A circle of friends and likeminded acquaintances having imbibed the strength, beauty and the souls of Malayalam poetries often organized a friendship huddle to debate and cherish the marvels of Malayalam poems. What was their common driving force? Their unconditional love towards their mother tongue – Malayalam, as well as the memories that they carry with them about the “God’s own country- The little land of Kerala, where they spent their childhood and grew up until they fledged far out to the west to eventfully disembark to live in an astoundingly beautiful place that can at times get marred in frigid climate, the city of Calgary in Canada.

The warmth that was brought in to the hearts and minds of this group through the discourse of Malayalam literature was indeed a down jacket like no other regardless of where the Celsius scale has settled for that day. It was 2010, a day in October. Like in every household the news showed the audacity to sieve in to the living rooms of their homes with that harrowing news of the untimely departure of the audacious yet blarney Malayalam poet Sri A Ayyapan. An ensuing powwow by these literature lovers was inevitable after hearing this news. They eulogized the life of the poet. Yet there was something unsettling reverberated in them. Like the life of Sri A Ayyapan the status of the Malayalam language among the Malayalee community in Calgary was impoverished, orphaned, stature stunted and lacked nurturing. This was especially true among the generation growing up here in Calgary as they must acclimatize to the west in order to thrive in this society. It was unnerving for this group to watch this literary climate slipping away from the upcoming generation. With determination they deliberated, conceived and gave birth to a novel initiative – the Kavyasandhya Calgary.

When the Kavyasandhya was started in 2010, it was informal at the beginning with support mainly coming from the trailblazers of this initiative. Until 2012, where a formal venue was organized for the participation of the general public, the Kavyasandhya found her venues in the basements of the homes of her founders. Their tenacity and determination in those founding years served them well in building a community of poetry lovers in Calgary. Participants came forward. Venues, though small at the beginning, began to grow in size to accommodate a brimming crowd from little children to seniors to every age group in between. Many well-wishers came to attend just to enjoy the beautiful poem recitals. Thus, the Kavyasandhya is now able to offer a cultural facade and a space for poetic discourse to the small Malayalee community living in Calgary in a way both humble and beneficent.
Ever since it began, the torchbearers were determined and were able to organize a Kavyasandhya event once every year facilitating and welcoming everyone in the community to take part in it. There everyone was given a chance to recite poetry from their favorite poet; one could enjoy the recitation of poems written by literary legends like Ashan, Vallathol, Ulloor to the poems of poets from both renaissance and contemporary periods. Astonishingly, in recent years, poets were born within the Malayalee community in Calgary. It’s so gratifying for the organizers that today around 5 new poets recite their creations in the annual event. Moreover it’s heartwarming for everyone to hear the Malayalam poem recitals by children raised in Calgary with such crisp prosody and diction true to the soul of the poem that they are presenting.

In summary, the caldron of Kavyasandhya that was lit in 2010 continued to flame in the last 9 estimable years as a bright street beacon. A pleasant evening in the month of May of every year, as the beautiful landscape here in Calgary is getting basked in the spring blossoms, is when Kavyasandhya is organized. These days around 20 adults and as many kids participate in the Kavyasandhya. The Kavyasandhya, an eternal lamp, independent and welcoming, one of the coruscating embellishments of Calgary, continues to attract participants from age 4yrs to youth and adult group of any age, gender and ethnicity.

From the very beginning till date entry to the Kavyasandhya event is free of cost to the public. In the last couple of years a donation box was made available at the venue to full-fill the great desire shown by the friends, poetry lovers and well-wishers to drop their anonymous monitory contributions of any denomination gratifying to them for supporting the cost to run the event.

For more information and to become part of the Kavyasandhya, please contact +1 403 613 9256/ +1 587 306 2275.