top spoken languages of the world.
She said that India got freedom from England but it is still the prisoner of English language which we need to get freedom from and be proud of Hindi.
She asked the 100+ audience to take the pledge to talk in Hindi and not feel ashamed. She then recited the title poem Jugnu from her first poetry collection and invited Vinita Gulabani to introduce the star poet Sandeep Kishor. Vinita did a remarkably good job and even Kishor had a good admiring word about his introduction.
Sandip Kishor sat on the sofa in relaxed mood and read poems from his book and entertained the audience by reading the poems of their request. He endeared himself with his humility and quick wits. He explained what prompted him to select the titles for his books and gave huge credit to his daughter for her help
There was a small presentation on the work and organization of Sandeep Kishor. The event ended with a panel discussion by Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and Bengali scholars and refreshments and book signing.
Among the attendees was also a guest from New Delhi India Bharat Gupt who earlier had an extensive lecture series at different places in Chicago. Gupt is a former Associate Professor in English at the College of Vocational Studies of the University of Delhi, a newspaper columnist and a journalist.
Both collections by Sandeep Kishor are available on Amazon.com
Ramesh Soparawala
India Post News Service
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