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ShareAhmedabad, Ahmedabad: In a bid to celebrate works of famous Guajarati poets, the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad in collaboration of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) organised a unique poetic journey - the Nagar Kavya Yatra - as part of the ongoing Ahmedabad Heritage Festival.
"Our thoughts have a language, our relations have a language and our dreams also have a language. So if we lose our language, we will ultimately be losing our identity," said participants who were part of the yatra to save and appreciate Gujaratis rich heritage as well as the rich language and literature.
The yatra, which began at 9.30 am from the Shahibaug under-bridge on Sunday, travelled through various places in the city. At every place a detailed introduction of a particular famous poet was given followed by a recitation of the poet's works.
Many noted artists and poets like Narayan Desai, president of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, Raghuveer Chaudhri, Chinu Modi, Anilaben Dalal among others had graced the occasion.
They talked about celebrated Gujarati poets like Vali Gujarati, Pinakin Thakore, Sundaram, Umashankar Joshi, Snehrashmi and Nahnalal among a host of many other noted litterateurs.
Talking to DNA, Rajendra Patel, who had conceptualized the whole yatra, said, "It is for the first time in the history of Ahmedabad that an event like this is being organised. We wanted to hold this event at these noted poets' houses or at their memorials. We have achieved what we dreamt of and it brings us immense joy hat we were able to show our gratitude to these late poets."
Veterans like Narayan Desai, Raghuveer Chaudhri and Chinu Modi not only made the whole atmosphere lively, but also informative for all the youngsters when they shared their memories about these late poets.
"Our purpose behind organising this event was to show our gratitude to these poets whose contribution has made our language rich," said Rajendra Patel. Nowadays, people feel that youngsters are not interested in reading, Patel said, adding that the yatra intends to make them aware about Gujaratis rich language and also sensitise them towards their literature. "This is our effort to do our bit in this Heritage Festival," Patel added.
Appreciating the whole idea, Narayan Desai said, "I am really happy that finally something like this is happening in Gujarat. People in other states are much more concerned about saving their language. I have seen lots of efforts undertaken towards celebrating languages like Bengali, Udiya, and Marathi. However, even though we possess very rich language and literature, our new generation doesn't even know about it. Therefore, efforts like this should be made more often. Though I am very happy today but I also know that the yatra has just begun - we have a long journey ahead."
Another similar Yatra will be organised on November 25, at 5 pm from Lambeshvar ni pol in Kalupur.
