Fifty years young

The Aligarh Muslim University Cultural Centre has completed five decades of nurturing excellence in the literary and cultural field.

Dr. F.S. Sheerani (right) presenting the plaque to author Prajwal Parajuly.

The Aligarh Muslim University Cultural Centre (formerly General Education Centre) recently completed its 50 years. Marking the occasion, the Centre organised an event “Spirit – Celebrating Youth Empowerment” under the auspices of its Literary Club.

The main attraction at the event was noted author Prajwal Parajuly who delivered the keynote lecture titled, “Youth for Creative Writing – Scope and Opportunities in the Third World”, and also released his book “The Gurkha’s Daughter”.

Speaking of the event, Prajwal said, “Literary initiatives like this are a must for the growth of intellectualism amongst the Indian youth. Literary and cultural events have a unique importance in the growth of the young minds, which the Indian society must realise. I am pretty impressed by the way the members of university’s Literary Club organised the event. AMU has a healthy infrastructure and could provide a strong base for such activities.” Prajwal was also granted the lifetime membership of the ‘University Literary Club’, on the occasion.

The hub of literary and cultural activities of the University, the UCC was founded in 1962 by Professor Moonis Reza. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Centre’s very unique architecture was designed by the famous American architect, Joseph Allen Stein, who interconnected the three main buildings of the compound (the Kennedy auditorium, the museum, and the library), “so that an integrated attitude towards culture is inculcated among students,” as Stein had described.

The Centre has recently signed an agreement with the US Embassy to conduct cross-cultural and student exchange programmes every year.

“The UCC was established to facilitate sound overall personality development of the University students. It was aimed to offer breadth of knowledge and vision to the students. Fifty years on, we look forward to broadening our horizons, giving our students a better platform for active learning,” said Dr. F. S. Sherani, Coordiantor, UCC.

The prestigious centre has given many famous names in the field of arts and literature including the likes of Asrarul Haque Majaz , Rahi Masoom Raza, Shahryar, Javed Akhtar, Muzaffar Ali, Naseeruddin Shah, Raza Murad, Anubhav Sinha and many others.