India Urdu Society-Qatar will celebrate World Poetry Day on June 21 by presenting a lifetime achievement award to renowned Indian Urdu poet Professor Waseem Barelvi.
A poetry symposium, Jashn e Waseem Barelvi Mushaira, will also be organised on the occasion in association with Commercial Bank, Al Sulaiman Jewellery & Watches and Media Plus.
Indian Ambassador Sanjiv Arora will be the chief guest and Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage’s adviser Moosa Zainal Moosa the guest of honour at the event to be held at Sheraton Doha starting at 7.30pm.
The Mushaira, to be presided by Munawwar Rana, will see prominent Indian poets participating.
Barelvi is presently the vice chairman of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language of India’s Ministry of Human Resources Development.
His work has been commented upon and assessed by eminent scholars, poets and critics. Barelvi has received many national and international awards. His ghazals have been sung by famous singers including Lata Mangeshkar, Pankaj Udhas, and Jagjeet Singh.
The poets attending the Mushaira besides Barelvi are Rahat Indori, Jauhar Kanpuri, Mansoor Usmani (compere), Shakeel Azmi, Sagar Tripathi, Jalees Sherwani, Sardar Saleem, Nusrath Mehdi, Shabeena Adeeb, Abrar Kashif, Aalok Srivastav, Nadeem Shad, Jaleel Nizami, Ateeq Anzar and Roaes Mumtaz.
Admission is free. Entry passes can be obtained from Al Sulaiman Jewellery & Watches at Gold Souq & The Centre (44442556/44415893), Maharaja Restaurant (44421642) and on 55826856, 55272673 or 55220583.