A mushaira programme online? Is that possible? How will it work out?
Team Gyaan Adab took a chance to answer these questions.
When Gyaan Adab made the decision to exit the charming old bungalow in Kalyani Nagar in February, we had no idea what March would bring. The world has been irrevocably changed in the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic crisis and subsequent lockdowns. Holding any kind of cultural programmes with a live audience is no longer a possibility in most places in the world. However, no matter how bad things get, art will always find a way to bring people together.
And with that conviction, Gyaan Adab came together to host the first ever online mushaira programme on the 18th of May. Through WhatsApp, we reached out to members of the Guldasta-e-Urdu Fan Club, which contains some of the most active members of Gyaan Adab’s audiences. And the Guldasta-e-Urdu Fan Club stepped up to the plate! The invitation was to recite a poem or sing a ghazal in Urdu or Hindustani to make an informal late night mushaira possible on Zoom Cloud Meetings – an online service that is proving quite the boon for audiences and artists in these difficult times. Participants immediately signed up.
Chetan Shetty, Gyaan Adab Managing Committee Member conducted a small training session for them so that they could enjoy the event to the fullest. Guldasta-e-Urdu veteran Vijaya Techsinghani was the host of the evening. She prepared some fabulous introductions for each of the participants and their chosen pieces. From among the 24 members came online for Mushaira and 15 people recited their own selected couplets. Chetan Shetty once again came to our rescue, offering technical assistance to host the Zoom programme.
It was heartwarming to see the enthusiasm of our patrons. They were one and all excited to have something to look forward to during the lockdown. And the joy of our community has always been the driving force behind everything that Gyaan Adab. So we look forward to doing more programmes online and continuing our traditions of the past six years.
So stay home, stay safe.
We’ll see soon, online.
