Music, poetry, comedy leave V-Day event memorable

SNS, SILIGURI, 21 FEBRUARY 21 : It was a confluence of music, poetry and comedy, and the second edition of 'Pirati Saanjh' lived up to it's name when it managed to keep the audience at Salbari in Siliguri glued to their seats. The occasion was Valentine's Day and artists from Darjeeling. Kalimpong, Kurseong, Mirik, Siliguri and the Dooars joined in the turn to make the event a vibrant and colourful one, especially amid the low spirits brought about by the Covid- 19 pandemic.

The event kicked off with the poster release of the Nepali feature film 'Sang Sangai' written and directed by Shreya Tamang, in the presence of versatile actor, filmmaker and producer Tikkum Sharma, journalist and anchor Mahendra Thapa, actor and anchor Hemraj Baraily, and CEO of Dream-lens Films 'n' Fotoz, Rahul Sambhabi Sinha.

Ganesh Rashik, the legendary musician-author-poet, all the way from Nepal was the guest of honour, even as the event did its best to make a bridge between the veterans and buding young artists.

Veteran poets Gyanendra Khatiwara and Dr Khilanath Sharma, performer poet Raja Puniani, singer, composer and writer Samir Sharma,

English poet, author Srijana Subba, millennial poet Pravat Chiso Rai, poet -cum-filmmaker Pallawib Rai, read out their love poems, followed by some young, energetic, highly creative and budding millennial poets from in and around Darjeeling like Pankaj Shashtri, Pujan Rai, Prabinta Bhujel, Yangrimo Lama, Kritika Sharma, Raju Pokhrel, Anir Tamang aka Darjeelingey, Kancha and Lubina Kritika to name a few.

Noted singer Mahesh Sewa belted out his hits, while the soulful voices of Anamika Mukhia, potential performer and band member of 'Gundruk' band Simon Bhusal, profound singers Neeraj Pradhan and Rajin Shankher left the audience tapping their feet.

To add more fun to the evening, comedy items were presented by talented Zee TV comedy show contestant Sidhant Lama and Sagar Bashist, a member of "Poeti Kosh".

The event was set with the help of venue partner 'Café the Twins' at Salbari, with digital media partners Dream-LensTV and Naachghar. The entire event was streamed live through the Facebook page of Publiknama portal.

"Our motto of "PiratiSaanj" was to echo the mysteriously beautiful and eternal dimension of the human love. Whatever phases the human society passes through, it has always nurtured the all-pervasive emotions of love. Love has always motivated the peoples to live, re-live and create histories of the struggles. We will come up with more of such endeavours in the future. The themes of the various episodes might range from poets' meet to music, book discussions, meetings with the authors and artists and gossips, and flints," said Raja Puniani, Editor-in-Chief of Publiknama and one of the conveners of the show.

Lekha Rai, the owner of Cafe the Twins said, "We have been starving to promote the culture of intellectual activity through our book cafe. Pirati Saanjh 2.0 was a wonderful gathering of some heavyweights and the most promising minds of our times. We would like to imbibe the message of constructive culture of mutual sharing and intellectual exercise through such events."

Luhina Kritika, the millennial poet and editor of Publiknama, and 'love poet*- cum-member of' "PoetiKosh" was a great host during the show.