Art and Culture

Vasant Utsav by PKF to welcome spring was an ode to late kathak exponent Birju Maharaj

by Trans World Features | @twfindia 03 Mar 2022, 12:48 pm

Spring blooms a smile in Nature. Spring blooms joy in the human heart. Theres a fragrance of happiness all around. Green, red, orange, yellow, pink, blue, and violet the abundance of colours during spring calls for a celebration with song and dance.

Prabha Khaitan Foundation along with Hindi Hai Hum-Dainik Jagran recently organized Vasant Utsav  on Feb 20 to celebrate the colourful vibrancy of the spring season with mesmerizing and fragrant performances of eminent artists, musicians and dancers.

Few Ehsaas women graced the sessions. The inaugural session of Vasant Utsav, presented by Shree Cement, was dedicated to the fond remembrance of Kathak maestro, Late Pandit Birju Maharaj, by his family members.

The inaugural session unfurled the joy of spring to our eminent audience.

Veteran classical singer of Banaras Gharana Padma Bhushan Pandit Sajan Mishra gave a wonderful musical presentation post-conversation with dancer Shinjini Kulkarni, granddaughter of Pandit Birju Maharaj and Ehsaas woman of Delhi-NCR. The session continued with the musical performance of Swaransh Mishra, son of Pandit Sajjan Mishra and mesmerizing performance by Shinjini Kulkarni.

Author Yatindra Mishra, a notable author and poet, had a lovely interaction with notable singers of India in the fascinating sessions of Vasant Utsav. Padma Bhushan Sharda Sinha, Padma Shri Malini Awasthi, Sunanda Sharma, and Vidya Shah enriched everyone with their conversations and musical renditions that celebrated the season of spring.

In the second session, singer Vidya Shah spoke about the tradition of spring in South India and also reflected on the relationship between artists and the ragas. She made the session captivating with a mellifluous rendition of spring.

Sharda Sinha, a Padma Bhushan recipient, fondly remembered Pandit Birju Maharaj Ji in the third session. She told that she used to learn dance in her childhood.  She sang and recited the lyrics of Manipuri dance in the memory of Maharaj ji. Her rendition of Maithili songs was captivating because it underlined the importance of Vasant Ritu.

In the fourth session, Banaras Gharana singer Sunanda Sharma captivated the audience with her singing. She remembered her guru Girija Devi while talking about the ragas and traditions of Vasant Ritu in Hindi songs.

The fifth session of Vasant Utsav was graced by folk singer Malini Awasthi, a Padma Shri recipient.  Malini Awasthi discussed several ragas related to the spring season. She also outlined the singing tradition of India.

Apra Kuchhal conducted the entire program.

Apra Kuchhal, Honorary Convenor of Prabha Khaitan Foundation Rajasthan & Central India Affairs, conducted the entire program. Amidst the songs and ragas of Vasant, Ehsaas Women recited poems written on Vasant Ritu by eminent poets. Ehsaas is an initiative of Prabha Khaitan Foundation. Women who are associated with Ehsaas work to strengthen art & culture in different cities.

Ehsaas woman of Dehradun, Pooja Marwah recited the poem of Suryakant Tripathi Nirala ‘Abhi Na Hoga Mera Aant’.

Garima Tiwari, Ehsaas Woman of Bilaspur recited poetry of Harivansh Rai Bachchan dedicated to spring. Kanak Rekha Chauhan, Ehsaas Woman of Lucknow, sang the poem of Gopal Das Neeraj ‘Aaj Vasant ki Raat Mein’ and Vedula Ramalakshmi, Ehsaas woman of Bilaspur, recited a poem by poet Kedarnath Agarwal. Anvita Pradhan, Ehsaas Woman of Patna, recited Hafeez Jalandhari's poem 'Lo Phir Vasant Aai'. Deepa Mishra, Ehsaas Woman of Lucknow, recited the poem of Subhadra Kumari Chauhan titled ‘Veeron Ka Kaisa Ho Vasant’.

Dancer Dona Ganguly, Ehsaas woman of Kolkata, celebrated spring and concluded Vasant Utsav, jointly organized by Prabha Khaitan Foundation and Dainik Jagran, with her magical dance performance.

Vasant Utsav struck a chord in every heart that rejoices in spring!

Image: Birju Maharaj/Wikipedia Creative Commons