“Bangalore gives me the anonymity and freedom that I need as a writer. Although I was born and raised in Maharashtra, I have lived in this city for over 20 years and it has also appeared in one of my novels,” shared Saniya, a Marathi author of 15 books from Bangalore who was one of the panellists at the inaugural discussion at Lekhana, a weekend literary festival, where they spoke about ‘The City in Literature'.
During the course of the discussion, Bangalore-based writers Anjum Hasan, Zac O'Yeah, K.R. Usha, and Saniya explored how the city influenced them and featured in their work. It also set the pace of the the discussion which attracted authors, poets, journal editors, litterateurs and students from the city as well as from around the world.
Refreshingly, authors who write in languages other than English were also invited to participate in the literary gathering.
Viewpoints
Moderating the discussion, noted film critic and scholar M.K. Raghavendra, spoke about how Kannada movies portrayed only certain parts of Bangalore such as Jayanagar and Srirampuram, while leaving out areas like Indiranagar, M.G. Road, Ulsoor and Koramangala.
“Bangalore has no iconic spots such as Marine Drive in Mumbai. The city breeds no loyalties,” he added. However, members of the audience disagreed with him. Instead of comparing Bangalore to other cities, we must consider the intriguing aspects of the city like its diversity, its weather and its greenery, the audience said.
Liberation
Revealing that all her books were published here, noted novelist and poet Anjum Hasan, who has been living in the city for around 11 years, said, “Bangalore is an escape that gives the young a sense of liberation, as captured in my work Neti, Neti . The city does not judge a person by his or her antecedents but by what the person does. It provides writers many opportunities to recreate life as one experiences it.”
Zac O'Yeah, popular travel and fiction writer and a resident of Sanjaynagar who appreciated Bangalore's vibrancy and its cosmopolitan beat remarked insightfully, “Namma Metro is new to ‘old' Bangaloreans like me, but may be emblematic to the current generation.”
Short story writer Usha K.R. whose Monkey-Man is set in the city and writer U.R. Ananthamurthy, who admitted to never having written about this metropolis, reminded listeners about the perceived distinction between Bangalore and Bengaluru. They focussed on the lives of the dispossessed and displaced whose needs, they said, were increasingly being ignored by the city.
The weekend literary fest took place between February 10 and 12 at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) and the Smriti Nandan Cultural Centre (SNCC) on Palace Road.