CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: A grand literary programme titled “An Evening in the Name of Padma Shri Dr Bashir Badr” was organised in the auditorium of the administrative building at the West Central Railway Passenger Coach Rehabilitation Workshop, Nishatpura, Bhopal, under the patronage of Chief Workshop Manager Prafull V. Kohade. The programme was chaired by Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer Sohan Singh Parmar, while noted litterateur Ghanshyam Maithil “Amrit” attended as the chief guest and speaker.
The programme began with the chairman and chief guest garlanding the portrait of Maa Saraswati and lighting the ceremonial lamp. After this, artists of the workshop’s Cultural Academy presented a musical Saraswati Vandana, creating a devotional atmosphere. Programme convener and Liaison Official Language Officer and Assistant Personnel Officer Sandeep Sharma delivered the welcome address and presented the outline of the event.
At the literary evening, nine railway poets from the workshop – B.N. Tiwari, Sant Kumar Malviya, Nitiraj Choure, Akhilesh Lodhi, Naman Chouksey, Pankaj Damade, Anil Kumar Saket, Ashish Kumar Gupta and Jayshree Thakur – presented well-known ghazals of Padma Shri Dr Bashir Badr in their melodious voices. They also gave an impressive recitation of their original compositions. Presentations of ghazals, songs, parody and humour-satire coloured the entire auditorium in the literary legacy of Bashir Badr and kept the audience spellbound for a long time.
In his presidential address, Sohan Singh Parmar said, “If Hindi is our mother, Urdu is our maasi (maternal aunt), and maasi also means someone like a mother.” He said all 22 recognised languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution are part of our shared cultural heritage and every language deserves respect. He also appealed to everyone to make maximum use of the official language Hindi in daily government work.
Chief guest Ghanshyam Maithil “Amrit”, in his address, shared personal meetings and memories associated with Padma Shri Dr Bashir Badr and narrated inspiring incidents related to his simplicity, human sensitivity and patriotism. His speech left the literature lovers present deeply moved.
A large number of officers and employees attended the programme, including Akshay Gangarwal (Works Manager-Mechanical), Shivam Asati (Works Manager-Electrical), Ashish Kumar Jharia (Works Manager), R.K. Upadhyay (ACMT) and Ramesh Kumar Ranga (Assistant Materials Manager). The programme was photographed by Ramgopal Athnere.
At the closing, the chairman and chief guest were honoured with a shawl, shriphal, memento and letter of felicitation.
The programme was successfully conducted by senior ghazal writer and lyricist B.N. Tiwari. At the end, Liaison Official Language Officer and Assistant Personnel Officer Sandeep Sharma expressed gratitude to the chairman, chief guest, railway poets and all officers and employees present.
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