Poet says state ignoring Marathi

Mahanor was inaugurating the 83rd Marathi Sahitya Sammelan,which will continue till Sunday,here.

Sammelan president D B alias Da Bhi Kulkarni,Power Minister and Pune Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar and MP Suresh Kalmadi shared the dais at the function.

Mahanor urged Pawar to look into raising institutions for preserving culture. He said,if a Pawar looks into it,it would definitely happen. “If you do not pay heed,litterateurs will have to agitate for it,” he added.

“We are celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the Samyukta Maharashtra. The state is keen on making a cultural policy but it should be inclusive and comprehensive. Efforts should be made to preserve folk art,literature,cinema and language by forming independent wings,” he said.

Citing efforts to raise art academies in Bhopal and Goa,Mahanor urged the state government to look into setting up of an independent and autonomous body and providing funds,too.

“The state government set up the Pu La Deshpande Academy in 2000,but even ten years later,nobody is paying attention to it. Political appointments are made to such institutions,which is not good in meeting their purpose,” he said.

In his address,Kulkarni underlined the importance of Sahitya Sammelan for literary discussions and interaction between readers and authors. “Sammelan is a festival of people who love loneliness. Readers attend sammelan to get literary accompaniment,” he said.  

Kulkarni also talked of dialects in Marathi language,literature of Sant Dnyaneshwar and criticism in Marathi literature. He said though Dnyaneshwar had mentioned Vedanta in his literature,there is no mention of the Ramayana.

An audio-visual clip on veteran poet Vinda Karandikar,who passed away recently,was also shown after the inaugural ceremony. Mayor Mohan Singh Rajpal,president of Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal Kautikrao Thale-Patil,Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Javadekar,and MLC Ulhas Pawar were also present.

Chairman of the organising committee Satish Desai welcomed the guests and Sudheer Gadgil compered the event.

Desai handed over a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to Kulkarni to go to various places in the state as the president of the Sammelan. For the first time,president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal handed over charge to the president-elect,instead of the outgoing Sammelan president.

Collector of rare books lights up meet
It was a rare sight on the stage of the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan as a collector of rare books in the city Vasant Athawale got an opportunity to light the lamp at the inaugural function of the meet.

Noted poet N D Mahanor inaugurated the Sammelan as per the formal announcement,but chairman of organising committee Satish Desai speaking highly about Athawale’s contribution as a seller of rare books called him on the stage to light the lamp along with Mahanor.

Desai said Athawale has been collecting rare books for the last 25 years and giving them to researchers and litterateurs who need them. So far he has helped former chief minister late Yashwantrao Chavan,Shivshahir Babasaheb Purandare,researcher R C Dhere and many other researchers by providing them the books they did not find anywhere else.

Athawale is doing this job voluntarily after taking voluntary retirement from Kirloskar Oil Engines in 1985. He displays the books on footpath near Saraswati Mandir School and near Kakakuwa Mansion on Laxmi Road.