Delhi Poetry Festival Focuses On Youth, Women

When one can give words to emotions, then that is poetry in itself. Rhythmic, balanced and something that would peak a viewer's curiosity and attention is what poetry does to humanity. Over the years, we may remember great words said by great people, but there are people who are remembered only because of their beautiful verses and poems. To bring the youth as well as the general public of the capital city together and appreciate the art of poetry, the Delhi Poetry Festival is currently being held at the IIT, Delhi campus. The fifth edition of the fest, founded by Dolly Singh, will be on till Feb 25.

Sujata Parashar, member of the planning board of DPF, told Shethepeople.tv, “The main vision of Delhi Poetry Festival is to promote poetry as the youth are the custodians of future, so we wanted to encourage a lot of young people to come out here and enjoy some poetry.”

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Delhi Poetry Festival

“Every year, our attempt is to involve as many youngsters as possible in the festival and give them a platform. We also get lyricists from the film industry and famous poets to gather at one place and talk about their love for poetry,” she added.

On such platforms, it is imperative to have gender inclusivity and Parashar believes the same. “One of our focus areas is to bring more women in poetry. Poetry is one of the purest and powerful forms in which women can express themselves. This year, we have at least three or four sessions specifically for women poets, poetry by women and on women.”

Rashmi Agarwal tells us that she has composed many songs inspired by Bulle Shah and his lyrics are such that one cannot be unaffected by it. This is the reason why I chose to perform work inspired by him and his work at the DPF

One of the performers who sang on the inaugural day was Rashmi Agarwal. She kicked the event off by singing some of her creations inspired by Bulle Shah. On her selection of songs, Agarwal said, “It felt to me that nothing has changed from 16^th century to now. We keep shouting that we are growing and becoming better but in reality, we are all still very much the same. He says in his work—it doesn’t matter if one goes to Mecca or takes dips in the holy Ganges but for one to show humanity is to forego ego. There is another very interesting and wise thing he says that let’s go and live where the blind live because no one will judge on parameters like colour, caste, appearance etc. I can closely relate myself to all these issues.”

Delhi Poetry Festival

Agarwal tells us that she has composed many songs inspired by Bulle Shah and his lyrics are such that one cannot be unaffected by it. "This is the reason why I chose to perform work inspired by him and his work at DPF."

“As a standalone multilingual festival, Delhi Poetry Festival has managed to achieve what poetry as a small part of large literary festivals, could not. It has managed to attract people towards poetry,” writes Singh on the website about DPF.

She adds, “Delhi is about languages, Delhi is about culture and Delhi is about history and heritage. We, at Delhi Poetry Festival, celebrate all facets of the city through poetry.”

SheThePeople.TV has partnered with the Delhi Poetry Festival 2018.

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