Journalism of Courage
The eighth edition of the Pulotsav Festival kicked off on Monday at the Tilak Smarak Mandir. Held in memory of renowned Marathi author and humourist PL Deshpande,the 10-day festival will comprise various cultural programmes held across four centres – Ramanbaug School,Tilak Smarak Mandir,NFAI,and Pathfinder. Movie screenings,a book festival and an interaction with activist Sindhutai Sapkal will be organised as part of the event.
Virendra Chitrav set the ball rolling with a short speech about Pulotsav,after which the traditional lighting of the lamp was held. Singer Arun Date,who was the chief guest at the inaugural function,in a discussion with Jayshree Natu,talked about his familys association with Deshpande,or Pu La as he was fondly addressed. My family has had a long-standing relationship with Pu La. My father was a great connoisseur of music,and he used to often invite Pu La to our family home in Indore, said Date.
Date narrated an anecdote of how his musical talents were noticed. I was driving with Kumar Gandharva when I was tapping the steering wheel to a rhythm. Gandharva immediately took me under his wing,and thus became my first guru. And Pu La was the first person to listen to me singing, he said.
Date,who is in the 50th year of his singing career,said a special CD,for private circulation only,has been compiled on the occasion. The audience were also treated to a rare recording of Pu La talking about Dates singing. Date later sang a few verses of a ghazal composed by Behzad Lakhnavi,after which the 10 finalists of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs performed a few songs.
On Tuesday,a play Khidkya will be staged at the Tilak Smarak Mandir,which will be preceded by ND Mahanore being felicitated with the Pu La Memorial Award.
