Sahitya Akademi president and Urdu critic Gopi Chand Narang urged young writers to uphold the sanctity of the written word, fundamental and moral values.
He told upcoming writers that certain moral values, which have constantly been proved otherwise, need to be preserved and written about.
Illustrating his assertion, Narang said that though Satyameva jayate (May truth prevail) is enshrined in our national emblem, more often than not truth has been defeated.
In his presidential address at the inaugural function of New Voices, the Akademi’s fourth and final regional workshop for young writers of Indian languages here on Friday, Narang promised that the Akademi would offer the budding writers a platform to voice their opinion and for exchange of thoughts.
Narang also quoted a couplet of 17th century Urdu poet Vali Gujarati, who was pioneer of ghazals, to drive home his point that there was eternal scope for fresh thinking in writing.
Akademi secretary K Satchidanandan said the challenge before young writers is to become morally responsible and aesthetically innovative.
He said that young writers will find it difficult to express themselves subtly amid onslaught of cultural, communal violence and globalisation.
Narang lamented that Vali, whose grave was razed during the communal riots in 2002, was meted such a treatment in his home state, a place which he had always loved and longed for.
Referring to Vali’s singing in praise of Ram, Kashi and Benaras Narang said that while heap of mud and cement (Vali’s grave) may have been razed “what would remain undestroyed will be truth and power in Vali’s words”.
He lamented that basic values such as non-violence, fellow feeling, welfare of all have beed eroded.
He cited the communal violence in Gujarat as an example in this erosion of moral values.
He urged the young writers to uphold moral values in the face of material progress such as consumerism and free market economy.
Dispelling the notion that the Akademi did not pay attention to young writers, He said, “On our golden jubilee, for the first time we honoured five young writers.”
Marathi poet Mangesh Padgaonkar, who spoke in Marathi, raised issues such as the need to “understand man” and creative expression of thought.
In a speech laced with wit, he said, “Understanding man and expressing thoughts creatively is double achivement...a writer has to pass through death-like experience to express his thought in a creative way.”
Professor of linguistics and English at IIT, Delhi, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, who is also a english poet, said there was no way escaping onslaught of modern communication technology on the contemporary writing.
She said this onslaught was clearly felt in the campus lingo and the language used in chat rooms on the internet and advertising “which was reduced to a mix of Hindi and English”.
She said that the young writers should not ignore the fact that though India has the highest population of youth, most of them are illiterate.