RAJENDRA UTSAV
One of my friends who was there at Hotel Swosti on 18th December to witness the AKHILA UTSAV told me that this time the RAJENDRA UTSAV was a flop one. I amended; not RAJENDRA, it’s AKHILA USTAV in remembrance of great story teller Akhila Mohan Patnaik. He laughted, “had it been so”. Being just a mere spineless rubber stamp at this age Mr. Panda is inviting criticism, he added. This ceremony is purely controlled & operated in an autocratic way by Mr. Mishra who is very cleverly using rubber stamps.
During the above mentioned function another friend asked Mr. Mishra that who was this Anil Kumar Das, to whom this year’s AKHILA SAMMAN was conferred. Another source said that some invited delegates from western Odisha came pretty before & had their shelters in city hotels to witness and to participate in this celebration only. But surprisingly no senior or middle-aged authors from Bhubaneswar were present there except Mr. Aurabinda Ray. I personally asked many & collected data from several sources that Mr. Mishra knowingly invited no body besides his close associates. Cleverly Mr. Mishra had tried to avoid people who don’t want to be his comrades or followers. Taking the advantage of Mr. Panda’s blind support he has been propagating his own personal agenda in the daily activities of the foundation. Even though they preach secularism a certain group headed by Mr. Panda is now trying to be racist by supporting & grooming only western Odisha and people who praise their style of poetry writing.
Suddenly one of my friend advised me, “Subhransu, don’t worry about it. AKHILA USTAV became a purely private affair & being private they have all right to play their own game & to beat their own drum.” Ok, let it be. Fortunately I was not invited to that festival.
KENDRA SAHITYA ACADEMY FARCE-2011
I came to experience the same embarrassing situation today(19 December). There was a news on today’s Sambad regarding a function by Kendra Sahitya Academy at Bhanja Kala Mandap to celebrate 150th birth year of Biswa Kabi & two of my favorite authors were supposed to be on stage as guests. Unfortunately I read today’s news paper late at 12 noon. I had some appointments in Bhubaneswar civil court, that’s in front of Bhanja Kala Mandap & I planned to pay a visit to that function as soon as my official job was over. I was in a hurry & finished the legal works by 3 pm and rushed to Bhanja Kala Mandap. In court campus I met one of my old media friends, coincidently who was present at Bhanja Kala Mandap earlier in that morning. He informed that the session was over by 1 pm where Manoj Das & Haraprasad Das had delivered their speeches. I missed them both & phoned to another author friend who was also there in the morning session. Perhaps in the meeting hall Mr. Ram Kumar Mukhopadhyay was the only non-Odia person. But he requested Mr. Haraprasad to deliver his keynote address in English which raised a few eyebrows. Academy could have translated the keynote address into English instead of requesting him to deliver the same in English in the heart of Odia state. I don’t know whether this can ever happen in Kolkata. Once the first session was over the hall became no man’s land. This because outnumbered the audience.
Though the first session was over a pretty earlier my friend advised me to go inside. There were some other literary programs going on. I entered in to the compound. There was a book exhibition outside the meeting hall. No people were there except the book seller & a stray dog. At once someone came out of the hall & he was no other but another media friend. We chatted a long. He told me that there was a poetry recitation program going on inside. And he showed me some photographs. I am sorry to say that there were 8 people on dias & 7 to 10 people in front of them. This stage was also presided over By Mr.Rajendra Kishore Panda. Mr. Kedar Mishra was also on dias. Incidentally Mr. Mishra was not present there during the first session. I have no complaint against Mr. Mishra’s poem. But as far as his generation is concerned, Mr. Bharat Majhi is most prominent & he truly represents his generation. There are many other poets of his generation, who are much more powerful than Mr. Mishra. But they were not invited. Because they are not as clever as Mr. Mishra & they are not in any literary politics. I don’t know who had made the list of invited poets. If it was made by Mr. Panda, I prefer to be silent. And if it was made by the people in charge of Sahitya Academy Odia Wing, then it’s very clear that in pressure & fear they have made all this.
In this case I can’t call it a personal affair. Sahitya Academy is spending a good amount of money for this kind of program. But numerous poets listen to each other & go home happily with their remunerations. Don’t think that no one came because it was a working day. The first session proved it wrong. All the seats were occupied in first session. Why they didn’t get any audience in second session? The real reason was the stage was taken over by some unwanted & ill-deserved people. That is what happened in AKHIL UTSAV also. There was a funny scene during the first session in Bhanja Kala Mandap. A senior poet who was on the dias in the second session was seen as he was taking a nap with resting his two legs on the front row chair like a rickshaw-puller sleeps on his rickshaw. Instead of listening to the speakers he was engaged with a book. Perhaps he was preparing for the second session. I have a photograph to prove this point.
Finally I preferred to come back from the doorstep instead of spoiling my time in that ghost chamber. Outside the Mandap there were three bikes & 12 cars in the parking place. When I came to the main road Mr. Satakadi hota & a lady editor entered the compound. Lol! They got two audiences more.Really the academy was involved in too many farces. All the benefits are consumed by the academy members only. Writers-in-Residence scheme was a big example. It will be another essay if I write only about the writer-in-residence program in Odisha.
