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For Kerala schoolgirl, poem opens doors to Pakistan
Indo-Asian News Service

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 7 (IANS) An 11-year-old schoolgirl in this Kerala capital has been invited by Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister Choudhary Parvez Elahi to his country after he read a poem she wrote.

Amritha Sanjeev, a Class 6 student here, is elated at the prospect of visiting Pakistan. She got a letter from Elahi's secretary on behalf of the chief minister asking her to visit Pakistan. 

"I am really happy that I have been invited to Punjab and my parents are making the necessary arrangements for our travel. I do not know when we would go. For that you have to ask my father", Amritha told IANS. 

Elahi sent the invitation after reading a 42-line poem written by the young poetess describing the plight of the horse he had gifted his Indian Punjab counterpart Captain Amarinder Singh when he visited Lahore.

The poem titled "A tale of a horse and two Chief Ministers" was published in The Statesman on June 2 this year. After it was published, Sanjeev mailed a copy of the poem to Elahi with a letter.

Amritha's mother C.P. Beena, who works at a village council here, said Amritha had been provoked to write the poem after she read a newspaper report on the sad condition of the horse that was said to be limping.

She said her daughter began writing poems when she was in Class 3.

"We were in Delhi till last year because my husband was posted in Delhi and it was there that she began jotting down lines. I think she has got this talent from her father who also writes," said Beena. 

"The letter from Elahi's secretary has mentioned that all the expenses would be met by them and we would be treated as official guests. This has boosted our morale. Amritha is now working on a new poem titled 'Hospital'," she added.

Amritha's father works in the state secretariat and is busy arranging their travel documents.