New Delhi, Select events featuring music, poetry, literature, performance, film and art will be held across the country as part of a new cultural platform Agla Varka that aims to tell stories of Punjab.
Majha House and The Kuldip Nayar Trust have started Agla Varka to start meaningful conversations about Punjab that reflect the realities on the ground.
Agla Varka 2024 will begin on June 29 in New Delhi with a conversation on 'Panjab: A Question of Identity'. This will be followed by poetry, the publication of Kirpal Dhillon's "Identity and Survival: Sikh Militancy in India 1978-1993" and will conclude with a performance by storyteller and singer Rene Singh.
Participants in the inaugural edition include author and former Indian ambassador to the United States Navtej Sarna, musician Rabbi Shergill, filmmaker Bani Singh and poet and singer Daras.
To support this platform and as a first step, Kunzum Books, New Delhi, will have a shelf dedicated to the best writings on Punjab, be it history, contemporary issues or literature.
The next Agla Varka 2024 show will take place in Delhi in November. It will move to Amritsar in December with a two-day festival.
“The frontier state tag has overshadowed everything else,” says Preeti Gill, founder of Majha House and program director of Agla Varka.
Gill set up Majha House six years ago as a literary and cultural space in Amritsar to bring the best writers, poets, performers and singers to the border city and start conversations about Punjab in the state.
"We felt the time had come to bring many of these critical conversations about Punjab to the rest of India. We decided to start the series in June to commemorate 40 years since 1984, that cataclysmic year that changed things for the state." she adds.
“At a time when India is rewriting its history to include the Aam Aadmi, the Aam Aurat, I think it is essential to include the Aam Panjabi,” says Mandira Nayar of The Kuldip Nayar Trust and director of the Agla Varka programme.
Nayar's family founded the Kuldip Nayar Trust to preserve her memory by creating conversations about Punjab focused on culture, history and politics.
Majha House and The Kuldip Nayar Trust have started Agla Varka to start meaningful conversations about Punjab that reflect the realities on the ground.
Agla Varka 2024 will begin on June 29 in New Delhi with a conversation on 'Panjab: A Question of Identity'. This will be followed by poetry, the publication of Kirpal Dhillon's "Identity and Survival: Sikh Militancy in India 1978-1993" and will conclude with a performance by storyteller and singer Rene Singh.
Participants in the inaugural edition include author and former Indian ambassador to the United States Navtej Sarna, musician Rabbi Shergill, filmmaker Bani Singh and poet and singer Daras.
To support this platform and as a first step, Kunzum Books, New Delhi, will have a shelf dedicated to the best writings on Punjab, be it history, contemporary issues or literature.
The next Agla Varka 2024 show will take place in Delhi in November. It will move to Amritsar in December with a two-day festival.
“The frontier state tag has overshadowed everything else,” says Preeti Gill, founder of Majha House and program director of Agla Varka.
Gill set up Majha House six years ago as a literary and cultural space in Amritsar to bring the best writers, poets, performers and singers to the border city and start conversations about Punjab in the state.
"We felt the time had come to bring many of these critical conversations about Punjab to the rest of India. We decided to start the series in June to commemorate 40 years since 1984, that cataclysmic year that changed things for the state." she adds.
“At a time when India is rewriting its history to include the Aam Aadmi, the Aam Aurat, I think it is essential to include the Aam Panjabi,” says Mandira Nayar of The Kuldip Nayar Trust and director of the Agla Varka programme.
Nayar's family founded the Kuldip Nayar Trust to preserve her memory by creating conversations about Punjab focused on culture, history and politics.
