Vancouver-based literary women’s association Manasvini celebrated their one year anniversary last Saturday in Surrey with the launch of author Neelam Batra-Verma, 1971: A War Story based on a true story of the missing 54 Missing Prisoners of War from the 1971 India Pakistan War. Four eminent women speakers were invited to share about their accomplishments, their struggles in a new country and inspiring journey with Batra-Verma being one of them. 

By DESIBUZZCanada Staff

SURREY – Vancouver-based literary women’s association Manasvini celebrated their one year anniversary last Saturday in Surrey with the launch of author Neelam Batra-Verma, 1971: A War Story based on a true story of the missing 54 Missing Prisoners of War from the 1971 India Pakistan War.

The book 1971: A War Story is an emotional tale of a family’s anguish whose only breadwinner goes missing. A pilot goes missing somewhere over enemy territory during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Full of surprising twists and turns, this is a story of love and hate, of the human cost of war and the lives hanging in limbo when a loved one goes missing. A suspense thriller, which will keep you engrossed till the end.

Four eminent women speakers were invited to share about their accomplishments, their struggles in a new country and inspiring journey with Batra-Verma being one of them. 

The event offered a platform for the women speakers from diverse fields such as Medicine, Business, Arts and Community Work to share their inspirational journeys. Attendees enjoyed the creative readings from the book launch and it was also an opportunity to network. 

Author Batra-Verma signed copies of her book and gave away free copies to members of Manasvini. 

“This was a unique moment and the first book launch from our platform. We wish our member and writer Neelam Verma every success and we hope to organize more literary events in future,” said Asmita Lawrence, one of the founders of Manasvini, along with Shikha Porwal, who have created this platform for new writers to develop their literary skills in Hindi and to network with other women to share their thoughts, expressions and emotions. 

“Our tag line ‘Kitchen se Kalamtak’ in Hindi translates as ‘From the culinary to the literary’. We are a support system for each other and our expressions have  been an effective way to stay connected and cope with the Covid19 pandemic” said Porwal.

Manasvini has been organizing events promoting creative writing in Hindi and occasionally in English for the past year since it was formed on March 8 2021. Manasvini also organizes cultural events engaging participants from the South Asian Diaspora as well as the rest of the multicultural community of BC

More information on the website: www.manasvini.ca