A discussion and release on storyteller Lokesh Gulyani's 7th book 'Ladkiyan Hongi' was organized by Club Literati at Arera Club on Saturday, 9th September.
The program was moderated by Dr. Neelkamal Kapoor, who took charge of the program while answering interesting questions from the author. Lokesh Gulyani takes writing seriously. This was reflected on the evening 9th September. Talking about books, author Lokesh Gulyani told the audience that "One cannot write a story by thinking. By thinking you can only build a structure, not a complete building. The story itself dictates the story."
The launch of the book by our President, Dr. Seema Raizada along with the most celebrated members.Author Lokesh Gulyani and moderator Dr. Neelkamal KapoorThe audience enchanted by the deep discussion
He also told that "Ladkiyan Hongi" is his seventh book which is a collection of 13 short stories. All stories are different from each other. When asked about the book, the author said, "I completely agree with one thing that stories have their own time to be completed. If they are tried too hard, they become such sullen Laila. If they were, they would have been beautiful. But at the last moment she takes revenge on you by wearing ugly make-up."
Very effective questions were asked by Neelkamal Kapoor in the program. Due to which the audience remained engaged till the end. In the end, President of Club Literati, Seema Raizada, expressed her gratitude to the author, facilitator and all the present audience and reiterated her resolve to continue organizing similar programs in future also.
5th July, 2023: स्वामी विवेकानन्द लाइब्रेरी में संगीता गुन्देचा के साथ कविताओं पर चर्चा करते हुए एक शाम बिताई। क्लब लिटराटी द्वारा आयोजित पुस्तक चर्चा का विषय संगीता गुन्देचा की नई प्रकाशित पुस्तक के बारे में था, जो न केवल एक कवि हैं, बल्कि एक कहानीकार, निबंधकार, अनुवादक और नाट्यशास्त्रज्ञ भी हैं। चर्चा की संचालन डॉ. रेखा श्रीवास्तव ने किया और शाम की कवयित्री संगीता गुंदेचा के साथ अंतरंग चर्चा के लिए ध्रुव शुक्ल, अरुणाभ सौरभ और गीत चतुर्वेदी भी शामिल हुए। जब संगीता गुन्देचा से पूछा गया कि उन्होंने ने अपनी किताब का नाम पडीक्कमा क्यों रखा है तो उन्होंने जवाब दिया कि पडीक्कमा प्राकृत भाषा का शब्द है। इस शब्द का मूल है पडिक्कमन, जिसका अर्थ है लौटना। पडिक्कमा कविता साल 2019 में दो रिश्तेदारों यानी बाबूजी (पिता सीएम गुन्देचा) और विमल दा (बड़े भाई रमाकांत गुन्देचा) की वापसी पर लिखी गई है। यह कविता परिवार के इन दो सदस्यों की मृत्यु के इर्द-गिर्द घूमती है। किताब का नाम भी पडीक्कमा है क्योंकि कविता करना अपने मृतकों और परिक्रमा पर निकले पूर्वजों की परिक्रमा करने जैसा है। संगीता गुन्देचा ने संस्कृत के चम्पूकाव्य, जिसमें पद्य और गद्य दोनों समाहित हैं, से प्रेरित होकर हिंदी साहित्य में पडीक्कमा कविता लिखकर ‘चम्पू कविता’ नामक एक नई शैली को जन्म दिया। यह उनके काव्य संग्रह का हिंदी साहित्य को एक महत्वपूर्ण योगदान है। पैनल के सदस्यों ने पुस्तक पर अपने विचार भी साझा किये।
17th June, 2023 at Arera Club was an evening well spent with the author DGP, Dr. Mukesh Jain and members of Club Literati, discussing his book, A Happier You.
We are always seeking the answers of what is happiness? Is it a desired profession? Or is it having kids with a loved one? Or the luxuries of life? Or is there some short formula for happiness? Almost every person binds happiness with skill but is it so?
Most of our life is spent in the pursuit of happiness but how to find our happiness?
The session was enlightening and filled with the discussion which answered most of these questions.
Dr. Mukesh Jain while talking on his book A Happier You.
The author himself, Dr. Mukesh Jain started his discussion with a tidbit on Michelangelo. He said that once, Michelangelo was asked, “what is the magic in your hands?”, to which he answered: “I don’t make statues, every stone has a statue in it, I just remove the unnecessary ones.” Likewise we should remove the hurdles in the way of us and our happiness. It might not be simple but it always works.
It is true that hard work leads to success and it is not necessary that it also leads to happiness.
The author raised the question of us seeking happiness and making happiness our final point, rather happiness has to be the starting point in leading a good life.
Dr. Jain also discussed with the audience the gene happiness research work of Robert Levenson and Sonja Lyubomirsky. He talked about the experiments done on paralysed people as they were given a winning lottery ticket to see whether they become happy after winning the money.
Role of genetic happiness, Veronica Huta and Richard Ryan’ work, role of meaningfulness, social relations were discussed as well. Dr. Jain concluded his discussion by stating that it has been proved that a giver is always happier and stays happy for a long period of time.
Panel members Dr. Vinay Mishra, a Prof. Of Psychology, told the audience how he is asked often, whether he is happy working in Antarctica. He confessed that though it is very formidable to live in Antarctica, he was happy. He said that, “while we are still in a difficult situation, you have to manoeuvre your way through.”
Recording the voices of their loved ones for later, helping each other to adjust helped him and his colleagues in the difficult time at Antarctica.
Dr. Mishra says, “We have come far away from Freudian Psychology. We know how we create our own emotional distress and manage it, dealing with it.”
He added that happiness can be invited by altering your lifestyle and modifying your environment.
Tips on modifying your environment:
Assertiveness: Put your foot down and say the things you believe in: satisfaction of speaking your mind out
Withdraw if necessary: we venture into and realise and we are riding on the wrong bus. Rather than stressing, you need to withdraw when necessary
Compromise when it is required: have to leave a margin for other people
Avoiding stressful thoughts, having healthy social relations play a big part in a happier life.
Dr. Sangeeta Jauhari, another panel member, too shared her views on the book and happiness and shared the following points:
Keynotes from the book to practise: thoughts processed changed
To be optimistic in all the situation
Be internal in case of finding happiness
Do no follow things blindly
Be alert to be a superhero
Find your own success parameters
Be happy and achieve something you want
She also pointed out how necessary the book is for the students today!
Mr. Raghuraj Rajendran, shared that the human mind is always looking for happiness. It is something that we are always enquiring about. When a person is religiously inclined, he would go to the religious books to guide them. Thus the book is the answer, and happiness was the motivation.
Mr. Rajendran stated that nothing could have stopped Dr. Jain from writing the book A Happier You, with such need and motivation around him.
The session came to an end with the moderator sharing a few quotes from the book, her comments on the fulfilment curve and a few questions from the audience.
Right to left: Dr. Vinay Mishra, Dr Mukesh Jain, Mr, Raghuraj Rajendra, Dr. Sangeeta Jauhari and Dr. Seema Raizada
The session was full of tips for happiness and recommendations of books.
3 out of every 5 readers want to write a book. But it takes more than imagination and command on words to write a book. Some write away and spend their lives editing their work, some wait for retirement to sit down and write. The Bharadwaj twins did none. They had an idea, they wrote a book, and topped it with their beautiful paintings to go for the illustrations in the books and published it.
At Club Literati, we motivate, boast and encourage such writers and invite them for a little chit chat to inspire others.
December 6th, 2022, at Swami Vivekanand Library, was such an evening with Devyani and Shivaranjani Bharadwaj. Authors of two books at the age of ten, the twins are achievers and have many titles and trophies under their names. They have won top positions in the District level Spell Bee competition, certificates, trophies and cash prizes. They twins wrote and illustrated their first book, “Sun Salutations” at age of 8 which was appreciated by Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi in a letter to the twins. They are painters and have seen their paintings getting show cased at the Indore Airport.
Our moderator for the evening was Mrs. Archana Zulfiqar, who is a passionate about theater, literature and storytelling.
The evening started with the twins talking about their first book Sun Salutations. It is a book based on yoga and the illustrations done by the twins are funny and inspiring at the same time. Writing about different asana, illustrations of the cover and the interior of the book was a wonder to all the adult minds.
Shivaranjani told the story of how their mother used to give them a picture and ask the twins to create stories from it. It soon became a habit the girls enjoyed and soon they were writing shirt stories and offering them to their friends and elders to do the reading. It started with fun and soon turned into the idea of books.
The cover of the book is chorus of colours, bordered with sun and flowers. They also talked about their second book which talks about a 16 year old spy.
Their mother, Mrs. Bharadwaj, shared the seat for a brief time to talk about the achievements of the twins.
At the end of the session, the twins donated their books to the library, for any reader who is interested in reading their books.
