Poet’s symposium

Significance of first war of independence highlighted
THE DAILY TELEGRAMS, July 11, 2007

Staff Correspondent

Port Blair, July 10

Altogether 9 poets recited their self composed poems at a Poets’
symposium – ‘1857, Ek Sandhya’ held at Andaman Club here yesterday. The
Deputy Commissioner, South Andaman, Shri K S Singh was the chief guest,
while the Director CARI, Dr. R.C. Srivastava presided over the function.
The symposium was organized by Andaman Rangmanch, a cultural
organization of the islands.

Addressing the function, the chief guest highlighted the
significance of the First War of Independence (1857) in the islands
context, stating that it was the beginning of the settlement in this
territory as a result of the deportation of those freedom fighters who
actively took part in the war. However, it took quite a long time in
achieving our independence but “we should not forget the sacrifices of
the freedom fighters”. At the same time, he said, we should strive to
sustain the hard earned freedom and work in unison towards the over all
development of the nation and these islands as well. Shri Singh
expressed his gratitude to Andaman Rangmanch for organising the
programme and stressed the need for up-keeping the cultural heritage of
these islands.

The poets, who presented their poems include Dr. Vyasmani Tripathi,
Dr. P.K. Chowdhury, Smt. Rasheeda Eqbal, Dr. Roshan Ara, Shri. Raaz
Andamani, Shri. Basu Kumar, Smt. D.M. Sabitri, Shri. Jagdish Narayan Rai
and Dr. R.C. Srivastava.

Earlier, Shri S.L. Vinjit, Secretary (Prog.), Andaman Rangmanch
welcomed the gathering and the function concluded with the vote of
thanks proposed by Dr. Roshan Ara.