New Delhi: SAARC has never been in this much of limelight since its inception in 1985 than during the unprecedented victory of Narendra Modi in the Indian general elections.
Modi`s invitation to the leaders of the SAARC countries to his swearing in ceremony reflects his vision and deep commitment of seeing South Asia as a strong united region in a world dominated by successful regional organizations such as EU, ASEAN, African Union etc.
Incidentally all these regional organizations have their own official regional anthems.
Abhay K, an Indian poet-diplomat penned some time back a beautiful SAARC Anthem in nine major languages spoken in these countries to bind the eight SAARC countries in a single thread and to inspire SAARC to adopt an official SAARC Anthem.
SAARC Anthem is woven like this:
Himalaya theke Hinda Sagor,Naga Hills theke Hindukush (Bangla)
Mahaweli inn Ganga, Sindhu inn Brahmputra (Dhivehi)
Lakshadweep, Andaman, Everest, Adam`s Peak (English)
Kabul Lay Thimphu Tsuen, Male Lay Kathmandu (Dzongkha)
Dilli sita Dhaka, Colombin, Islamabad (Sinhala)
Harek paila saath-saath,Harek paila saath-saath (Nepali)
Dzongkha, Hindi, Nepali,Bangla, Pashto, Sinhala (Pashto)
Urdu, English, Dhivehi,Har kadam saath-saath,
Har kadam saath-saath
Apni-apni pehchan, apne-apne arman (Urdu)
Shanti ki baat-baat, Har kadam saath-saath (Hindi)
Har kadam SAARC saath, Har kadam saath-SAARC
Har kadam SAARC saath,Har kadam saath-SAARC.
The Anthem translates in English as-
"From the Himalaya to Hind, Naga Hills to Hindukush/Mahaweli to Ganga, Sindhu to Brahmputra/Lakshadweep, Andamans, Everest, Adam`s Peak/Kabul to Thimphu, Male to Kathmandu/Delhi to Dhaka, Colombo, Islamabad/Every step in harmony, every step in unison/Dzongkha, Hindi, Nepali,Bangla, Pashto, Sinhala/
Urdu, English, Dhivehi, every step in harmony, every step in unison/ One`s own identities, one`s own dreams/ Talks of love and peace, every step in unison/ Every step with SAARC, every step in unison/ every step with SAARC, every step in unison."
Stanley Weiss recently wrote in the Huffignton Post -"The eight nations of SAARC have a critical choice to make. Hopefully they will choose to move forward, in the words of SAARC`s potential anthem."
Playing the SAARC anthem penned by the Indian poet-diplomat at the swearing in ceremony ofNarendra Modi could express the vision of the new Prime Minister of India poetically and perhaps would also make the leaders of the SAARC countries feel at home in New Delhi.
The SAARC Summit is soon going to take place in Kathmandu and would be the perfect occasion to formally adopt an official SAARC Anthem.
