TEN days after his discharge from a hospital in Mexico City, Gabriel García Márquez, one of the greatest writers of our times, died on April 17, 2014 at the age of 87. Author of classic works such as One Hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Times of Cholera, No One Writes to the Colonel, The Autumn of the Patriarch and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, he created the eternal and marvelous Macondo which, in the imagination of millions of his readers, became synonymous with Latin America.
THE Janvadi Lekhak Sangh (JLS) held its eighth national conference at Allahabad, on February 14 and 15, with the message that it would do all it can to unite the writers, artists and other cultural workers with the broad democratic movement in order to meet the growing threat of communal fascism in the country. On the first day of the conference, a Meet on Composite Culture was held in an effort to bring on to one platform various groups of democratic minded writers and cultural workers as well as independent writers and other intellectuals against the communal threat.
ONE stage, two mikes, three instruments, four voices and thousands of the audience --- this was the scene on the Beach Road near Gandhi statue in Pondicherry on January 1, 2014. The members of the troupe were filled with energy during the whole day of the programme. The songs which they sang were thought provoking and graphically described the social evils such as poverty, untouchability and inequality etc. The programme lasted for 12 hours; it continued from 9 a m to 9 p m. This was the fourth successive and successful, 12 hour programme by the team.
ON a crisp sunny day as the world ushered in the first day of 2014, the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) organised a day long festival to remember the 25 years of Safdar Hashmi’s martyrdom. The Constitution Club Annexe was the venue of this memorable and important political and social event. The extravaganza like shows had artists from varied walks of life coming together on a common platform to remember an exceptional person whose life was cruelly cut short by those who were not comfortable with Safdar’s outspoken, non-conformist and radical methods.
THE site of Safdar Hashmi’s killing is Jhandapur, a small settlement in the heart of the sprawling Site IV Industrial Area in Sahibabad on the outskirts of Delhi. Over the past decade or so, however, several factories and industrial units in the area have closed down, giving way to malls, cineplexes, hotels, office complexes, luxury car showrooms, educational institutions, and so on. The nearby interstate bus terminal, a new railway station and the Delhi metro have all contributed to this process and accelerated it.
