PHOTOS: famous Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi celebrated in India

On 11th October, 2022, on the occasion of the ensuing birth bicentenary of Sándor Petőfi, the Hungarian revolutionary, freedom icon and poet, a lecture with music and songs was held at Delhi. The event titled ‘Celebrating Sándor Petőfi’ was organised by Hungarian Visiting Lecturer Network and Poetry Across Cultures India. The venue was Gargi College, a leading women’s college of Delhi University.

The function was inaugurated by Dr. Margit Köves, Visiting Lecturer of Hungarian Language at University of Delhi. She introduced János Háy, Tamás “Rye” Rozs and Dr. Rita Malhotra to the audience.

Dr. Rita Malhotra is the Founder President of Poetry Across Cultures India. She is a mathematician, poet, essayist, poetry critic and translator. She spoke about the life and times of legendary Petőfi and his poems. She recited a few poems of Petőfi and highlighted the poetic nuances.

Dr. Margit Köves. Photo: Gopalan Rajamani

The main lecture was by János Háy, a prominent contemporary Hungarian author, poet and playwright. He formulated the importance of Petőfi as follows:

“In Hungary, Petőfi is synonymous with the word poet and the profession of poet. He becomes part of a Hungarian baby’s basic vocabulary after the words for mother, father,food and drink. We talk about him, we cite his poems, and we study and celebrate his life and work.”

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Photo: Gopalan Rajamani

Photo: Gopalan Rajamani

Tamás “Rye” Rozs is a Hungarian musician, composer, teacher and singer. He studied Hungarian literature and studied jazz music with János Gonda. He has curated literary evenings of Hungarian poets on the stage and regularly participates in plays. He holds music therapy sessions in universities and schools. He has set to music many poems of Petőfi.

Audience enjoyed the musical presentation of Petőfi poems by Tamás and János. A full house was regaled by the super performance by the Hungarian duo. János also displayed his singing talent. Hundreds of students and others enjoyed the event.

Photo: Gopalan Rajamani

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After the amazing lecture and songs session, a few Petőfi poems translated into Hindi were sung and a beautiful dance was performed. This was done by the groups Nazaakat and Samranjini.

It was a wonderful afternoon of a talk on Petőfi poems, music, songs and dance.

Source: Gopalan Rajamani/press release