Lokayat: Coming Programs

[अभिजित Abhijit]

Dear friends,

Here are what we are planning in the coming days.

1. Rally against PMT bus fare hike

    Date:     October 4, Saturday
    Time:     3 pm to 5 pm
    Route: From Deccan Gymkhana Bus Stop to PMPML Headoffice, Swargate via Tilak Road.
(Please see attached pmpfare.pdf )

2.                                               CONFLUENCE

    a festival of songs, film and seminar celebrating the spirit of Id and Dussehra
   
    Date: October 11, Saturday:
    Time: 6 pm
    Venue: Sneh Sadan, Near Narayan Peth Police Chowky, Sadashiv Peth, Pune.
                                                SABRANGRAS
                   a program of classical songs celebrating secular Indian culture
                                   featuring poetry and bhajans related to
                                                  Gandhi and Kabir
                                          by Amarendra Dhaneshwar,
                       a renowned singer in the Gwalior Gharana from Mumbai


   Date: October 12, Sunday
   Time: 6 pm
   Venue:  Lokayat Hall, Third Floor,
                Opp, Syndicate Bank, Near Nal Stop, Law College Road, Pune.
                            Film Screening: NASEEM
                    Duration; 120 minutes                Language: Hindi

Synopsis:

Naseem means the morning breeze. It's the name of a young girl who lives with her family in Bombay. The year is 1992. This was a year when India, as a nation, went through traumatic times. A mosque was demolished and the riots, slaughter and savagery that followed have left wounds that will take years to heal. Naseem is the private story of a young girl and her grandfather in those terrible times.

    Date: 13 October, Monday

    Time: Evening (most probably from 5 pm or 6 pm)

     Venue: Azam Campus (Most probably Assembly Hall of the campus, to be finalised)

               SEMINAR: Religious Violence: Threat to democracy

     Main Speakers:      Ram Puniyani,    Allwyn D'Souza (both from Mumbai)

Note: We're trying to make this seminar a joint seminar of various progressive groups in Pune.

Do come for this important festival. The secular fabric is being deliberately torn apart, and all of us are silent. We need to join hands, otherwise we will be left divided and broken, with our identities as Hindus / Muslims / Christians / North Indian / South Indian ... and not as citizens of this country. All others except for upper caste Hindus will become second grade citizens, and this will also dehumanise the upper caste Hindus too!

Do read the two articles attached, sent to me by Prashant Bhushan from Delhi. One feels like crying for our crying, but we must fight back our tears and resolve to fight... We need to fight, but let us begin by celebrating the spirit of unity in diversity that has always been there in this country for ages, best symbolised by sages like Kabir and Lal Ded...

in solidarity,


अभिजित अ. मी.  Abhijit M.
Phone: +91 9422308125