I
was on the train to Chennai. Expecting it to be
dull, I had taken a book of short stories (Interpreter of maladies). I thought the reading would last the entire journey but unfortunately, as it was quite
interesting, I completed it in four hours. Most of the other passengers were
either sleeping or eating. There were four more hours left and I was bored to
death. The gentleman who was sitting opposite to me was reading a magazine
('Outlook', I think). I eyed it surreptitiously now and then. If it were a younger
guy, he would have thought I wanted his attention or something :D When the
gentleman asked me if I would like to read the magazine, I smiled at him and
took it with a quickness that was close to grabbing! Having at last found something
to read, I buried my face in its pages ignoring the alluring ‘krrk mrrrk’ sound
the guy next to me was making in the process of eating his murukku. And that
was when I found the ad for The Hindu’s Lit For Life, a literary festival. I
was travelling to Chennai for a personal work and had planned to be back by the
weekend. Since the festival was on the weekend, I rearranged my plans and
attended the festival. It was the first time I was going to any literary
festival: it was both invigorating and educating. Here are a few nuggets of the
three day fest that amused me the most (not in order):
- The conversation between Naomi
Wolf and Barkha Dutt was filled with the right proportion of anger and
hope. When Barkha asked the women in the hall to raise their hands if they had been manhandled at least
once, almost all women there raised their hands.
Wolf seemed to be shocked to know that women are manhandled so casually in
India
- Being a feminist myself, I enjoyed the sessions that discussed the state and empowerment of women. In one of the sessions where Wolf was divulging some interesting information on the connections between a woman's capacity to achieve and vagina, I pinched myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream and I was still in India. Though we women have a long way to go for this kind of a free talk, we can be happy that we are on the right track
- There was a session by Tamil women poets
on how a woman’s body is used as a site of
violation and recovery. It was one of its kind: the poets looked soft and
humble, but their talk was entrenched with knowledge and experience
- There were talks on travel writing
and history as well. I heartily enjoyed the sessions by/with the veteran
travel writer Colin Thubron. He read out a piece from one of his books on
the journey to Kailash. I felt as though I had been transported to that
chilly land from the hall. Then there was this piece about a doctor who
studied tongues. This time I really laughed my head off! He is a veteran
indeed!
- There was a session on the
conflict zones in India. The award winning journalist Rahul Pandita dealt
with the topic of why militants had no religion, with an unbiased yet
assertive deft. Easterine Kire’s argument of why the army men posted in
the North eastern region, generally considered the enemy of the locals,
had nothing to do with the plight of the locals and that they were
suffering as much as the locals to help their family back at home, was a
moving account
- In one of the sessions on creating
impact as an author, Anita Nair broke into a fight with Ravi Subramanian
over calling a book a “Product”! During the question session, a woman in
the audience rightly asked: “What is the purpose of this session?” It was
left unanswered :P
- Each time he spoke, Jim Crace held
the undivided attention of the audience through his simple wits and bold
truths. When he was talking of the plight of writers, I heard myself nod
and say ‘How true!’
- Kamal Hassan’s session on policing
in cinema was jam packed. He spoke with an intelligence that was in an
absolute blend with humbleness, a trait of a true artist that he is
- Abraham Verghese’s story of how he
had known in his bones that he wanted to become a doctor by reading a
novel (I guess it was ‘Of Human Bondage’) and how he writes novels to
inspire great things in people was amazing
- The best part was the reading session by the authors of the shortlisted books. Each book was unique in its own beauty. My favourite was ‘Another man’s wife’. Anees Salim bagged the award for his book ‘Vanity Bagh’
Am I a nitwit??!!:
- Most of the people attending the
event were either rich or famous or invariably both
- For a person like me who is used
to Tamil jokes (by that I mean, jokes that are more visual than wordy), I
didn’t understand why people around me were laughing their head off for
the English jokes that were more or less only wordy. But to be in the flow,
though I didn’t find anything funny, most of the times I laughed my head
off too :D
- Most of the writers (not all
though. Thankfully!) started their career as a journalist
- During lunch, I was sitting on a
bench along with an old foreign couple. A serene looking gentleman
approached the couple and enquired if they were having a good time. He was
a familiar figure, but I couldn’t get his name. I must have been absently
staring at him, for he turned to me and smiled widely. I smiled back and
looked down at my plate. Only after leafing through the brochure later, I
realized it was T.M.Krishna, the great Karnatic singer
- I’ve always had an eye on
Jute-Silk sarees; but they cost four times or more than a normal one; so
until now, I haven’t owned a Jute-Silk. In the fest, 9 out of 10 people
wearing sarees wore a Jute-Silk and it looked awesome no matter who wore
it. What’s more?! I’ve added it to the top of my wish list
- On the first day, there was no
rice for lunch. I had to choose among pizzas, chat, totally dry
looking sandwich and some rolls. The rolls were mostly non-vegetarian;
being a vegetarian, I had only 2 options: mushroom roll and cheese
mushroom roll. I hate cheese; so ordered mushroom roll but was served the
cheese one. The explanation being: ‘no change’. Ofcourse! My 100 rupees
vanished in 10 mins!
- During an interview of T.M.
Krishna, a bearded person came and sat next to me. For every sentence
Krishna spoke, this person nodded in approval, laughed heartily and
clapped vigorously and once even murmured ‘What a human being! What a
blessed human being!’. I eyed him suspiciously and moved to a seat two
rows below for the next event. On the third day, there was a session by
the writers of the shortlisted books. I was shocked to see that bearded
person on stage; it was Amandeep Sandhu. And then I got confused: was it
he or someone looking similar? In a literary fest, you’ll never know!!!
- While I was roaming around during
tea time the first day, I spotted the brochure on the empty registering
desk. I wanted to have one; so I approached the table and had just kept my
hand on one of them when two volunteers (students from SRM University)
rushed to the seat behind; one pushed another, and sat down. They looked
at me with such urgency that I thought they mistook me for a shoplifter. I
asked them: “Shall I take one of these?” The guy who was at the desk
replied quick, not bothering to hide his annoyance, “Ya of course!”
Confused, I turned to leave, but then I understood: behind me were two
beautiful girls. The moment I moved aside, they were all honey and sugar.
Men!!!
- In one of the sessions, an audience asked a question that needed some thinking on the panelists’ part. When none of the panelists opened their mouth for a minute, the moderator said: “Ok, lets take it as a comment!” :D
For most of the three days of the festival, I
had gone by myself and being by myself gave me a chance to engage in my favorite
pastime: observing people. Once I had my lunch, I went up to the balcony,
leaned comfortably on a pillar and observed people. Literature is one of the
first forms of art from time immemorial and art is a strong and effective
medium of education. There are books that have helped rewrite history, that
have helped liberation and bring peace. Seeing the Jute silks, the diamond
studs, the BMWs, the sun glasses raised over the heads, I believe literature as
of now is only for the rich and the intelligent. For a man in an empty stomach,
literature means nothing! Someone who doesn’t own a decent dress cannot even
enter such events. Literature has a long way to go as an art, as an art to make
impact on a human being irrespective of his financial background. Cinema has
done it; literature has yet to do it. We shall sincerely hope it happens and
contribute whatever little we can to make it happen.
That said, experience is what enriches the
soul. I am terribly happy to have had the opportunity to attend the fest: it has
been an enlivening experience for me :)
Thanks for readingJ
Have a nice dayJ
