JK: Vomedh celebrates International Mother Tongue Day in Srinagar

The event was attended by a large audience comprising people across age groups who wholeheartedly enjoyed the day long cultural extravaganza.

"February 21 is celebrated as mother tongue day and Vomedh organised this cultural extravaganza on 20th Feb. Our plan to celebrate mother tongue day in the valley generated a lot of interest and curiosity," informed Manzoor Ahmad Mir, a renowned theatrist, jury of the contest and member of the organizing team.

"We announced a contest for kids where they had to send their video recorded performances to us in Kashmiri. There was an overwhelming response and we got over 100 entries,"  Mir said.

"We also received requests to keep the final program on a Sunday so that maximum people can participate," he added.

Rakesh Roshan Bhat; convener of Pagah, renowned playwright and mentor of Vomedh, said, "Project Pagah is one of its kind initiatives for preservation and promotion of Kashmiri language. Under project Pagah we plan to popularize the language in day to day life."

"Kashmiri being our mother tongue should be our first language across all age groups. It should be spoken, heard and seen everywhere. Why should it remain confined to certain age groups and certain demographics! It should grow on all counts," Bhat added.

"Anything that is not growing is gradually dying. We want to work for a better tomorrow in the Kashmiri language and that's why we named this project 'Pagah' which means tomorrow in Kashmiri," he explained.

The program started with a welcome dance performance of Rouf by Shagufta and team.

It was followed by a welcome address from Rakesh Roshan Bhat who talked about why Vomedh is inspired and motivated to work towards the preservation and promotion of Kashmiri Language.

He formally launched project Pagah and also talked about the objectives and plans under project Pagah.

The selected top performers from the Koshur contest for children were felicitated. They were presented certificates and cash prizes.

A thought-provoking interactive panel discussion titled Kath t' kalam which was moderated by eminent literary figure Arvind Shah.

Prominent personalities from their respective fields; viz - Ayaz Arif, Manzoor Ahmad Mir, Shaad Ramzan and Shaista Ahmad were part of panel discussion.

The panelists talked about how preservation of language needs to start from home and from early childhood.

The mother tongue needs to be the first language.

They also talked about encouraging and popularising mother tongue besides schools in electronic and social media as well.

Arvind Shah effectively moderated the discussion and summarised the key points in the end.

Panelists also answered the questions of the audience promptly.

The Kashmiri stand up acts by very popular social media creators Behzaad Malla and Anil Chingari enthralled the audience.

They were also felicitated on the occasion for choosing Kashmiri language to showcase their talent and thereby helping in making Kashmiri popular amongst the youth.

In the second half, audiences were treated to a spellbinding musical performance by renowned singer Gulzar Ahmad Ganai and team and a rib tickling comedy play in Kashmiri called Gaad Bateh.

Vinay Pandita, Rahul Kilam, King C Bharti, Puneet Bali, Pummy Zutshi and Bharti Kaul performed in the play. Gaad Bateh has been written by Rakesh Roshan Bhat and directed by Rohit Bhat.

The maiden PAGAH event also marked the announcement of annual PAGAH awards for contribution in promoting Kashmiri language and literature.

The PAGAH awards for the year 2022 were awarded to two prominent literary figures who have worked extensively in the field of Literature and Kashmiri language.

The awardees were Arvind Shah and Shaad Ramzan. Arvind Shah is an accomplished writer, poet and translator and Shaad Ramzan is a well known poet and critic.

Manzoor Ahmad Mir presented the vote of thanks.

"This is a great start to a long journey together. I hope we can synergise all the efforts and such kind of initiatives can act as catalyst and force multiplier," Rohit Bhat, the organiser and president of Vomedh, said.

"We are very happy with the kind of participation we saw and the support we got from people in general. I want to express gratitude to everyone and hope we will continue to get similar support in future too," he added.