Packed house at Hasya Kavi Sammelan

BUENA PARK, CA: It was a packed house that greeted three veteran comedy poets at the Jain Center here on Saturday, June 7. Organized by the Indo-American Senior Heritage (IASH), the Hasya Kavi Sammelan brought together three comics- Om Prakash Aditya, Rajesh Chetan and Baba Mourya.The program kicked off after dinner and social hour at about 7 pm. Ashok Desai began the evening with opening remarks.

Pushpa Chandra introduced the poets to the audience.Rajesh Chetan, in his own funny way, paid glowing tribute to Om Prakash Aditya. He also did a satire on cricket, Mata Ki Chowki and cell phones.Om Prakash Aditya opened his score with a poem paying tribute to the NRIs. The fun began with a satire on the audience. He went on to hold the audience at the edge of their seats and in splits. Along with comedy, his poems also carried poignant social messages. The most hilarious was the Arti on money.Rajesh Chetan was not to be left behind.

His poems were essentially comical satires on cultural differences between the East and the West. He also did a funny piece on Laloo Prasad Yadav and referred to Sept 11 as Bin Laden Ekadasi. A lot of his poetry was fired by patriotism and nationalism. Of course no Indian comedian can resist a jibe at Sonia Gandhi, and he did just that. Chetan had the audience bent over with laughter with his poems on domestic situations.

My personal favorite was his definition of WIFE- Wonderful Instrument For Enjoyment! IASH President Uka Solanki in his address quoted Rishi Ved Vyas and urged people to contribute towards IASH. IASH Vice President B U Patel welcomed the audience and thanked them for making the event a grand success. Others who spoke include Purnima Karia, Ramjibhai Patel and Anil Parikh. Anil Parikh thanked the sponsors and the contributors.

The evening ended with some extremely funny Bollywood inspired comic poetry by Baba Mourya.Overall, the event was a grand success. The audience was bigger than the organizers would have thought in their wildest dreams. They had expected around 200 people but the actual attendance was over five hundred.
J S Bedi
sabhar: indiapost.com dt 10/6/08