Take Away from the LFL 2017.

The Hindu Lit for Life, Jan 2017

        In its 7^th year, The Hindu Lit for Life, began with the creative expression of dance, and ended, at least for me, on yet another creative art form, acting. The triple decker sandwich of the three days proved to be crunchy, crispy, bursts of flavour, an odd bite at times, but always a mouthful. Here are some takeaways from the sessions I attended.

         The Festival opened with a discussion on ‘Remembering Chandralekha,’ the dancer who broke the tradition of the formal chapters of craft display, and turned her talent to visualise self awareness and expression of consciousness. Built around some vintage mosaics of film clips, Chandra recalled an entire era of memory for me, with her associates Kumar Shawney, Mani Kaul, Maya Darpan, New Wave Cinema. In remembering a mighty act, a magnificent art, an epic, a symphony, we recall the many unsung. As one panellist quoted from Bertolt Brecht poem ‘Questions from a worker who reads”, we remember to redeem. I am giving the complete poem here.

Who built Thebes of the 7 gates ?
In the books you will read the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock ? 

And Babylon, many times demolished,
Who raised it up so many times? 

In what houses of gold glittering Lima did its builders live?
Where, the evening that the Great Wall of China was finished, did the masons go?

Great Rome is full of triumphal arches.
Who erected them? 

Over whom did the Caesars triumph? 
Had Byzantium, much praised in song, only palaces for its inhabitants? 

Even in fabled Atlantis, the night that the ocean engulfed it,
The drowning still cried out for their slaves. 

The young Alexander conquered India.
Was he alone? 

Caesar defeated the Gauls.
Did he not even have a cook with him ? 

Philip of Spain wept when his armada went down.
Was he the only one to weep?  

Frederick the 2nd won the 7 Years War.
Who else won it? 

Every page a victory
Who cooked the feast for the victors ?  

Every 10 years a great man.
Who paid the bill? 

So many reports.  

So many questions.

Era of Darkness by Dr. Sashi Tharoor

      V S Naipaul wrote ‘An Area of Darkness’, a pessimistic view of how India plummeted after the British departed in 1947, and Joseph Conrad, ‘The Heart of Darkness,” about the Congo area in Africa, speaking about the darkness of the society till the white man entered. In a way both the books extol the colonial takeover.

       “Era of Darkness”, on the other hand refers to the dark time of India under 200 years of colonial rule. Sashi Tharoor spoke of the many arguments he presents in his book on how the Indian wealth was plundered and taken off. This is fact, known now to most who have read history other than the textbooks prescribed by Lord Macaulay. What is interesting is the premise of Reparation and Atonement suggested by Sashi Tharoor.

         To back his suggestion on Atonement,(full reparation is unthinkable owing to the value that is owed, while any tokenism would only serve to trivialise the issue), Dr. Tharoor looks at some examples of Atonement carried out by world leaders.  

          In 1970, Chancellor Willy Brandt knelt at memorial of the Polish Uprising in Warsaw, and made an act of contrition for the German atrocities against the Polish in WW11. Similarly, Prime Minister Trudeau apologised on the floor of the Canadian Parliament for the Komagatu Maru incident, a symbolic but necessary salve on an old hurt.

         Sashi Tharoor suggests an act of contrition by the British would be most appropriate on the 100^th anniversary of Jallianwala Bagh Massacre of 1919.

         My question here is, shouldn’t the Congress Party apologise to the Sikh community for 1984. Maybe also at Jallianwala Bagh.

 

Writing the World

An eclectic panel moderated by Karthika VK, surely the best moderator I have witnessed till date. Panellists: Geraladine Brooks, Karan Mahajan, Vivek Shanbhag, Hanya Yanagihara

“Fiction only purpose is to show the diversity of our lives and therefore mirror life.”

“An opportunity to be conscious of the world we live in, reading from that time and place.”

“Writing is self therapy.”

“Fiction is experience released from reality.”

Geraldine Brooks, : March, People of the Book, Calebs Crossing

Karan Mahajan: Family Planning

Vivek Shanbagh: Gachar Gochar

Hanya Yanagihara:The People in the Trees, A little Life.

‘Book Thief’ Markus Zusak

Next book of Markus Zusak, “The Bridge of Clay.”

The only comment on the two sessions of Markus Zusak is that just read his book.

Young, energetic, self deprecating, funny, honest and enthusiastically articulate.

The other sessions attended are on Films, music, and remembering Women who altered their destiny.

The Hindu Lit Fest : Jan 14^th to 16, 2018