कल्याण जेल में कवि सम्मेलन- साभार, डीएनए

No verses barred in Kalyan jail
Bhargavi Kerur
Saturday, October 08, 2005 23:56 IST

Saturday was an eventful day for the inmates of the Kalyan district jail as some of them with a poetic streak were given a chance to present their skills at a kavi sammelan held in the premises.
At the sammelan, eight undertrials took centre-stage and recited their creations. Ironically, they were penned in dark, dingy quarters with some of the budding poets being tried for snuffing out human lives.
Some of them may have got consolation from the fact that even if they were not ‘heard’ by the courts, people at least listened to them while they recited their poems. Others were convinced of conviction, but in their doomed existence, they were giving life to some creative pieces of literature in Marathi, Hindi and English.
The event was organised by Avitoko, an NGO working exclusively to promote recreational activities among jail inmates in Mumbai. It was attended by eminent poets like Akshay Jain, Om Prakash Tiwari, Hridayesh Mayank, Vageesh Saraswat, Yagya Sharma and Kavita Gupta.
Among the eight participants, five were women, who dwelt more on the problems of the materialistic world, while men shared their deepest and darkest emotions. Janaki Iyer expressed her thoughts on law and order and solving the issue of child labour through her verses. Shireen Jeleva described the plight of a suppressed woman in the society. Among the men, Kamlesh Patre described his emotions of undergoing a painful separation from his wife as he remained confined within the jail walls. A mature thought emerged from Praveen Bharucha, when he narrated that his life in jail has made him a human being.
The groundwork for the session was done by Jail Superintendent Vijay Bendre, who was inspired by similar kavi sammelans at Pune’s Yeravada Jail. “This is the best way to explore their hidden talents,” he said. The honorary secretary Vibha Rani of Avitoko said the NGO plans to publish the poems of the inmates in two months.