Saturday, December 17, 2022

Making a life and not living should be the purpose, says Gurcharan Das



-       2nd day of the Chandigarh Lit Fest, Literati, begins with keynote address by celebrated author Gurcharan Das

-       Poetry, Politics, and Propaganda in Media dominate the discussions at Literati

-       

Poetry, politics and propaganda in media remained in focus on the 2nd day of the Literati 2022, the 10th edition of Chandigarh Lit Fest today at the Lake Club.

Dr Sumita Misra, chairperson of Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) and the Festival Director of Literati, delved on the 10 years meaningful journey of the CLS over the year and celebration of literature, and the harmony it spreads.

Celebrated best-selling author and former CEO of Procter & Gambles, Gurcharan Das in his keynote address traced his life's journey from making a living to making a life, which, according to him, should be the purpose of life, which, he averred, should be the duty of every parent and every teacher to inculcate in the young generation.

Making a life was his father's philosophical guidance right from the age four when he entered the school for the first time, and later at Harvard he chose to study literature and philosophy much to the dismay of his mother.

Gurcharan Das joined P&G to sell Vicks and rose to become the CEO of the company while at the same time, he started writing plays which were performed at Broadways in US, which led him to further explore the joy of writing that inspired him to move from 'making a living' to the process of 'making a life'.

He shared the intrinsic concept of his earlier writings that explored the 'purusharth', the three aspects of our life, i.e. 'artha', 'dharma' and 'kama'. My next book, he informed, would now explore the 'moksha', which would be dealing not with spiritual freedom but the liberation from general discontentment and disillusionment and what he calls, as "defective human conditions". Resulting from man's bondage with ego, envy and greed.

Later, the panel comprising Dr Surjit Pattar, Rana Selvi, Peerzada Syed Altamash Nizami, in conversation with Affan Yesvi explored the sufi and mystical influences on Indian literature and the bhakti movement that advocated the univesalism and oneness of human existence.  The expert panelists quoted extensively from various authors of ancient times who celebrated this oneness and the deep devotion to losing one's being into the divine.  Dr Surjit Patasr also spoke about the role of music that is visible in many ancient scriptures including gurbani, Persian and urdu literary works of Hussain and Bulle Shah, who celebrate this oneness. .

Later Dr Lakhvinder Johal in his conversation with eminent Dr. Surjit Patar talked about his writing journey and his love for poetry, which, he said, was inspired by the old Panjabi fables which were like 'haikus' and the poetic structure of those fables and teasers/puzzles.

In another panel Shally Vij talked about 'Anubhuti: Boltey Maun' with Chairman of Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi and prolific writer Madhav Kaushik and Bittu Sabeena Sandhu, with Balpreet conversed with Dr Harshali Singh, Mohua Chinappa and Richa Lakhera in the session "Of Man, Media & Modernity".

The sessions concluded with Azhar Iqbal's rendition of Urdu ghazals.Making a life and not living should be the purpose, says Gurcharan Das

-       2nd day of the Chandigarh Lit Fest, Literati, begins with keynote address by celebrated author Gurcharan Das

-       Poetry, Politics, and Propaganda in Media dominate the discussions at Literati

-       

Chandigarh, 17 December:  Poetry, politics and propaganda in media remained in focus on the 2nd day of the Literati 2022, the 10th edition of Chandigarh Lit Fest today at the Lake Club.

Dr Sumita Misra, chairperson of Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) and the Festival Director of Literati, delved on the 10 years meaningful journey of the CLS over the year and celebration of literature, and the harmony it spreads.

Celebrated best-selling author and former CEO of Procter & Gambles, Gurcharan Das in his keynote address traced his life's journey from making a living to making a life, which, according to him, should be the purpose of life, which, he averred, should be the duty of every parent and every teacher to inculcate in the young generation.

Making a life was his father's philosophical guidance right from the age four when he entered the school for the first time, and later at Harvard he chose to study literature and philosophy much to the dismay of his mother.

Gurcharan Das joined P&G to sell Vicks and rose to become the CEO of the company while at the same time, he started writing plays which were performed at Broadways in US, which led him to further explore the joy of writing that inspired him to move from 'making a living' to the process of 'making a life'.

He shared the intrinsic concept of his earlier writings that explored the 'purusharth', the three aspects of our life, i.e. 'artha', 'dharma' and 'kama'. My next book, he informed, would now explore the 'moksha', which would be dealing not with spiritual freedom but the liberation from general discontentment and disillusionment and what he calls, as "defective human conditions". Resulting from man's bondage with ego, envy and greed.

Later, the panel comprising Dr Surjit Pattar, Rana Selvi, Peerzada Syed Altamash Nizami, in conversation with Affan Yesvi explored the sufi and mystical influences on Indian literature and the bhakti movement that advocated the univesalism and oneness of human existence.  The expert panelists quoted extensively from various authors of ancient times who celebrated this oneness and the deep devotion to losing one's being into the divine.  Dr Surjit Patasr also spoke about the role of music that is visible in many ancient scriptures including gurbani, Persian and urdu literary works of Hussain and Bulle Shah, who celebrate this oneness. .

Later Dr Lakhvinder Johal in his conversation with eminent Dr. Surjit Patar talked about his writing journey and his love for poetry, which, he said, was inspired by the old Panjabi fables which were like 'haikus' and the poetic structure of those fables and teasers/puzzles.

In another panel Shally Vij talked about 'Anubhuti: Boltey Maun' with Chairman of Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi and prolific writer Madhav Kaushik and Bittu Sabeena Sandhu, with Balpreet conversed with Dr Harshali Singh, Mohua Chinappa and Richa Lakhera in the session "Of Man, Media & Modernity".

The sessions concluded with Azhar Iqbal's rendition of Urdu ghazals. 

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