Over 300 poets express Covid pain through words

Surat: ‘Ochinto, dharti par aa kaal kevo fari gayo, corona no sakhat bhardo sau jan ne bharkhi gayo (Suddenly, the earth plunged into such darkness, the vice-like corona grip consumed one and all.’
These couplets of poet Parul Barot sum up the pain inflicted by the global pandemic. Barot won the first prize in a unique online poetry competition on Covid-19 theme on Sunday and poets from not just across the country but abroad too participated. Poetries were sent in Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi and Bengali.
The competition was organized by 65-year-old city-based welfare trust Rashtriya Kala Kendra (RKK) which also published an e-books of 303 participating poetries. Another e-book of over 300 poems on coronavirus written by noted poets was also been released.
Second prize winner Harshida Trivedi too expressed her feelings by reciting, ‘Kan kan ma a dodi avyo jane moto bhup, dur rahi pan na vartayo avu lidhu rup (It ran through small particles like a king, took such a shape that no one could identify it.”
“As an organisation to promote performing arts it is our duty to continue our work when we thought to organise this competition. We came to know that many people are writing their thoughts through poetry and we received good responses,” said Rupin Pachhigar, secretary of RKK.
Harsh Brahmbhatt, a noted poet, said this initiative has given a big encouragement to the poets.”
Rajesh Vyas ‘Miskeen’ added, “We find the courage to fight the current negativity through such attempts.”
The e-books were launched by Gujarat BJP president C R Paatil in an online event on Sunday.