Modern Literature Club celebrates International Peace Day

The MLT Club presented on 24^th September 2020 a session to commemorate The International Day of Peace (21^st September 20).  Moderated by Jacintha Thota(DP1), the session focused on the concepts of peace, justice and pluralism. It began with a literary prompt to activate thinking: the poem “Refuge” by Jason Fotso. It elicited interpretation of style, of cultural acceptance and its implications. It provoked an insightful discussion of the need to consciously question perspectives and biases, and how the switch from antagonism to emphathy is not precipitated naturally, but through deliberate efforts. Ms.Koel commented on the value of pluralism while explaining His Highness the Aga Khan’s quote on individuals bearing a solemn, heavy, responsibility towards ensuring pluralism and fostering an “inescapable condition of peace.” Anshuman Dutta of DP 1 carried forward the discussion by alluding to Paulo Coelho’s short children’s story, “The Meaning of Peace” to highlight the need for internalizing inner peace and the harmony of thought. Mr. Sudeep Ghosh, who interpreted ‘peace’ through the “exile of feeling” (Sir Ken Robinson), spoke about the Assamese poet Nilim Kumar’s poem ‘Kabi’(Poet) and Picasso’s Sun Circle. Ending the session on a hopeful note, the truth of pluralism and the search for inner peace were asserted to counter the mounting sense of disorder and fragmentation.