A unique confluence of literature in a moving Kalka Shimla Heritage train. 40 writers participated among 13 from all over India. The 4th Bhalkhu Smriti literary journey was successfully organized at the national level on 13th August, 2022 by the Himalaya Sahitya Sanskriti avam Paryavaran Manch Shimla in Shimla-Kalka moving rail, known as World Heritage, in which 40 writers participated. Among those 13 writers were from different places in the country. The Yatra was flagged off by Joginder Singh Vohra and Prince Sethi Station Superintendents, Chief Commercial Inspector Amar Singh Thakur. The were also honoured alongwith Railway Officers Sanjay Gera and Vyom ji. The journey went to Barog railway station and after lunch there, the writers came to Shimla by another train.
Many sessions of story, memoir, poetry, ghazal, music in the moving rail were held in the name of railway stations. This information was given to the media today by the Chairman and author of Himalaya Manch, SR Harnot. The first session in the name of Shimla Railway Station was of welcome, respect and introduction of writers, in which Harnot gave information about the purpose of the journey, the history of Kalka Shimla Railway and the contribution of Bhalku Jamadar and honored all the writers by giving Himachali cap, muffler and Souvenirs. He further said that the main purpose of this Yatra is to remember the significant contribution of Bhalku Jamadar, a rich laborer of divine and rare statue, in the survey of Hindustan Tibet Road and Shimla Kalka Railway and also to remember all those laborers who worked hard for constructing roads in remote mountains of Himachal and many laborers too lost their lives. This session was successfully conducted by Jagdish Gautam, a well-known anchor of All India Radio and Doordarshan Shimla.
The second session was in the name of Taradevi station in which famous poet journalist Rakesh Renu’s collection of poems ‘Naye Magadha Mein’ was launched by eminent litterateurs Madan Kashyap and SR Harnot. Madan Kashyap made a brief comment on the book. Rakeshrenu recited many poems from the collection. Dr. Satyanarayan Snehi conducted the session beautifully. The session, titled as Kaithlighat was dedicated to the story and memoir, presided over by noted novelist Malik Rajkumar and conducted by Deepti Saraswat with succinct remarks. In this session Nilesh Kulkarni, Rajukar Raj, Sunaini Sharma, Malik Raj Kumar, Ram Kishan Sharma , Ghanshyam Maithil Amrit, Sarita Kulkarni, Gupteshwarnath Upadhyay, Devkanya Thakur, Bharti Kuthiala and Vinay Sharma recited stories and memoirs.
- Poetry session was organized in the name of Barog railway station in which writers recited their poems and ghazals. This session was presided over by eminent poet & critic Madan Kashyap and conducted very attractively by Dr. Satyanarayan Snehi. Madan Kashyap, Rakeshrenu, Ajey, Satyanarayan Snehi, Roshan Jaswal, Navneet Pandey, Lakhwinder Singh, Deepti Saraswat, Shobha Barath, Gupteshwarnath Upadhyay, Devkanya Thakur, Kaushalya Thakur, Daksha Shukla, Naresh Deyog, Bharti Kuthiala, Jagdish Kashyap, Anil Sharma Neel, Aarti Sood Gupta, Annie Shaswat Sood, Ratanchand Nirjhar, Ashwani Kumar, Sneh Negi, Suman Dhananjay, Subhash Agarwal and two students Kavyansh and Arjun recited their poems and gazals. Along with Yadav Chand, Virendra Kumar and Yograj Sharma also had commendable cooperation in conducting the Yatra.
The session in the name of Kanoh station was dedicated to music which was conducted by eminent musician and researcher Sunaini Sharma along with folk singer Jagdish Gautam. While Sanaini Sharma enthralled everyone with Punjabi Log songs, Jagdish Gautam mesmerized everyone with Himachali folk songs. The telecast and photography of the programs were well handled by Jagdish Harnot. On 14th August all the writers will go to Jhajha Chail, the village of Baba Bhalku, where they will visit their ancestral home and meet their families and local people.
