Four flagship festivals, years of memories. Click any book to flip through what we have done — and what we are building toward.
Each flipbook is a living archive — the story of what we have built together, year by year. Flip through performances, moments, and milestones.
Meeraas 2022 marked the foundation's most ambitious cultural event to date — bringing together classical dancers, folk musicians, and Urdu poets on a single stage. Over three evenings, audiences from across the city sat together in a shared experience of inherited beauty.
The centrepiece of Meeraas 2022 was a rare collaborative performance — a Kathak recital choreographed to live ghazal singing. Audiences described it as one of the most moving evenings they had witnessed. The stage became a space where two art forms, usually kept separate, discovered their shared roots.
"Tradition is not a cage. It is a root from which new branches grow."
The second edition of Meeraas took the festival beyond the city — partnering with regional artists and folk ensembles from three states. New voices joined the conversation, and for the first time, the programme included an open-stage segment for emerging talent.
Meeraas 2023 — a full house across five consecutive evenings · Pasbaan-e-Adab
Meeraas 2024 introduced its first international collaboration — a dialogue between classical Indian and Central Asian musical traditions. The week-long festival also featured a dedicated children's programme, planting the seeds of cultural inheritance in the next generation.
The next chapter of Meeraas will travel — bringing the festival to cities that have not yet had the opportunity to experience this confluence of art forms. All events remain free and open to all. Reserve your seat now.
"Every year, more voices join the inheritance."
Anubhuti's inaugural edition arrived in the shadow of the pandemic — moving online to reach audiences who were confined at home. Live poetry readings, digital kavi sammelans, and virtual storytelling sessions drew participants from across 12 states, proving that Hindi has no borders.
The 2021 edition returned to a live format — a careful, intimate gathering that prioritised both safety and the irreplaceable energy of performance. Three poets read for the first time to a live audience since the lockdowns. The hall was half-full, but the silence between stanzas was absolute.
"In every word, a feeling waits to be named."
Anubhuti 2022 hosted its first full-scale kavi sammelan in three years — and it was unforgettable. Fifteen poets, representing voices from Rajasthan to Bihar, performed before an audience of over five hundred. The evening ran four hours beyond schedule, and no one left early.
Anubhuti 2023 — educational workshops brought creative writing to 200 students · Pasbaan-e-Adab
In 2023 and 2024, Anubhuti evolved beyond performances — embedding creative writing workshops in schools and colleges across Maharashtra, connecting students directly with published authors and established poets. Over 200 young participants discovered their writing voice for the first time.
The next edition will for the first time feature a dedicated diaspora stage — inviting Hindi poets from the Indian diaspora to participate alongside voices from the subcontinent. All events remain free, open, and welcoming. Save the date.
Kavyanjali began as a modest evening of Marathi verse — a tribute to the saint-poets of the Bhakti movement. What the founders did not expect was the response: hundreds arrived, many weeping quietly at lines they had not heard since childhood. A tradition was born that night.
The 2021 edition was themed around resistance — honouring Marathi poetry's long tradition of speaking truth to power. Poems by Narayan Surve, Bahinabai Chaudhari, and contemporary activists were performed side by side. The stage became a space of both mourning and defiance.
"Poetry here is not an archive. It is a living fire."
2022 introduced the New Voices stage — an open-mic segment exclusively for first-time performers under the age of 25. Twenty-two young poets performed. Several have since published their debut collections. Kavyanjali had become more than a festival: it was a launchpad.
Kavyanjali 2023 — poetry workshops carried to tribal schools in rural Maharashtra · Pasbaan-e-Adab
In 2023, Kavyanjali carried Marathi poetry into tribal schools in rural Maharashtra — a first in the festival's history. Poets and educators worked together to introduce children to the oral traditions of Varkari verse. For many students, it was the first time they had heard their own language celebrated on a stage.
The 2025 edition will for the first time travel to Mumbai, Nagpur, and Aurangabad — bringing the festival's signature blend of classical and contemporary Marathi verse to new audiences. Reserve your seat now. All events are free.
The inaugural edition of Izhaar centred on a single, intimate mushaira — eight poets, one evening, no amplification. Word spread through the city by the next morning, and within days, hundreds had requested recordings of verses that had been spoken only once, in one room, for a small audience.
Izhaar 2021 expanded into a two-day symposium on Urdu's place in contemporary India — featuring scholars, poets, and educators in open conversation. The discussions were frank, the disagreements productive, and the shared love of the language unmistakable.
"Urdu is the language of longing — and of arrival."
Izhaar 2022 featured the festival's first dedicated calligraphy exhibition — 30 original works by calligraphers from across India, displayed alongside the poetry that inspired each piece. The visual and verbal came together in a way that made visitors slow down, read differently, and see language anew.
Izhaar 2023 — the Youth Ghazal Night introduced Urdu poetry to an audience under 30 · Pasbaan-e-Adab
The 2023 Youth Ghazal Night drew an audience of predominantly under-30 attendees — many encountering the ghazal form for the first time. Young poets performed alongside veterans, and the exchange between generations produced some of the most memorable moments in Izhaar's short history.
The next edition will introduce a live recording series — preserving performances for an online archive of Urdu poetry in India. The festival will also expand its symposium to invite participation from universities across the country. All events remain free.
Click page edges to turn · Arrow keys · Esc to close
A literary and humanitarian foundation committed to preserving India's languages, promoting creative expression, and fostering community well-being.
پاسبانِ ادب