Awards too rained this year. Apart from Dr Patar and Meet, poetess Sukhwinder Amrit received the Bhasha Vibhay’s best poetess award and Gurbhajan Gill bagged the Baba Bulleshah award. The city also saw well-known cinema critic and sufi exponent Dr Madan Gopal Singh being conferred the first-ever Prof Sant Singh Sekhon Sahitaarth Puraskaar.

Along with the Akademy, Punjab Agricultural University too pitched in with a trilingual poetic symposium and a long list of book releases, not to forget the play “Rishtey” staged by Canada-based Gurdeep Arts Academy, in collaboration with Punjabi Sabhiyachar Academy.

Private groups like the Adeeb International Sahir Cultural Academy held its annual mushaira in memory of Sahir that was held under the shadows of Mumbai terror attack with poets from Pakistan failing to make it to the mushaira. Ludhiana Sanskritik Samagam (LSS) meanwhile marked its tenth anniversary with the Ekjute Theatre Group led by Nadira Babbar performing a play on memoirs of M.F. Hussain — “Pencil sey brush tak” apart from holding its regular programmes. Media Artists Media Artists meanwhile held a concert for peace and understanding in November featuring Bhai Baldeep Singh, a multi-dimensional cultural explorer and a 13th generation Kirtan exponent, who is a vocalist, percussionist and string player, all rolled into one besides being an Instrument Maker, Lecturer, Archivist, and founder of ANAD Conservatory: An Institute of Sikh Aesthetics and Culture. The city saw “Fann’a: Ranjha revisited” a dance theatre conceptualized, choreographed and performed by well known Bhartanatyam exponent Navtej Singh Johar, brought to town again by the same organization that also had Dr Madan Gopal Singh cast a magical spell on select audience at a concert, Sufiana.