WASHINGTON (TIP): The Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO)-Metropolitan Washington Chapter, in collaboration with the Aligarh Alumni Association (AAA), Washington, organized 8th Annual Independence Day Mushaira-Kavi Sammelan on Saturday, 22nd August 2015 at Arlington Central Library Auditorium, Arlington, Virginia.

The AAA president Mrs. Farzana Farooqi, and GOPIO president Dr. Zafar Iqbal welcomed the invited poets and audience. Program started with a lecture by Dr. Moazzam Siddiqui, former in-Charge of South Asian Languages Division at the Voice of America. He talked about historical facts tracing development of Urdu-Hindi languages covering period from Ameer Khasrau to Kabeer Das. It was a very informative lecture.

Dr. Zafar Iqbal said that the goal of this program was to provide a forum where people could get together transcending political, religious, regional, and geographical boundaries promoting Ganga-Jamuni culture of the Subcontinent. He mentioned that in the recent years, a number of authors and poets were recognized through this program. Some of them are: Professor Satyapal Anand, Dr. A. Abdullah, Dr. K. Mohan, Mr. Raj Kumar Raaz, Mr. Anadi Naik, Mrs. Rashmi Sanan, Mrs. Daler Deol Aashna, and Mr. Surender Deol. “Success of events led to the organization of first bi-lingual (Urdu- Hindi) poetry recitation program at the Embassy of India, Washington in 2012 with our help”, he added.

The mushaira session was presided by a stalwart poet, author, and critic Professor Satyapal Anand. Participating poets included: Akram Mahmood, Arooj Roshni, Aziz Qureshi, Daler Deol Aashna, Dhananjay Kumar, Gulshan Madhur, Kiran Nath, Mike Ghouse, Narendra Tandon, Razi Raziuddin, Satyapal Anand, Suman Vardhan, and Vishakha Thaker.