Other States - Orissa   

Akademi celebrations turn into a flop show

BHUBANESWAR: The much-awaited golden jubilee celebration of the Orissa Sahitya Akademi turned out to be a lack-lustre affair on Wednesday. With three politicians and two bureaucrats and just one writer on dais as guests, the scene endorsed the impression of the Jnanapitha awardee and celebrated writer Sitakant Mohapatra that the Akademi functions as one of the departments of the Government.

While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who inaugurated the event, was representing the Government, the large body of writers who assembled questioned the wisdom of having the Finance Minister, Culture Minister, State Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Culture as guests too. “Hosts were the guests here”, was their unanimous remark.

The Chief Minister arrived at the venue more than an hour behind the schedule, forcing scores of senior citizens and litterateurs to stand as there were no proper sitting arrangements and Akademi Vice-President Mr.Hussain Rabi Gandhi’s long speech eulogizing the ministers and bureaucrats on the plea of introducing them disappointed the gathering.

“We were not here to listen about the ministers and bureaucrats but about our litterateurs. Could they not invite a few more eminent writers?" wondered a number of invitees.

The proceedings of the meeting took an ugly turn when eminent writer Mr. Manoj Das was disturbed by Culture Minister Mr.Surya Narayan Patro’s discussion with the Chief Minister on dais, while the writer was addressing the gathering. “Mr. Minister, attention please! I can’t speak well when disturbed,” was the appeal of the Pondicherry-based celebrated Oriya writer. Much to the disappointment of the gathering, the Chief Minister made no announcements for the Akademi on the occasion.

“There will be a golden jubilee hall in the capital and 50 books will be published by the Akademi to mark the occasion”, was the only the announcement by Mr. Patnaik, but it was already made public by the officials on earlier occasions. There was no scope for an interaction among the writers who were invited for the celebration.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Little scientist shows how to generate vibrations
‘Terrific Trio’ launched
15 BPUT students held, freed
Akademi celebrations turn into a flop show
Meet held on land acquisition
NABARD to finance Ghatakeswar project
Medico’s suicide in Cuttack triggers row
BDA to take up maintenance of streetlights
Rain toll mounts to 22 in State
CPI(M) comes down heavily on State

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu