Medan, Kovermagz – A community of Indian poetry and literature enthusiasts spread throughout the world, called Poetry and Literature Group (PLG) was formed all the way back to 10 years ago in Oman by Mr. Tufail Ahmad, the idea was to engage people into literature on a regular basis. But lockdown due to the current pandemic opened a new avenue for PLG, and since then online meetings were scheduled to accommodate the group activities. Fortunately, as it went online, PLG grew exponentially and poets from all around the world started attending the weekly program. Soon, PLG US and Canada was launched, followed by PLG South East Asia, Europe and India.
The executive board consisting of Mr Tufail Ahmad (Global President of PLG International), Mr Ajay Gupta (Regional President of PLG North America), Mr Ashish Sharma (Regional President of PLG Southeast Asia), Mr Kumar Aditya (Regional President of PLG India) and Ms Yojna Sah Jain (Regional President of PLG Europe) arrange weekly meeting at the same time every Saturday at 7.30 pm India time via zoom application, on different topic each week, such as: Topic Based Poetry, Open Poetry, Celebrating the Legend Poet, Short Story Telling, Mono Act and Children Programs.
Kover Magazine was invited by Mr. Ashish Sharma (Regional President PLG South East Asia) who is residing in Medan, on a night of celebrating the legendary Maya Angelou. The meeting was held online on October 24 starting from 21:00 WIB. As the representative of Kover Magazine, Elsa Malona, Editor In Chief, was given the honor to unravel and virtually release PLG Magazine. “I have been leading an 11-year-old magazine for 8 years now, through many ups and downs. Commercially speaking, it was the first printed lifestyle magazine in Sumatera island, and the last standing. PLG magazine is not merely a collection of letters and words. It is filled with people’s lives, people’s passion, thoughts and emotions, so this is precious and I congratulate the editorial team,” she said before the unravelling of PLG magazine.
Mr. Tufail Ahmed himself opened the meeting and welcomed all the attendees, “Maya Angelou was a great poet, her works are very inspiring. Many times we stumble upon some motivational quotes without knowing it is Maya Angelou’s. One of them that I like is: You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them”, he said. Across the screen, all the participants looked excited, some were still teenagers and it was quite a sight to see young people loving poetry and literature.
The virtual event was moderated by Mr.Bipin Kuriakose (Oman) who mastered Maya Angelou’s life story and her popular poems made the program entertaining and informative at the same time. PLG Editorial Board members Mrs.Vibha Tiwari, Mrs. Simmi Kumari (Oman) and Mr. Avadhesh Rana (UAE) displayed the PLG magazine which was then released by the Chief Guest, Mrs.Elsa Malona.
Maya Angelou was more than just an American writer, she was also an actress, screenwriter, dancer, poet and civil rights activist. Maya died in 2014 at age 86 —spent her life giving lessons to society through countless poems, essays, and memoirs, bravely sharing her many trials and tribulations—but also triumphs—as a Black woman in America. Her messages have encouraged many people to maintain hope during even the most impossible of situations. Maya Angelou always did everything with a spirit of excellence. And at almost everything that happened to her or around her, she took a lesson out of it. Until now her poems and quotes are being used everyday worldwidely.
Her debut memoir: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1970, is the first of a 7-volume series of Maya’s memoirs, starting from 3-year old Maya being sent away with her brother to her grandmother’s house after her parents’ divorce, up to 16-year-old Maya who gave birth to her son. The book made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman. It was published internationally acclaimed, and was named by Times Magazine to be 1 of 100 best nonfictional book of all time.
Some of Angelou’s popular quotes are:
If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.
I do my best because I’m counting on you counting on me
If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.
We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.
Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.
In this literary conference, Mrs.Elsa Malona (Indonesia) Mr. Tufail Ahmed (Oman), Mr. Ashish Sharma, Abhilaksh Sharma Lakshi (Indonesia), Mr.Bipin Kuriakose, Mrs.Sherebanu Akbari, Mr. Monawwar Rahman, Mrs.Sarwat Ali, Likita Kavuru, Jayatee Choudhury (Oman), Mrs. Anupam Ramesh Kinger, Mr.Shah Nawaz Khan, Iqra Khan (Bahrein), Mrs.Rekha Nair, Mrs. Seema Tomar, Mrs. Shubhangi Shandilya, Arunima Singh, Hatim Yusuf (India) recited the poems of Maya Angelou. The PLG video was created by Abhilaksh Sharma Lakshi and the PLG poster was designed by Aamir Tufail Ahmed. Mr. Ajay Gupta Regional President PLG North America uploads recordings of the program on YouTube every week.
