Rekhta foundation | About Founder
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About Founder

hai kahan tamanna ka dusra qadam ya rab
ham ne dasht-e-imkan ko ek naqsh-e-pa paaya

This couplet by Mirza Ghalib captures the journey of Sanjiv Saraf in all its essence. Sanjiv Saraf is an industrialist, entrepreneur, investor, author and patron of literary & cultural heritage. Recipient of the Sir Syed Excellence National Award, Sanjiv Saraf has dedicated himself to preserving and promoting the Urdu language in India and beyond by establishing Rekhta Foundation. What started as one man’s passion cultivated into a movement, a revolution to work extensively to preserve texts and propagate the language professionally.

founder-mobile

An alumnus of the Scindia School (1975) and a graduate of IIT Kharagpur (1980), Sanjiv was involved in business and industry for over thirty years, during which he founded Polyplex Corporation Ltd., an Indian multinational, Manupatra, India’s leading legal database and other ventures in the green energy space.

Sanjiv has authored several books including
Golden Verses Golden Voices Golden Verses Golden Voices, Nawa-e-Sarosh navaesarosh & Love Longing Loss in Urdu Poetry.Golden Verses Golden Voices

As Sanjiv Saraf has said many times, Urdu is the love of his youth, and like most love stories that start at a young age, his too remained unresolved for some time. But the calling was too strong for him to resist, and he set out on this journey. Such was his passion and adoration for Urdu that Saraf sought to learn the language at an age that most of us deem to be the point of retiring from worldly affairs. His love for Urdu had summoned all his senses, and he started on the journey that we now know as Rekhta Foundation. Saraf says that the love for Urdu has transcended the notion of passion into a calling. For the precedent that Saraf has set with his efforts for Urdu, Hindi and other language enthusiasts are expecting something for those languages too.

For his exemplary work for Urdu literature, Sanjiv Saraf has received several awards and honours, including the distinguished Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) degree from Maulana Azad National Urdu University Hyderabad in 2016, the Sir Syed Excellence National Award 2018 by Aligarh Muslim University for his contribution to the cause of preserving and promoting Urdu and the Madhav Award as an Old Boy of Eminence for the year 2020 by the Scindia School for his work through Rekhta Foundation.

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Authored Books by the Founder

Authored Books by the Founder

Love Longing Loss in Urdu Poetry

The exquisite journey of love passes through numerous twists and turns, bringing different experiences to each individual. In Urdu poetry, poets have penned down these diverse experiences in rhyme with a sheer eloquence that aptly expresses the exceptional bond between the lover and the beloved. Meer, Ghalib, Momin, Dagh, Faiz and hundreds of Urdu poets have voices to the emotions of lovers going through stages such as longing, interplay, loving, possessiveness, rivalry, seperation, breaking-up and frenzy.

Authored Books by the Founder

Golden Verses Golden Voices (101 Popular Ghazals)

Ghazals are the most well-known genre of Urdu poetry. Their widespread popularity owes a great deal to the soulful composition and renditions by great singers such as Begum Akhtar, Farida Khanum, Amanat Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, and a host of other artists. This book is a collection of 101 of the most loved ghazals sung in these melodious voices.

Authored Books by the Founder

Nava-e-Sarosh : Voices from Beyond

The selection of works that made their way to this book caters to a wide readership-those reading to experience Delhi from the past, those who wish to engage with the musicality of rhymed verses and, most significantly, those who wish to explore the themes of love as conceptualized by classic poets. Desire, longing and the complexities of love are therefore open to exploration for you, dear reader and lover, through the words laid out in these ghazals by the 'voices from beyond'.

Awards & Recognition

Rumi Award

Rumi Foundation
(Jahan-e-Khusrau)
New Delhi
10-Mar-18

Farogh-e-Urdu Award

For Promotion of Urdu Language
Nai Duniya Weekly
New Delhi
13-Sep-13

Alamdar-e-Urdu

Bazm-e-Urdu
Dubai
16-Aug-18

Urdu Sewi Samman

Madhya Pradesh Urdu Academy
Bhopal
03-Feb-17

Ghalib Award

Baraye Majmooi Adabi Khidmat
Ghalib Institute
New Delhi
23-Dec-16

Mir Taqi Mir Award

American Federation of Muslim of Indian Origin
New York
2016

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