Shahron mein barudo ka mausam hai, gaon chalo wahan amrudo ka mausam hai.

Wah-wahs rent the spring evening air of Hazaribagh when noted Urdu shair and Bollywood lyricist Rahat Indori presented the striking contrast between gunpowder and guavas on Wednesday evening, the curtain-raiser to the three-day Konar Mahotasav.

Inaugurated on Thursday evening at Curzon Stadium around 8.45pm by Union minister and Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha, MP (North East Delhi) Manoj Tiwari, state minister Saryu Roy, MLA (Hazaribagh Sadar) Manish Jaiswal, Konar Mahotsav saw a crowd of nearly 25,000.

MP Tiwari, who is also a popular Bhojpuri actor-singer, sang the Hanuman Chalisa.

On Wednesday too, the poetry fest around 7.30pm, saw over 5,000 people in the audience at Vinodini Tarwey Park of Vinoba Bhave University.

For nearly four hours, people listened with rapt attention to poets such as Indori, Wasim Barelvi, Ashok Chakradhar, Sarvesh Asthana and Nusrat Mehndi.

State HRD minister Neera Yadav, MLAs Manish Jaiswal of Hazaribagh Sadar and Manoj Yadav of Barhi and Hazaribagh DC Mukesh Kumar also appreciated the evening dedicated to word play.

Indori, who is also a scholar of Urdu, was in his element as he enunciated his romantic poems that he is famed for: " Zuban to khol, nazar to mila, jawab to de, main kitni bar luta hun hisab to de, tere badan ki likhawat mein hai utaar chaddhaw, main tujhko kaise padhun mujhe kitab to de."

From romance to patriotism, Indori changed tracks to read out: " Mohobat ki isi mitti ko Hindustan kehte hain."

The crowd often burst into applause spontaneously.

Ashok Chakradhar, a nationally renowned satire specialist, Hindi scholar and someone who has been seen on TV too, also earned applause. "Tujhe bhram hai main tera hoon, mujhe bhram hai tu meri hai, lekin na mai tera hun na tu meri hai, agar kuch hai to ego hai," he quipped in his trademark deadpan smile.

Barelvi, Asthana and Nusrat presented their poems till late in the night.The poet's meet ended at 11.15pm.