On Saturday, September 30, Team Sukoon was stunned at the response it received from the audience for “Sukoon,” a concert conceived and curated by Kumkum Pareek Malik.

“ We are overjoyed. This was an experiment” said Kumkum ji. “ I took the risk because ultimately, the human journey is about emotions. And good poetry is about finding words to express those emotions.”

Sukoon combined “dil-ko-choo lene wali” poetry with intoxicating songs from Hindi films. The poetry was easy to understand, and the odd rare Urdu word was explained . The songs were very enjoyable and many were being performed for the first time in a concert in this area. Videos showing the scenes of key songs added a real sense of intimacy.

The enthusiastic audience was vocal about their appreciation. It seemed that very quickly a feeling of warmth and enjoyment was created in the atmosphere, and the performers responded. “I am loving this audience,” they said to each other. It was that rare concert where the audience and the performer on stage felt connected to each other.

Kudos to the Poetry Team (Kumkum ji, Syed Ali Rizvi, and Maneesh Shrivastava) and the Singing Team (Meena Sundaram, Sankar Gangaikondan, Raghu Saranathan, Sharanya Sarkar Verma, Vijay Kumar and Div Prakash). The sound was provided by Team SRAVEO, supported by Rohit Arora, and led by Ramakrishna Penumarthy.

A special shout out to Java and Hetal Joshi, co-owners of The Academy of Creative Arts. According to Kumkum ji, this dynamic couple helped her think through every aspect of the show’s requirements. "I felt that they wanted my show to succeed as though it was also their show. I couldn’t have pulled off the presentation aspects without them."

“Masterfully performed, and impeccably presented,” said a satisfied Rukmini Kumar. “The performers were on fire,” said the poetess Kiran Nath. “We lucked out,” said Kumkumj ji. “The audience was incredible, the Goddess of technology smiled, and our volunteers excelled beyond expectations.”

Congratulations to all members of Team Sukoon for an unusually immersive concert. A special thank you from Team Sukoon to the audience for their generous and frequent applause. Ultimately, they created an atmosphere where each member had an incredibly fulfilling evening. May there be many more.

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