10-Sep-09 Kobi Nishikanto's Birth Centennary Seminar

As a part of the Birth Centenary Celebrations of Kobi Nishikanto Raichowdhury, a seminar was organized by Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture in collaboration with Sahitya Akademi and Visva Bharati at the Institute's premises at 3, Regent Park, Kolkata 40.
The inaugural session of the two-day long seminar commenced on September 10, 2009 at 5.30 in the evening at 'Hall of Light'. The Speakers were Shri Ramkumar Mukhopadhyay, Regional Secretary of Sahitya Akademi, Shri Alok Sarkar, eminent poet, Shri Manabendra Bandyopadhyay, Convenor of Bengali Advisory Board, Shri Swapan Majumdar, Director Rabindra Bhaban and Shrimati Dalia Sarkar, Kobi Nishikanto's biographer. The session started with the song Ei prithibir pather pore written by Kobi Nishikanto on the Mother of Sri Aurobindo Ashram and set to tune and sung by Shri Dilip Kumar Roy.
The speakers spoke about the various aspects of the Poet and artist, his association with Santiniketan and discussed that there has been a manifestation of a variety of artistic aspects in Nishikanto which include lyrics, paintings and verses, and which still moves the reader. Nishikanto's songs, set to tune by Dilip Kumar Roy were discussed. His unique style that is reflected in his paintings; his style of verse composition and the relationship between his poetry and paintings
The following day, that is September 11, Friday, marked the second and last day of the seminar which was divided into three categories: Life, Literature and Painting & Music of Kobi Nishikanto. The first session, which dealt with Nishikanto's life, began at 2 p.m. in the 'Hall of Light'. The speakers were Shrimati Dalia Sarkar, biographer of Nishikanto, Prof. Biswanath Ray, eminent scholar and orator and Shri Nirmal Singh Nahar, the oldest associate of Nishikanto and also the Founder-Trustee of Sri Aurobindo Bhavan, Kolkata. The session was chaired by Shrimati Alpona Ray and Shri Somendranath Bandyopadhyay.
Topics touched upon by the various speakers were Nishikanto's correspondence with his brother Sudhakanto, his attraction for the path of penance quite early in life and his life at Santiniketan and Pondicherry.

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