HT Correspondent
Varanasi, February 24
The four-day all India annual youth festival ‘Kashi Yatra’ of the Institute of Technology (IT), Banaras Hindu University (BHU) began on Thursday evening amid enthusiasm.
The main attraction of the inaugural day was a ‘Kavi Sammelan’ in which noted poets from all over the country participated. Sarvesh Asthana from Lucknow kicked off the Kavi Sammelan and cracked a number of jokes. He recited some poems such as ‘Hamne police afsar se puchcha, mahodaya bata sakte ho aatanki kise kahte hai’, ‘Policewale ne byah rachaya, suhagraat ke din patni ko chaukaya’ etc.
Kamlesh Sharma of Mainpuri recited ‘Jinke liye bitayi raat jaagte huye, to din bhi bitaya kabhi rote kabhi haste huye’. Sharma recited a poem commenting on the foreign visits of some political leaders: Desh ko tumse thi kuch aas, tumhara kad bhi tha kuch khas, kintu tum na sharmaye, aisa gaye videsh desh ka naam duba aye’.
Sardar Manjeet Singh from Haryana recited some outstanding jokes. He also rendered some poems such as ‘Doctor ne mareez ko table par litaya, bina vastra hataye injection chubhaya’.
Budding poet of Allahabad Imraan also won applause from the audience by reciting his poem ‘Samne dekhkar muh na yu moda karo, dil ye nazuk hai isko na toda karo’.
Dr. Suresh Awasthi of Kanpur recited ‘Unki tirchi nazre dekhkar mar mite ham to, ye bad mein pata chala wo tirche hi dekhte hain’, ‘Iske pahle desh mein ye vatavaran kabhi na bana’.
Sunil Jogi conducted the Kavi Sammelan and won thunderous applause by reciting a poem ‘Yaro mere shadi mat karna, ye hai meri arzi, phir bhi ho jaye to upar wale ki marzi’. Pt. Visheshwar Sharma and Sunil Dubey also presented their poems.