Poetry Fest @ MCC

Our Principal, at the release of 'Cornucopia'

The First day of the Prakriti Poetry Reading Fest @ MCC saw eminent poets from far and wide, congregating at the sylvan surroundings of Selaiyur Hall, under the shades of the mighty trees of yore, on Saturday, 10 December 2011. 

French Lebanese poet and essayist of international renown, Salah STÉTIÉ  and Giuseppe CONTE, Italian poet, novelist, and translator who constitute the “Mediterranean Poets” panel, read out from their poems. 

They, along with Tamil poets Anand KRISHNAN, Kavitha MURALIDHARAN and Sivakami IAS, read out from their works and explored the Mediterranean - south Indian i.e. the South-South parallel.

The Second Poetry Reading on Monday, 12 Dec, saw eminent poet Ranjit Hoskote read out a few of his translations of Lal Ded, a forerunner of Sufism in the Kashmir Valley. He read out from his translation of Lal Ded - a selection of 146 poems from the circulating corpus of Lalla's utterances and rendered them freshly into English. 

An excerpt from his rendition on Lal Ded:

I'm towing my boat across the ocean with a thread.

Will He hear me and help me across?

Or am I seeping away like water from a half-baked cup?

Wander, my poor soul, you're not going home anytime soon.

At the end of the reading, Mr.Hoskote answered a lot of interesting and inquisitive queries from students.

 

Our Principal, releasing Cornucopia...

Day 3 of the Prakriti Fest @ mcc saw eminent poets from the Rabindranath Tagore Panel, perform a heart warming recital at 11.30 am on 13 Dec.2011 in the Selaiyur Hall guest room. 

Day 4 of the Prakriti Fest @ mcc saw poet, film maker and movie director Arjun Bali recite his poems to a rapt audience. He also had a 'listener's choice' session. 

Our Principal Dr.Alexander Jesudasan then released the first variety ensemble of TEA @ MCC - Cornucopia, [the brainchild of Prof. DC] and Shri.Arjun C.Bali received the first copy of the book. Dr.Felix Moses and Dr.Stephen Jebanesan were present on the occasion. 

On the whole, the four-day poetry fest @ MCC saw a host of performances by eminent and emerging poets, catering to the mind and the heart alike.