Legendary Gorkha poet Giri remembered on his birth

SNS, SILIGUR1, 27 DECEMBER 2022: The Sukna Sahityik Sanskritik Sansthan (SSSS), one of the oldest literary-cultural organisations of Sukna near Siliguri observed the 95th birth anniversary of the legendary Gorkha Poet, Agam Singh Giri, amid a literary and cultural event at Sukna today. 

Noted as well as budding poet s recited their poetry and students presented cultural dances at the event, while some poets recited lines from Nachinine Bhayechhaw' and "Yuddha ra Yodhha' penned by Giri. 

The President of the SSSS, Suryamani Sharma, presided over the celebrations, while Ghanshyam Sharma was the Chief Guest, with IS Tamang, Meera Rai and Durgaraj Thapa as the special guests.

The event started with the lighting of the diyo, the traditional lamp, in front of the life-size portrait of poet Girl, an artwork created by Suryamani Sharma.

Founding secretary of the SSSS, Surya Kumar Chettri, was also remembered by the august gathering by lighting the diyo the cultural secretary of the in front of his picture.

JB Basnet, the General Secretary, SSSS, recited Giri's poetry during his welcome speech, while KK Biswakarma, the cultural secretary of the SSSS, presented 'Naulakhey Tara Udaye', the most popular song written by Giri. 

"The audience was further enlightened by the elaborate talk delivered by Professor Meghnath Chettri the literary secretary, SSSS, on the life and works of the fabled poet Giri. He presented some excerpts from Giri's master pieces and shed light on the works and vision of Giri in detail," said the SSSS Secretary (Media), Raja Puniani. 

Mr Puniani also presented excerpts from "Yuddha ra Yoddha' and 'Nachinine Bhayechhaw' before presenting his poetry 'Hastakshep' in the event. He further talked about the relevance of the power-packed works and Identity-philosophy of Giri in contemporary Gorkha society. Navraj Chettri, Ashok Pradhan, Deoraj Sharma, Anura Khawas recited their poetry, while budding poets Sagar Sharma and Menuka Chettri recited Girl's poems. 

Sohini Singh, Sesan Lama and Anushka Subba presented a Nepali cultural dance. 

"Agam Singh Giri is known as the first-ever firebrand poet to highlight the goal of the Gorkha people through literary endeavours.

He is largely recalled by the Gorkha community for fervently engraving the awareness of 'identity' on the social psyche'. He addressed the issue of the 'identity crisis being intensely sensed by the bordering Gorkha community inhabiting India since the British epoch. He appealed to the Gorkha masses to raise their perception to be active to claim the identity misplaced in the multifarious incongruity of Indian and Nepalese political array," Mr Puniani said.