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Director IGCIC Balwant Thakur address 25 Nations

YB WEB DESK. Dated: 11/1/2021 6:49:05 AM

Port Louis, Oct 31 Balwant Thakur the Director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Indian Culture High Commission of India Mauritius today addressed 25 Nations as Chief Guest on a platform of World Hindi Secretariat (an organisation representing India, Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, and Nepal) Central Hindi Directorate, Government of India and Global Hindi Family (a joint organisation of 25 countries) in the centenary celebrations of a prolific Mauritian Hindi writer Somdutt Bakhori. Prominent Hindi scholars from across the globe participated in this historic literary symposia. Balwant Thakur who is currently heading the world's biggest Cultural Centre of India abroad based in Phoenix, Mauritius has been initiating lot of International events aimed at promoting the languages and culture of India globally. While addressing 25 nations globally, Balwant Thakur said that we all need to take pride in the fact that Hindi is the 3rd most spoken language of the glove and has contributed immensely in taking India to the world. While Hindi is widely spoken in India, Mauritius, Nepal and Guyana but it is also spreading its wings in USA, South Africa, Uganda, Bangladesh, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Canada, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Kenya, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sint Maarten, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Yemen, and Zambia. Coming to Somdutt Bakhori whose Birth Centenary is being created by the literary world globally has been one of the pioneers of Hindi movement in Mauritius. He had the equal hold over poetry, prose and playwriting. As a writer of both Hindi and English languages he has always been admitting that he wrote Hindi from the heart and English from the brain. Striking this balance he published 18 different books in both the languages covering a wide spectrum of subjects ranging from travelogues, criticism, plays, poetry to government and governance. As a playwright he always took socal cause as his core theme and wrote on various concerns of then Mauritian society. Truly reflecting upon society's deficiencies, his theatre played a crucial role in shaping the Mauritian society which figures amongst the top ranking peaceful societies of the entire African continent. Being a lawyer by profession himself, Somdutt Bakhori's critique of governance has been an eye opener for successive governments. His works were just not imaginary but deeply rooted in the realities of life and he in a very articulate manner suggested many ways and means of good practices. This is heartening to note that Balwant Thakur within a period of four months has done tremendous diplomatic work aimed at strengthening cultural relations.