Talk of the Town

It was an event filled with sparkle and joy to brighten the life of a few visually impaired persons. When a group of singers landed at Parikrama Restaurant near Connaught Place here today to have lunch with them, they felt honoured, albeit for a couple of hours.

The lunch was part of an effort to highlight and prove that they are an integral part of society and thus should not be neglected. ``I have supported causes for the handicapped before also,'' said upcoming Indpop singer Gursewak Mann.

While the visually impaired to have a fun-filled day for themselves, Bobby Cash, another star singer revealed that he had been donating blood regularly and was delighted to be at the restaurant.

The other singers and models -- Shankar Sahni, Maninder Mahi and Amit Bhandari -- interacted with the members of the National Association for the Blind (NAB) making them feel special. The event, organised by Empress Club and Parikrama, was described as the beginning of a positive social movement for upliftment of the physically impaired.

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Happenings in the faraway, unapproachable mountains of Kargil last year left an indelible impression on the mind of the legendary writer Amrita Pritam.

Such was the intensity of her emotions that she penned down her feelings, and her work spoke of the pain she experienced during the Kargil conflict and the conditions prevailing in India after that. Reading out from her poem after receiving the Shatabdi Punjabi Kavi Samman conferred on her by the Punjabi Academy of the Delhi Government this week, Amrita Pritam said ``...friends, the season's unhappiness had stretched for too long, pray that the coming season is pleasant.''

Friends, here, included people of both countries. ``I have translated the works of three Pakistani writers into Hindi because they talk of peace, friendship and love which is the need of the hour,'' she said.

Amrita Pritam, who became known for her immortal words, ``Aj Akhha Waris Shah nu...'' was the first Punjabi writer to be conferred the Jnanpith Award. A highly decorated writer, she has to her credit 150 books, many of which have been translated into as many as 30 different languages.

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``I do not think I have brought about a renaissance in Indian culture. It is nature following its own cycle,'' says eminent film-maker Ramanand Sagar who has now come up with another mythological serial, ``Jai Mahalakshmi''.

Ten years ago, when his epic serial Ramayan was telecast over Doordarshan, it created history and also attracted its fair share of criticism. ``There are so many mythological serials on television today and young people are walking with their collars up upholding Indian culture in all parts of the globe,'' he observes.

Here in the Capital recently to preside over the inauguration of ``Foundation for Promotion of Natural Products'', Dr. Sagar revealed that when he started Ramayan, he was worried how he will stand up to the challenge. ``I met a seer who told me there is planning commission `above' and it has been planned that this globe will have spiritual renaissance. He asked me to do the preliminary work.''

Pointing out that he was just a ``flower of that spring'', Dr. Sagar says: ``A day will come when my small stream will become a running river.''

-- (Contributed by K.Kannan and Aarti Dhar)

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