City based amateur writer, Prafull Dhyani has been awarded with Gyanoday Academy Deepshikha Award 2017 for his collection of poems titled ‘Assi ka Haridwar’. A businessman by profession, Dhyani has described the city in its natural state in his poems with the contemporary themes like rising pollution and suffocating environment for plants and humans alike finding places in them.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Dhyani said, “When I wrote these poems way back in 2004 I had no idea that they would fetch me such acclaim. A movie based on Satyajit Ray’s novel ‘Badshahi Anguthi’ which was released in 2014 mentions about the smoke arising from fireplaces. lot of development has occurred since then. The fuel has changed from firewood to coal to gas stoves, but pollution still remains a problem.” He touches the emotional chords through poem ‘Gamle mein lagey paed’ which dwells on the choking atmosphere of the cities while he suggests a solution through another poem, ‘Chalo gaon ki aur’. Another poem ‘Andhkar’ draws inference from Rigveda Sanhita and exhorts one to interiorize one’s mind.