(London) – Lord King of West Bromwich honoured the Hindi novelist from New Delhi – Mr. Pradeep Saurabh in the House of Commons in London with the coveted 18th International Indu Sharma Katha Samman. Lord King said, “Only a writer can bring change in the society. Culture can survive only when it has the backing of a language. On this occasion he presented the 13th Padmanand Sahitya Samman to Mr. Sohan Rahi of Surrey for his collection of Ghazals and Geets. The host for the evening was MP. Virendra Sharma.
MP Virendra Sharma, while commenting on the novel of Pradeep Saurabh, said, “Some of our traditions have lost their relevance in the 21st century. They are not more acceptable. One such tradition is our attitude towards eunuchs. We must learn from countries like Britain how to treat such people.” He fondly remembered his association with Sohan Rahi which dates back to their childhood memories.
Accepting his award, Pradeep Saurabh emphatically pronounced, “A writer should be evaluated through his writings and not his personal life.” He further clarified, “To earn a living I must have committed any number of wrongdoings or must have compromised. I do accept that openly. I am a journalist and work for a TV channel. I am supposed to be carrying a torch of truth, but the fact is that I am only an agent for the owner of my newspaper. But when I create literature, I have complete freedom to myself. Every man has many masks for his face; but in my case, I am a museum of masks.”
Deepti Sharma presented a dramatic reading of a portion of Teesri Taali to an extremely appreciative audience.
Councillor Zakia Zubairi was extremely encouraged by the presence of young Aditi Maheshwari of Vani Prakashan. She declared, “Her arrival on the scene is a good news for Hindi literature. Now young and well educated youth is joining the field of Hindi publication. This would certainly bring a positive change in the scenario. I have always impressed upon the need of research in the field of novel and story writing. Teesri Taali is an example of the depth of research that Pradeep must have carried to finally bring it onto paper. She termed Sohan Rahi has a genuine lyricist of Hindi as well as Urdu language.
Tejendra Sharma, the General Secretary of Katha UK, explained the process of selection of the books for the award. He suggested to Francesca Orsini of SOAS University that an interaction between students, teachers and creative writers could be extremely beneficial for Hindi literature in the UK. This could actually give a new direction to the scenario. As a moderator he introduced the audience to the award winning books.
Francesca Orsini reacted positively to the suggestions of Tejendra Sharma and suggested that the dates for the award function be changed to the working time table of the Universities. The event could be held alongside other literary activities of English literature.
Kailash Budhwar, the Chairman of Katha UK, read a few comments made by Indian critics on Teesri Taali. The comments were made by Sudhees Pachori, Hiralal Nagar and Niranjan Kshotriya.
Reading her paper on Sohan Rahi’s is award winning book, the poetess Jai Verma from Nottingham said, “Sohan Rahi does not belong to a particular generation. From youth to experience everyone feels one with the thoughts of Sohan Rahi. Through his poetry, Sohan Rahi tries to solve the complex problems of life through is sensitive and poignant poetry.”
Sohan Rahi thanked the judges of Katha UK for selecting his book for the award. He said, “Poetry is not a hobby for me, in fact it is my way of worshipping. Poems and lyrics are my life, I live them… I breathe them. He also sang one of his own composed lyric.
Mr. Gauri Shankar (Dy. Director, Nehru Centre) was proud of the fact that now questions on Katha UK award are asked in the UPSC, Railway Board and Banking Board exams. The Nehru Centre, Air India and TRS were the main sponsors for this year’s Katha UK award function.
Noted singer Nishi rendered the traditional Saraswati Vandana; Sohan Rahi’s citation was read by Madhu Arora who flew specially for this event from Mumbai; Mr. Anand Kumar (Hindi and Culture Officer) read the citation for Pradeep Saurabh. Moderator for the evening was Tejendra Sharama.
Among others Councillor K.C. Mohan, Councillor Grewal, Mrs. Padmaja, Prof. Amin Mughal, Ayub Aulia, Jitendra Billu, Ram Sharma Meet, Achala Sharma, Usha Raje Saxena, Govind Sharma, Neena Paul, Mahendra Dwesar, Padmesh Gupta, Nikhil Kaushik, Vijay Rana, Mira Kaushik, Pervaiz Alam, Pushpa Rao, Kavita Vachaknavi, Shanno Agrawal, Ved Mohla, Dr. Mahipal Verma, and K.B.L. Saxena were presend in the programme.

Pradeep Saurbh receiving International Indu Sharma Katha Samman.
(From Left to right: Cllr. Zakia Zubairi, Pradeep Saurabh, Kailash Budhwar, Virendra Sharma (MP), Tejendra Sharma, Lord King, Sohan Rahi)

Sohan Rahi receiving the award
(From left: Lord King, MP Virendra Sharma, Tejendra Sharma, Sohan Rahi, Cllr. Zakia Zubairi, Kailash Budhwar.)

Sitting from Left:
Pradeep Saurabh, Cllr. Zakia Zubairi, Virendra Sharma MP, Lord King, Sohan Rahi
Standing from left:
Aditi Maheshwari, Cllr. K.C. Mohan, Frencesca Orsini (S.O.A.S.), Deepti Sharma, Madhu Arora, Neena Paul, Kailash Budhwar

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