LAUNCH OF AAGHAZ-E-DOSTI CALENDAR AND THE SHARING OF HOPES FOR A PEACEFUL AND FRIENDLY CO-EXISTENCE
At a time when the border clash has spurted fresh waves of jingoism on both sides of the border, with people challenging the peace activists and advocating a stronger or more inhuman reaction, a people’s initiative, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, will launch the “Calendar for Peace and Love” with paintings of hope collected from youths of both sides of the border.
An initiative of Mission Bhartiyam, Aaghaz-e-Dosti, targets to create unwavering bonds of peace and friendship between India and Pakistan. The bonds that will survive the vagaries of such troubles times. But these bonds are not artificial ones, they rest on the belief and claim that people of India and Pakistan not only share the same language, culture, values and challenges but also the desire for peace and friendship. It rests on the belief that if there are people on both sides of the border who cannot and do not want to forget the past and do not want others to forget it, there are also people who want to forget the past and not just move on but move along to create a new chapter in history…of friendship and brotherhood.
And so, Aaghaz-e-Dosti is set to launch “Calendar for Peace and Love” that would remind us every day about these people. The Calendar with the paintings of an innocent and apolitical mind will remind us that mindsets have been constructed. The six paintings narrate the restriction of ‘freedom’, the ‘desire’ with the birds flying across borders and peace and friendship for a better future. Together with the beautiful dreams of the young and innocent, the Calendar also has messages from people who have been actively working to nurture these dreams. This calendar is a collection of these shared dreams of peace and friendship. It serves as a hope shared by people who are just like us, in habit and struggle. With the turn of the pages to start a new month, the hope shall be renewed.
For this calendar, we had collaborated with two Pakistan-based organisations, Center for Youth development activities(CYDA) and Imov Humans.
The Calendar launch will also have a small discussion or a sharing of hopes for a peaceful and friendly co-existence. People who have been working to strengthen the relations, students from Pakistan and anyone who has an experience or a hope to share will be sharing their thoughts. The main speakers include Shri Pankaj Singh (Eminent Hindi Poet and part of the Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature), Prof Dhananjay Tripathi (Department of International Relations, South Asian University), Shri Sirish Agarwal(Founder of India Pakistan Families Solidarity Association) and Shri Pankaj Chaturvedi (Noted columnist in many newspapers and Co-editor at National Book Trust) and some Pakistani students studying in India.
The details of the program are:
Date: 27th January 2013
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Venue: Gandhi Peace Foundation, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi
We invite your presence as we share our hopes and desire to create a new history of peace and friendship.
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