Lucknow— The India-Nepal Rubaroo Literary Festival, organised by the Rubaroo Foundation, marked a grand celebration of Hindi and Urdu literature, bringing together voices from across India and Nepal in a vibrant cross-border confluence of culture, creativity, and literary expression.
The event was formally inaugurated on June 21 by Rubaroo Foundation’s Founder-President Irshad Rahi, who highlighted the foundation’s mission of promoting Hindi and Urdu literature on a common platform. “Rubaroo was born with the vision of uniting new and established literary talents and giving stage presence to those whose voices have long remained unheard. Today, Rubaroo is shining like a constellation wherever lovers of Hindi and Urdu reside,” he said with pride.
Foundation Secretary Mohammad Azhar Hussain shared that Rubaroo is not only active in the field of literature but also plays a significant role in social service. During the COVID pandemic, the foundation helped the underprivileged, assisted in the marriages of girls from poor families, and supported the education of many children.
The festival featured a grand Kavi Sammelan and Mushaira, where poets and writers from across India, as well as Nepal, shared their verses and thoughts, winning hearts with their poetic expressions.
Prominent participants included Dr. Tanveer Iqbal Vishwani, Dinesh Shukla, Kavita Mishra, Vivek Yadav Agyani, Sudha Raj Chaudhary, Atiq Khan, Pallavi Sharma, Manmohan Barakoti Tamacha Lakhnaavi, Sachin Masoom, Amit Verma Ambar, Advocate Dr. Pratibha Singh, Anusubha Singh, Ankit Saraswat, Azad Anjaan, Dr. Jayprakash Tiwari, Dr. Rachna Singh, and many more from across cities such as Lucknow, Badaun, Agra, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, Jhansi, and even beyond from Nepal.
The festival’s valedictory was marked by a heartfelt vote of thanks by Adeeba Irshad and was dedicated to two literary legends — Maulana Hasrat Mohani, the freedom fighter and Urdu poet, and Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, a pillar of Hindi poetry. A special paper on their contributions was presented by Sharik Rabbani, earning warm applause from the audience.
All participating poets, writers, and literary figures were felicitated by the foundation. Among the many honourees were Dr. Alka Gupta Priyadarshini, Dr. Kalpana Bhadauriya Swapnil, Ritu Srivastava, Farid Ali Bashar, Rajeev Srivastava, Kamini Srivastava Kirti, Muskan Keshari, and Tejaswini Sengupta, among others.
This India-Nepal literary festival proved to be a cultural milestone, reaffirming the shared literary heritage of the two neighbouring countries and setting a shining example of cross-cultural literary camaraderie.
