Children's book by Gulzar launched

Noted lyricist-writer-filmmaker Gulzar's new children's book "Bosky Ka Panchatantra" was launched here at the ongoing Samanvay IHC Indian Languages Festival.

"When she (Bosky) was small, I would tell her these stories. These stories have always stayed with me because writing and narrating stories to a child is no less than a challenge," Gulzar told the audience Friday.

"To learn children's language is a challenging task. As the generation changes, language too changes. This book is also an attempt to bring children closer to the Hindi language," he added.

The collection comprises stories from Panchatantra, even though they have been read and told many times before, Gulzar lends lyrical freshness in narration.

In the past, he penned dialogues and songs for several Doordarshan programmes for kids like "The Jungle Book", "Alice in Wonderland", "Guchche" and "Potli Baba Ki".

Gulzar shared the stage with eminent Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh and together they recited some of their finest poems.

The septuagenarian, who is a Sahitya Akademi award recipient, pointed out that a language can never be static.

"I have seen changes in the language for decades now. How influences of other languages changes, alters its shape. This is why I don't like to say that my language is Hindi or Urdu, I call it 'Hindustani' because it changes its structure with every city," he said.