Urdu Hindi Pluralism poetry session on June 29, 2013 - Summary Report

Urdu Hindi Pluralism poetry session on June 29, 2013 - Summary Report  and Pictures.

URL - http://urduhindimushaeraonpluralism.blogspot.com/2013/11/urdu-hindi-pluralism-poetry-session-on.html

Urdu-Hindi Musha’era is a purposeful event to build cohesive societies.  Indeed, it is our individual and collective responsibility to create societies where no one has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other.

We appreciate you, the donors, individuals, volunteers and poets  for your  support in seeding the idea of pluralism in Urdu/Hindi languages at this time . This is one small step in our approach to life through the medium of poetry, and hopefully it will be a giant leap for the Urdu/Hindi speaking mankind in bringing about a positive change.

Poetry is a major part of Urdu/Hindi speaking population in India and Pakistan and touches every one through songs, Mushaeras and Kavi Sammelans. We can become propellers of the change and plant the seeds that will become trees and bear fruit and shade in a generation or two.

Urdu-Hindi is the most commonly understood language among the Desis in the world, who form nearly 5th of the world population, and as individuals, many of us feel a sense of duty to serve our people, hence this program.

A total of 25 items will be presented in the session, and the overlap of poetry on the themes is natural, as it is the first time such a focus is given, but it will be spiced up with powerful anecdotes to make the whole program purposeful and meaningful.

Event sequence and a few pictures:
---------------------------
When: Saturday, June 29
Time: 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Theme: Pluralism
Where: Richardson Civic Center
Address: 411 W. Arapaho Road,
City: Richardson, TX 75080
-----------------------------

Panel introduction

Dr. Qaiser Abbas -Chair
Dr. Raghunath Singh
Ms. Shabnam Modgil

Organizer - MC
Mike Ghouse

Organizing team

A G Chini, 
Amin Tirmizi, 
Anand Punjabi, 
Dr. Harbans Lal, 
Irfan Ali, 
Javed Gill, 
Noor Amrohvi

Donors

Dr. Basheer Ahmed
Shri DD Maini 
Anand Punjabi
Farooq Wazir Ali
Irfan Ali 
Javed Rashid 
Javed Samuell Gill
Mani Rahman  
Mike Ghouse 
Dr. Qaiser Abbas 
Dr. Shamsa Qureshi

Budget

$2,500.00 Planned
$1,900.00 Collected
$0,600.00 Not collected
$1,600.00 Spent
$0,300.00 Surplus for Next Mushaera
* Book was not published 

Volunteers

Live broadcaster: FunAsia
Photographer: Zia Khan
Filmmaker:  Vijay Gurow
Registration – Dr. Kundawala
Tea/Snacks – Anand Punjabi and friends
Snacks - Fun Asia

FIRST SEGMENT OF THE POETRY

Our friends will share about Pluralism and recite the poetry written by famous poets around the world on Pluralism

Dr. Amer Suleman - Defining Pluralism in Urdu
Anand Punjabi - Defining Pluralism in Hindi
AG Chini -  Bollywood Pluralism

Shri D. D. Maini - Opening with Nazir Akbar Abadi's couplets
Dr. Harbans Lal - Poem by Dr. Teja Singh
Fateh Ali Chetur - Poem by Ashok Chakradhar
Dr. Raj Kumar - Poetry by Dr. B. D. Kalia Humdum
Kundan Sharma - Dilip Kumar- Raj Sharma story

Reciting their own poetry:

Anad Punjabi 
Ahmed Rahi  
Dr. Harbans Lal
Javed Rashid
Javed Samuell Gill
Dr. Shamsa Qureshi
Rehmat Raza
Shah Alam Siddiqi
Zohra Chisti
Mike Ghouse

SECOND SEGMENT OF THE POETRY

D. D. Maini
Dr. Basheer Ahmed
Dr. Raghunath Singh

Acknowledged their poetry
Dr. Ravi Kumar Rosho - India
Dr. Taj Hashmi - Tennessee
Hillol Ray

Senior Poets (not in age, but in poetry)
Naheed Shad
Noor Amrohvi
Saeed Qureshi
Tariq Hashemi
Younus Ijaz

Panelist Remarks
Shabnam Modgil
Dr. Qaiser Abbas - Sadr-e-Mehfil

Mike Ghouse - take home message 
Conflict mitigation
Gift of Language v horns and fangs
Foundation for Pluralism

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PHOTOGRAPHS ARE RANDOMLY PLACED
AND NOT IN ANY SEQUENCE

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO FOR LARGER VERSION

Dr. Qaiser Abbas

Dr. Amer Suleman

Urdu Poet Tariq Hashemi

Hindi Teacher Anand Punjabi

Hindi Radio Programmer A. G. Chini

Kundan Sharma - Radio Programmer

Urdu Poet Dr. Harbans Lal

Urdu Poet: Dr. Shamsa Qureshi

Hindi Poet Fateh Ali Chetur

Urdu Poet Dr. Raj Kumar

Urdu Poet Ahmed Rahi

Urdu Poet Shah Alam

Hindi Poet Javed Rasheed

Urdu Poet - Javed Gill

Hindi/ Urdu Poet - Zohra Chisti

Organizer -Mike Ghouse

Urdu Paristar - Shri D D Maini

Hindi/Urdu writer Dr. Raghu Nath Sing

Urdu Poet - Noor Amrohvi

                                                        UrduPoet - Rahmat Reza

Urdu Poet - Nahid Shad

 

Urdu Poet - Saeed Qureshi

Urdu Poet - Younuz Ijaz

                                        Hindi/Urdu Radio Broadcaster Shabnam Modgil

Acknowledgement of pioneers (Desi Alphabetical-Duplication in category removed)

Amina Ismail, Arvind Singh, Baba Fazlur Rahman, Irfan Ali,  Jasbeer Kaur, Jyothi Mallick, Manju Bansal, Majeed Jaami, Najma Ghouse, Nandlal Singh, Nishi Bhatia, Qamar Naqvi,  Sarwar Alam Raz,  Shoket Qadri, Syed Ilyas and …

Urdu Hindi Poets of Dallas (Desi Alphabetical)

Dr. Amanullah Khan, Amer Suleman, Amin Tirmazi, Anand Punjabi, Ahmed Rahi, Dr. Harbans Lal,  Iqbal Hyder, Javed Rasheed,   Karamat Gardezi, Masooq Qazi, Nadir Durrani, Naheed Shad,  Noor Amrohvi,  Owais Nasir, Qaisar Abbas, Qutub Ali,  Rajiv Chakarvarthi, Rehmat Raza, Saeed Qureshi, Shah Alam Siddiqi, Tariq Hashmi, Yunus Ejaz, Zohra Chisti, 

Urdu Hindi Radio Personalities (Desi Alphabetical)

Aamir Askari, Aditiya Singh, Ambreen Hasnat, AG Chini,  Asha Ram, Anjum Anwar, Azad,  Farrukh Hamid,  John Hammond,  Kundan Sharma, Mike Ghouse, Monicca Kolluri, Pervaz Malik, Rehan Siddiqi,  Rekha Gajaria, Samson Masih,  Sandhya Sarma, Seema Malik,  Shabnam Modgil, Sharriq Hamid, Shazia Khan, Syed Talib, Tamim Shipchandler

An effort was made to make the list comprehensive and complete, we placed the names we knew and recommended.


Some day, we will publish the poetry of all the poets.... time and funds permitting. 

NEXT MUSHAERA/SAMMELAN


Saturday, March 29, 2014
Managed by: Saeed Qureshi Saheb and Younus Ijaz Saheb
-----------------

Thank youmike
Mike Ghouse, President
Foundation for Pluralism
..............................................................................
Studies in Religious Pluralism and Pluralistic societies
2665 Villa Creek Dr, suite 206, Dallas, TX 75234
Workshops | Radio Shows | Seminars | Lectures

If we can learn to respect the otherness of others, and accept the God-given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. Pluralism is respecting the otherness of others.

Great thanks to poets, speakers, audience, sponsors, volunteers and supporters of the Urdu Hindi poetry session on pluralism

Thanks to the audience, participants, poets, speakers, organizers, sponsors, volunteers and panelists for their effort, support, enthusiasm and the energy to stay through the event.  The program did start ten minutes ahead of time at 7:50 PM,  and closed at 11:30 PM as scheduled. With your support we can regain the tradition of respecting the time and starting and closing the Mushaeras/ Sammelans on time.  

URL - http://urduhindimushaeraonpluralism.blogspot.com/2013/06/great-thanks-to-poets-speakers-audience.html

We thank each one of you for making this program successful in sowing the seeds of pluralism in our thoughts, minds, and consciously making it a part of our thinking in our day to day life. It is a good beginning, and a small step in respecting the otherness of others, but a giant leap for the those who always had their hearts open, but had not found a medium to express it. Indeed, the air was filled with the energy of pluralism. We applaud you for taking this step. 

The documentary on the Pluralism in poetry, the pictures, the reports and the book will be out as soon as possible.  We missed doing the interviews for the documentary, and we will do that after July 4th. Let us know if you can make it.

If you have a poetry that reflects Pluralism in culture, politics, religion, society, customs, familial relationships and other aspects of life, please share, some of it will go into the book and some to the website. Your esteemed comments and hope will make it to the book and the site.

Pluralism is simply an attitude of respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God given uniqueness of each one of us.  It is about doing our share of work in creating societies where no one has to be nervous, apprehensive or fearful of the others. 

If any one of you is planning to write a report about the program, we will share it here on this site at this time. You are welcome to write your comments here.

Dr. Qaisar Abbas will be writing a report. His opening and closing statements were incredible, and reflected the ideals of this poetry session, he addressed the nature and purpose of the program and had summarized it very well. Dr. Raghunath Singh' scholarly study on Pluralism was exciting to hear, it is the same energy being reflected in research as well as the common man's life - to communicate and get along. Shabnam Modgil's poem that she starts her daily Radio program is pluralistic indeed. We thank the panelists for their wisdom. I will be compiling the report as well, this is the initial report. 

Our team's enthusiasm and moral support for each other is worth emulating. Each one of us contributed to the success of the event, and we need to thank each other for the support.

The most exciting thing for me personally was that our esteemed poets focused and wrote on the theme, it’s not only here in Dallas, but Dr. Kalia Humdum, a Pakistani Canadian, Dr. Teja Singh from India wrote incredible poetry. Fateh Ali Chatur delivered Dr. Chakradhar poem flawlessly. Dr. Hashmi, Hillol Ray and Dr. Rosho's poems were mentioned but will be included in the booklet. As an MC of the program,  I could not include Nishi Bhatia’s poem due to the flow of the program, indeed, I skipped many of the anecdotes I wanted to share about Pluralism. All the poets were incredible.

Our long term plan is make this theme to become a household theme in the next ten years. One day, it will be reflected in the movie songs, Kavi Sammelans' and Mushaera's - and gradually germinate into other languages. A decade from now, you can take pride in seeding a thought that you invested in nurturing a culture of inclusiveness, co-existence and pluralism. Would you be willing to propagate this idea, and willing to spend your time? 

Who does not want to live in a world where there is less conflicts and acceptance of each other for whatever we look like, talk like, wear like, believe like? Shouldn't we do something about it? Here is one such small step that you can do on your own or join us in walking together.

Everyone on the list spoke except Dr. Basheer Ahmed, and we will have him write for all of us to hear him out, its a great anecdote.  Dr. Shamsa Qureshi's inclusion was not planned but accidental and was good. My poetry would not have been read, had we not managed our time effectively. There were two of our friend poets who wanted to recite in the last minute, but I guess they did not realize we had finalized the program a week ahead of the date and there was simply no room to add them, unless we dropped someone, and that would have been the wrong thing to do. Everyone in the town was asked to participate, not once, but at least thrice and a few over 7 times on the theme, and thank everyone who wrote the poetry and spoke on Pluralism.

We also thank Naheed Shad, she is the one of the four poets and speakers in this entire program who did what she said she would do without follow up, the other three are Saeed Qureshi, Shah Alam Qureshi and Fateh Ali Chatur with two follow ups each. If there was no information with the name on the slide presentation,  it was because we failed in getting the information.  We have made at least seven follow ups to every one, and only one call to Naheed. We appreciate this and honor you, Mrs. Naheed Shad for respecting our call and ask you to be on the Panel in the next Mushaera with a special permission in behalf of our team.

We thank the sponsors (Desi alphabetical order):  Dr. Basheer Ahmed, Shri DD Maini, Desi Roots school of Indian Music and Hindi by Anand Punjabi,  FunAsia Center -  in Kind, Irfan Ali, Javed Rashid, Javed Samuell Gill, Rashid Jetpuri, Mani Rahman of Rahman Financials, Mike  Ghouse, Dr. Qaisar Abbas, Syed Moeenuddin. We have collected a sum of $ 1525 v projected expenses $2000. To complete the book and documentary, we need more funding. All the funding over $100.00 will be listed in the book as supporters.

We encourage you to donate at: http://americatogetherfoundation.com/donate/
Foundation for Pluralism is a part of the America Together Foundation.

Thank God, every one delivered the message beautifully - and it was a delight to observe and admire the humility in our poets, each one of them was focused on sharing his or her message.

My apologies for not following the Mushaera/ Sammelan tradition to the letter, as I was focused on the message. Next time around, we have to increase poet/speaker's time to 6 minutes and plan on fewer items, and hope to do the program in two and a half hours with 20 items. It will be on time. 

Thanks to FunAsia for the live broadcast, tea and pakoras, thanks to Zia Khan for the pictures and thanks to Vijay Gurow for filming the event. Thanks to AG Chini and Amin Tirmizi for the interview on their shows and thanks to Shabnam for the announcements on FunAsia Radio.

We thank John Hammond, Farrukh Hamid and Shabnam Modgil of FunAsia for their dream to bring the communities together, indeed that is a similar to the dream of all of us - bringing the communities together, getting along, minding our own business and doing our share of good. 

Above all thanks to the audience, whose presence was mighty encouragement to us, they sat through the end of the program. I have the registration information and will send them an email to thank them.

We thank the following poets, speakers, sponsors, volunteers and organizers.

1. Dr. Qaisar Abbas
2. Dr. Raghunath Singh
3. Shabnam Modgil
4. AG Chini
5. Amin Tirmizi
6. Anand Punjabi
7. Dr. Harbans Lal
8. Irfan Ali
9. Javed Samuell Gill
10. Noor Amrohvi
11. Dr. Basheer Ahmed
12. Shri D D Maini
13. FunAsia
14. Javed Rashid
15. Mani Rahman
16. Farooq Wazir Ali
17. Syed Moeenuddin
18. Zia Khan
19. Vijay Gurow
20. Dr. Kundawala
21. Amer Suleman
22. Dr. RajKumar
23. Dr. Teja Singh
24. Ashok Chakradhar
25. Fatehali Chatur
26. Dr. B. D. Kalia Humdum
27. Ahmed Rahi
28. Rehmat Raza
29. Kundan Sharma
30. Shah Alam Siddiqui
31. Zohra Chisti
32. Dr. Taj Hashimi
33. Dr. Ravi Kumar Rosho
34. Hillol Ray
35. Naheed Shad
36. Saeed Qureshi
37. Tariq Hashmi
38. Younus Ijaz

. . . . .

A big thank you from the team, if you could, please share your comments here at  this link:

http://urduhindimushaeraonpluralism.blogspot.com/2013/06/great-thanks-to-poets-speakers-audience.html#comment-form

The team: Dr. Qaisar Abbas, Dr. Raghunath Singh, Shabnam Modgil, Irfan Ali, Amin Tirmizi, AG Chini, Dr. Harbans Lal, Anand Punjabi, Noor Amrohvi, Javed Samuell Gill and Mike Ghouse

URDU-HINDI Poetry on Pluralism by Dallas Morning News & Huffington Post

Urdu-Hindi is the most commonly understood language among the Desis, or South Asians, according to Mike Ghouse, president of the America Together Foundation. To promote understanding of the language and also to come up with an Urdu-Hindi word for pluralism, Ghouse is holding a program on “Pluralism: Urdi-Hindi Poetry” from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Richardson Civic Center, 411 W. Arapaho Road.

FunAsia will broadcast the event live and filmmakers will tape the event for a documentary. Ghouse also plans to publish a booklet with poetry on pluralism from the event. To learn more, call 214-325-1916 or visit urduhindimushaeraonpluralism.blogpot.com.

>>>>>> Dallas Morning news 

 http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/deborah-fleck/20130626-hindu-american-foundation-to-hold-membership-drive-dinner.ece

>>>>>> Huffington post Also carried the story. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/goddess-saraswati-statue-_b_3460615.html

<<<<<< NOTE: This link also contains info about Hindu America foundation, they were first introduced in dallas by the us eight  years ago in a program called shanti-shanti bringing all the seven Hindu temples together. It was on June 17, 2005. Report and pictures at : http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Shanti-Shanti_2005Report.asp

>>>>>> More details below http://urduhindimushaeraonpluralism.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-purposeful-event-urdu-hindi-mushaera.html

A purposeful poetry session in Hindi-Urdu languages on Pluralism

It is a purposeful event to build cohesive societies where no one has to live in apprehension or fear of the other. At this point in time, it is merely a small step in planting the seeds of harmony in our approach to life through the medium of poetry, but it is a giant leap for the Urdu-Hindi speaking communities, nearly a fourth of the world population.

This is the final announcement, all the previous announcements are superseded by this announcement. No other information is valid, other than in this link:

URL - http://urduhindimushaeraonpluralism.blogspot.com/2013/06/a-purposeful-poetry-session-in-hindi.html

25 items will be presented in the session on the theme of pluralism, along with anecdotes to make the whole program meaningful. 

When: Saturday, June 29, 2013
Time: 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Theme: Pluralism
Languages: Hindustani, i.e., Urdu and Hindi
Refreshments: Tea and Pakoras

Where: Richardson Civic Center
Address: 411 W. Arapaho Road,
City: Richardson, TX 75080
Site: http://UrduHindiMushaeraonPluralism.blogspot.com
Limited seating, RSVP : ConfirmAttendance@gmail.com

Program team: Desi alphabetical order: A G Chini, Amin Tirmazi, Anand Punjabi, Dr. Harbans Lal, Irfan Ali, Javed Gill, Mike Ghouse, Noor Amrohvi,  Dr. Qaiser Abbas and Dr. Raghunath Singh. 

Official 
Live broadcaster: FunAsia 
Photographer: Zia Khan 
Filmmaker:  Vijay Gurow

Live web broadcast:  for audience outside of Dallas/ Fort Worth Metroplex by FunAsia, and as such, we will start on time. We request you to be on time.


Documentary: this event will be filmed, edited and shaped as a documentary on pluralism

Book : A booklet with the poetry on pluralism will also be published after the event, subject to funding. 

Sponsors:  Dr. Basheer Ahmed, Shri DD Maini, Desi Roots school of Indian Music and Hindi language classes by Anand Punjabi,  Farooq Wazir Ali, FunAsia Center, Irfan Ali, Javed Samuell Gill, Mani Rahman of Rahman Financials,  Mike Ghouse, Dr. Qaiser Abbas,  and you... 

Budget: Under $2000

Copy of Film and Book:  if you wish to receive a copy of each, please donate the amount to defray the cost of printing and shipping at http://americatogetherfoundation.com/donate/ 

Website:  If we receive enough donations, or some one sponsors, a website will be organized to communicate pluralism in Urdu and Hindi languages in three scripts - Roman English, Hindi and Urdu.   

Long term Plan: It is a ten year plan, we hope that the theme will become a common household theme in the years to come. One day, it will be reflected in most movie songs, Kavi Sammelans' and Mushaera's - and gradually germinate into other languages. A decade from now, you can take pride in seeding a thought that you invested in nurturing a culture of inclusiveness, co-existence and pluralism. Would you be willing to propagate this idea? 

Who does not want to live in a world where there is less conflicts and more acceptance? Shouldn't we do something about it? Here is one such small step. 

HOUSE RULES

A. Be on time
B. No conversations when poets are reciting or speaking
C. No stepping out or in when the poet is reciting his or her poetry
D. No edibles inside the hall, except bottle water
E. Program is divided into two segments with a 10 minutes break in between
F. All the poets will keep within the time limit
G. You are welcome to wear your traditional clothing of any region
H. The program is being broadcasted live and filmed as well.
I. Please keep your cell phone on vibration, if it is critical walk out and talk.
J. Just respect others time by being on time and respect others need to be quiet.

Thank you

This is an initiative of America Together Foundation and Foundation for Pluralism committed to building cohesive societies. Thank you.

Mike Ghouse, President
America Together Foundation
2665 Villa Creek Dr, Suite 206
Dallas, TX 75234
(214) 325-1916

A purposeful event - Urdu Hindi Mushaera on Pluralism in Dallas

Urdu-Hindi Musha’era is a purposeful event to build cohesive societies where no one has to live in apprehension or fear of the other. At this point in time, it is merely a small step in planting the seeds of harmony in our approach to life through the medium of poetry.

Urdu-Hindi is the most commonly understood language among the Desis in the world, who form nearly 4^th of the world population, and as individuals, many of us feel a sense of duty to serve our people, hence this program.

A total of 25 items will be presented in the session, and the overlap of poetry on the themes is natural, as it is the first time such focus is given, but it will be spiced up with powerful anecdotes to make the whole program purposeful and meaningful.

For More details please scroll down for six other postings.

Richardson Civic Center, Richardson
Saturday, June 29, 2013 – 7:00- 11:30 PM
http://UrduHindiMushaeraonPluralism.blogspot.com

1. EVENT MENTIONED IN HUFFINGTON POST http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/goddess-saraswati-statue-_b_3460615.html#es_share_ended
2. BARELY MENTIONED IN DALLAS MORNING NEWS http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/06/texas-faith-are-interfaith-marriages.html

Action items:

• Limited seating, serious rsvp is a must: confirmattendance@gmail.com
  
  
• We will start the program on time, if you are too late, please stay home.
  
  
• There will be a few house rules to follow for the maximum pleasure of those who want to live in their own imaginative world during the program.
  
  
• The whole program will be filmed, edited and presented as a documentary available to the public. However, we have 20 reserved seats for those who do not want to be in eye of the camera. Our official film maker is Vijay Gurow, photographer is Zia Khan, and live broadcaster is FunAsia.
  
  
•  We are looking for a sponsor for Chai, Coffee, and snacks vnacks.
  
  
• Depending on the funds, we do plan to have a full blown website in Urdu and Hindi dedicated to the subject of Pluralism.
  
  
• If you wish to donate, the funds will go to mail out books to active poets in Urdu-Hindi languages. If each you want to sponsor mailing of 10 books to people of your choice, you are welcome to donate at :  http://americatogetherfoundation.com/donate/

Noor Amrohvi, Javed Samuell Gill, AG Chini, Anand Punjabi, Amin Tirmazi, Irfan Ali and Mike Ghouse (214) 325-1916