With time
your preferences change – particularly if one
has gone through any of these – death of a near one, a major transition from
corporate role to alternative career, frequent travels between cities to
maintain relationships (and properties too) and a relocation to home town after
15 long years in work place.
There was something about Bangalore Literature Festival this year on a personal front. The
last time I attended one was four years back and the memorable note was - I had
quit my job just three days prior to the event. The attitude then was, while preferences
do change, passion, of course is something else. My love for the written word
is unbeatable. Today, both my livelihood and luxury depends on it.
I have managed to stay away from full time
roles to keep my passion alive to write, build on startup ideas with words,
support like-minded souls with content and be free for any creative pursuit or
new learning, any time.
So while my visit to Bangalore was only for a
month and keeping in view, this was the first visit after my relocation to
Kolkata early this year, I had a definite agenda and must do list. The sixth
edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) topped that list.
This year as the event was at The Lalit Ashok Lawns, the travel time
was a serious concern. As we can be there only on any one of the days keeping
our priorities and engagements in view, we quickly saw the festival schedule
split in four sections across both days - #Speakup; #Speakout; The Red Couch
and C | L | F (Children Literature Fun).
We chose Sunday,
29th October with the hope that the traffic will not be severe
and we can just manage a few cerebrally stimulating afternoon sessions. We were
there by 1.30 pm and therefore missed the launch of Rajdeep Sardesai’s book on
Cricket and Girish Karnad’s thoughts on the world of A K Ramanujan.
We steered away from political debate and
debacle completely. I was personally not keen at all and was away from Kanhaiya
Kumar, Ramachandra Guha and the kind. I do not belong to that league and have
no qualms to admit it. I am not sure if Kanhaiya qualifies to be part of the
panel on Nationalism, Populism and the Threat in the first place– the
organizers think he does and that’s the end of story. Politically charged
sessions was too taxing for my brain as it was just geared for some fun moments
So I, the lesser mortal with poorer intellectual
material had to shift to lighter zones of the festival.
I was with author of many books Lakshmi Menon who is also quite popular
for writing children books and manages this. I was mindful to attend at least one session on
writing for children. So we settled in the front chairs not just for a closer view
of Reena Puri and Ranjit Lal, in conversation with Sudeshna Shome but to avoid
the shining 1.30 sun.
One can imagine the interesting mix, with one
talking for Mythology and traditional writing, while the other contemporary
writer was unable to relate to it and admits that he has zero knowledge about
mythology. The editor maintains that the medium Amar Chitra Katha helps
children acquaint themselves to Indian heritage and heroes, Ranjit, on the
other hand, was content to write about more pressing issues like Dementia or
abuse of daughter by her own father. The talk covered all of this and more.
How to manage to stay relevant to the
prevailing time?
How to you choose topics?
Women issues
Universal truths
Purpose of reading
Contemporise themes where it is not just
about a character, say Sita, but someone who questions.
The festival was seriously a nice, mixed bag of
personalities with over 120 authors there - Many first timers, many voices,
many topics – One old timer the previous day was Varun Agarwal who was there
even in 2013 – His Anu Aunty made some progress, I guess.
I am not really an ardent follower of her
columns or her books. In fact I have not read any of her books however the one
person I was actually looking forward to hear - that made me transverse the
long distance from my residence in South Bangalore to The Lalit was – Twinkle Khanna. I like her personality,
humility and how she established her identity to be somebody by her own right,
regardless of where she hails from or belongs. She did not disappoint me at all
– Her wit, humor, sense of timing was just perfect and fantastic throughout.
She had amazing audience reaction when she
described her frustration with her mother who always seemed to miss the bright
side of her achievements and pointed out her petty flaws. She once countered
back – “Wish my mother was Hema Malini, at least I would get a Kent RO for free”.
Twinkle’s diplomacy to declare Orange is the new brown made the audience roar
with laughter.
When Twinkle was taking questions from the
audience and Darius Sunawala asked the audience - how many would want to see
her back on the screen and there was a loud scream in affirmative, she
unabashedly tells Darius – “That is just seven of them”. She admits without
slightest scruple that she is not a good actress and is happy with what she
does with words.
Surprise element was when a new mom who was a doctor
by profession writing on motherhood had one question for her – “Will you
endorse my book?” which again evoked a deafening applause from the audience.
Twinkle’s prompt response was “Because of your presence of mind, I will”
Immediately after this
chat with Darius, she was available for a signing session – I tried to buy her Legends of Lakshmi Prasad. I was keen, knowing one of the short stories
Salaam, Noni Appa was converted to a play directed by Lillete Dubey with one of
its initial shows happening right here, in our very own Bangalore. Another
short story from the same book was in the production house to be a full-fledged
film. No wonder, when we went to the stall to pick a copy, it was sold out. Not
to forget it was for this book that she won the popular choice award, in the
sixth edition of Bangalore Literature Festival.
As eternal students of
life and writing, I regret having missed the writing workshop by Rajorshi
Chakraborti and the session on Personal writing – What Makes It Resonate,
Natasha Badhwar with Samar Harlarnkar.
There is always a next
time. And of course the ever growing digital means that makes the world smaller
and access easier.
If the organizers are
listening, I would like to give them a shout here. Crown Plaza, near Electronic
City was a better venue. At least they did not have a private party on the same
day, in the very same lawn adjacent to the festival playing loud music leaving
the audience struggling to hear the conversation in progress.
The next event I plan to write about is the Book Fair in Kolkata.
