Ankit performed dastans on messengers of peace namely — Kabir, Rahim, Dara Shikoh, Majaaz and Amir Khusrau.
Ankit Chadha was one of the very few storytellers that remain today who carry forward the values of humanity, derived from dohas of great saints like Kabir, through word of mouth. Unfortunately, the messenger passed away too soon on Wednesday night near Pune, where he allegedly drowned in a lake.
Chadha, a famous storyteller from Pant Nagar in Jangpura, regularly used Kabir's dohas in his conversations. His family performed the final rites on Friday morning. Chadha was in Pune to perform Dastan-e-Kabir at the Gyaan Adab Centre on Saturday last week.
"We still feel that he will enter the house and talk to us. He would always answer back in a form of doha. There was something in his presence, we all used to feel happy. He was such a positive person and so grounded. We will never be able to fill this void," said Shipra Chadha, his sister-in-law.
With his love for storytelling, Chadha's mother always took the same route when she wanted to explain anything to him. "If she wanted to explain anything to Ankit, she always used to narrate it in a form of story and we all used to laugh on their conversation. It was from her that Ankit inherited the art of storytelling," Shipra said. A simple man by heart, he never believed in any religion, his family said.
Ankit's death is not the first tragedy that the Chadha's are facing. 14 years ago, Chadha's lost their daughter in what was a case of medical negligence. Ankit's father was fighting a case against a private hospital since the past 14 years. "Our father is completely broken now. For the last 14 years, he has been fighting for his daughter. We won the case last month but he has given all his life to this case. And today, he lost another child," she said.
Ankit's twitter account, Suni Sunayi was a reflection of Kabir's poems and dohas. He had recently shared a poetry on May 2 that spoke about immortality (eternal life) by Anandghan.
A graduate in History from the Hindu College, University of Delhi, he was the president street theatre society, Ibtida, before he joined Mahmood Farooqui's Dastangoi workshop.
Ankit performed dastans on messengers of peace namely — Kabir, Rahim, Dara Shikoh, Majaaz and Amir Khusrau. It can be said that his contribution to the society while working with various NGOs very rightly earned him the opportunity at attempting to spread peace through his Dastangoi speeches and performances both nationally and internationally including at esteemed institutions like Harvard, Yale and Toronto Universities to name a few.
Gone Too Soon
- The Chadha’s had 14 years ago lost their daughter in a case of medical negligence
- It was only a month ago that Ankit’s father had won the case
- Ankit was travelling to Pune for a performance on Dastan-e-Kabir
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 "Ankit Chadha")
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