India, April 19 -- It was Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian poet and author, who had proclaimed that every beautiful poem is an act of resistance and so it was last week in the Delhi home of Chandigarh-bred artist Shumita Didi Sandhu where poets, performers and academicians across languages collected to speak of war and peace. The occasion, of course, was the second edition of an annual poetry do that took root in 2005, with a select reading in our city before moving to Delhi.

Last year's meet was at the India International Centre and this time in her living room, transformed into a cosy hall, full of fragile but blooming Daisy flowers, accommodating some 26 poets, authors, artistes, activists and singers sitting cosily to call out for peace ...