The seventh edition of The Hindu Lit for Life is taking place at the Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall in Lady Andal School in Chennai from Saturday.
This year, a children’s literary festival has also been introduced. It offers workshops for those aged between 5 and 12, a science laboratory, a Zumba session, storytelling and colouring, and a tea party.
Catch the live updates from the event here. You can also follow @HinduLitforLife on Twitter for updates.
Molly Crabapple and Amruta Patil in conversation with Karthika V K
While Amruta spoke about her graphic novels Kari, Adi Parva and Sauptik — the last two being revisionist retelling of Mahabharata and Puranas — Molly divulged in an elaborate sense about the making of her new novel Drawing Blood. All the books strategically use texts and visuals that help carry on the narrative that post their release have sparked a dialogue among their readers about various issues such as same sex relationship, conflicts between nations, and abortion — a few to mention.
The interaction at The Hindu Pavilion moved from their work to how art helps add beauty and hope in a world that often suffers from hatred, lack of freedom of expression and authoritarianism. According to Amruta, art helps preserve the beauty that is getting lost in the world; it is a sort of resistance to the uprising of hatred. Molly, who has also done journalistic pieces on war affected areas, also mentions about a certain giant smiley that was drawn on top of a building (with the writing 'For your enemies) in the midst of the wreckage in Aleppo. "Beauty is dangerous, and is a way to fight," says Molly.
Chitra Madhavan, over a span of two hours, takes the audience on a journey through the architecture of Mauryan, Gupta, Chola, Pallava periods, presenting a cheat sheet on how to distinguish the sculptures of one period from the other, and narrating the story behind a few.
"For example, the Nataraja that's at Gaikonda Cholapuram has him dancing under the Nataraja tree. This is the Thiruvalangadu Nataraja, who danced in competition with Kali in the midst of a forest. If you see carefully, there is also Karaikal ammaiyar seen playing cymbals, who is also associated with that specific Nataraja," she explains at the workshop titled Appreciating the Sculptural Traditions of India.
She also mentions lesser known facts such as the presence of a 100-kilos weighing collection of copper plates with inscriptions of Chola history, at the Madras Museum; and that the big Yoga Narasimha at Hampi originally had a form of Lakshmi sitting on his lap when it was originally sculpted. Now, only a part of the hand, till the wrist, remains, and can be seen from the back view.
A discussion on lesser known side of Gandhiji. Gandhi: A Name, A Life, My World - Gulammohammed Sheikh and G N Devy, moderated by Amandeep Sandhu
Gandhiji is among the most remembered tragic heros in India, says G.N. Devy and reasons out why.
"This is because he was a perpetual loser. His children didn't think of him as a great father; despite him being a practicing Hindu and saying so in so many words, people who spoke for Hinduism thought that he should be killed...
"But Gandhi is beyond us. He is like the air we breathe, he is everywhere. We cannot get rid of him from our collective consciousness no matter what.
"He is a notorious fellow, Gandhi. If we were to write our collective autobiography, Gandhi would be it's title. What makes this man so special? It is because he became the conscience keeper of the world."
On the day India got independence, both Gandhi and Aurobindo Ghosh who spearheaded the movement were not in Delhi. None of the papers mentioned their names prominently, he says. "I remember when I was in the final year of college, I enrolled for an essay competition on Gandhi as part of his centenary year celebrations, and won the first prize only to realise that I was the only participant, this is how we celebrate Gandhi in our country," he adds with a sigh.
In the 60s, he was already a forgotten word. There were many reasons to hate him - be it the modernisation or the introduction of the synthetic fibre.
In 80s, there was a revival in interest. Where did Gandhi go wrong? - this became a subject of analysis. "Despite our collective attempt at forgetting him, even decades after his death, we cannot get rid of him. He is a pervasive phenomena, like the air. Lose him, we lose ourselves."
Geraldine Brooks in conversation with Gauri Viswanathan
"I don't think I would be able to write novels that I write if I hadn't had the first fifteen years of my career as a journalist. That's what I always intended to do, right from when I was eight, when I wanted to be a writer for my newspaper in my hometown in Sydney. what always intended to do from either years of old to be a writer for my hometown in Sydney. "
Ms. Brooks, who worked in the Wall Street Journal , covering extensively the crises in West Asia, Africa and the Balkans, thanks her 15 years of experience in journalism that helped her paint characters, places and experiences with clarity in her fiction books.
"I always wanted to be a journalist - ever since I was an eight year old girl, I wanted to work for the newspaper back in my native in Sydney," recalls the Pulitzer prize winning novelist.
After she finished her undergraduation, she was given the job at the paper, but was put in the sports department! She obviously quit, and went on to pursue masters in Journalism from Colombia University.
After having built experiences reporting on separation and destruction such as those during the American Civil War, one incident that came to her mind was of her visit to a quaint village called Eyam in which people had quarantined themselves following an outbreak of Plague.
"The first reaction of people is usually to flee to safer places, but instead all of them reached a consensus to stay put and close the village to outsiders," she says.
This particular incident remained with her long after her visit, and memories of it surfaced when she sat down to write her novel Year of Wonders , which tells a tale of a brave young women during the time of Plague in England in the 17th century.
She talks about how the idea of March , her pulirzer winninng novel, which is an adaptation of the classic Little Women, came to her. "It came from what happens to idealists when they go to war believing in a moral cause? But they end up doing immoral things. In the contemporary situation, you find young Americans join military after 9/11. In a month, we hear of atrocities and decay of ideas during war time." Ms. Brooks.
She ends on a hopeful note: "May we continue to have those brave souls who resist, refute and use whatever weapons they have to fight against this dark period."
Pavillion
The Memory Keepers – Aanchal Malhotra, Anusha Yadav, Kishwar Desai. Moderated by Sandhya Rao begins.
Why do we need memory keepers, asks Sandhya.
Kishwar Desai's reply: many considered themselves refugees the rest of their lives. What was left behind was memories, love... no one will know what they went through. How new India was set up.
History is gossip well told, says Anusha Yadav
Salil Tripathi in conversation with David Davidar of Aleph on travelling the world, his memories and recreating them through the written word
An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India
Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor is in conversation with Gauri Viswanathan, on his newest book An Era of Darkness , the idea of which has its genesis in a Oxford Debate.
Mr. Tharoor says, similar to how Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologised for Komogata Maru incident (where a ship containing a bunch of Indians was turned away from Vancouver and died in the hands of the British) recently, the British Government should make an apology to the Indians - and the best venue to do that would be Jallianwala Bagh. This moral atonement is a better option than monetary atonement, which is far too impractical, he believes.
And a packed house listens to Mr. Tharoor talking the need for the British "men of consequence" to atone for the brutal Raj in India.
Mr. Tharoor, his wits and humour intact, also suggests another way in which the British can atone for the 200 years of atrocity - "Let them teach the colonial history in their schools."
As of now, the kids, he explains, while appreciating the colonial architecture, continue to be unaware about the blood curdling history. But would the British Government implement it? Mr. Tharoor gives a negative nod without missing a beat.
Tharoor's gems:
"Everything about the Jallianwala Bagh epitomises the darkness of the British Era."
"Teach colonial history in schools at least as we are living in a kind of colonial amnesia."
"I don't think they'll teach the truth about the Colonial history."
"Indians were always British subjects and not British citizens."
"We shouldn't believe their propaganda. That's a mistake only the current government is believing"
"The thing about colonialism is, it colonises the mind as well."
"It was only the British who created silos of identity in India."
"I don't object to nostalgia unless it's used for political purposes."
"Let's value the past, let's embrace the past and keep it in the past."
"All contemporary societies have to strike a balance between memories and forgetting."
"We were capable of reforming ourselves. History ensured that the British were present during reform."
Showplace
'Writing with Freedom, Writing in Market' the first session of the day at Showplace begins.
N Manu Chakravarthy, Shafey Kidwai, A.S. Panneerselvan and K Satchidanandan participate in the session that is moderated by Paul Zacharia.
Mr. Panneerselvan contrasts the freedom of expression in Tamil Writing before 1990 and after.
Mr. Satchidanandan says that ideally in a democracy that courts should be kept out of defining what constitutes literature.
"When big publications fall prey to censorship, how can people expect writers to be immune to such pressures," points out Mr. Zacharia
Tarot reader and Life coach Bindu Maira takes on the sceptics at her lively crystal healing workshop where she discusses quantum science, the law of attraction and the human energy field.
International Night: A Father and Daughter Cook Their Way Around the World – Mark Kurlansky and Talia Kurlansky. Moderated by Pankaja Srinivasan
Talia Kurlansky says it all began as a game on Friday nights....rotating the globe, picking a country and cooking its cuisine.
Mark Kurlansky: we picked india once, pretty late actually. But we kept landing in Kazakhstan often
Mark Kurlansky pineapple juice once saved my life in Nicaragua. We got abandoned by Escort convoy because we stopped to drink pineapple juice . The best I've drunk, says Talia.
"The first face of translation is literal translation. This is okay to make sure that everything is carried through. However, if you want to sell this work, language has to be smart. Here's a tip for translators: always stick to simple English."
From Mini Krishnan's workshop, Five Faces of Translation
This workshop of translated writings, (fiction, poetry and memoirs), which is open to anyone who knows two languages, is about carrying the unsaid into the target language and will include materials by people who, a generation ago, could not read, much less write, and whose voices therefore militate against traditions of literary and cultural heritage. The workshop will range between commentaries by the resource person, bilingual readings by authors and translators and written exercises by the participants.
Remembering Chandralekha
Sadanand Menon, Tishani Doshi and Shashi Kumar in conversation.
And the first session begins.
Columnist Sadanand Menon and writer Tishani Doshi will be discussing about the ace choreographer Chandralekha. It is being moderated by Sashi Kumar
Mr. Menon introduces Chandralekha through a video recording that gives us a glimpse into the dancer's life and art. "Chandralekha had to face a lot of marginalisation when she was alive and doing all her wonderful things with dance, choreography and literature and poetry.
"It's a technique of social management of ignoring someone to eliminating her presence. So, it's good to see an event choosing to remember that person."
"Chandra was hostile to recording. She was a person of here and now," recalls Mr. Menon.
"What striked me about Chandralekha is her combativeness, temper and resilience," says Sashi Kumar. Mr. Kumar has collaborated with Chandra for many movies including the famous Kaya Taran.
The need for a dialogue
Civilised dialogue seems to have been affected seriously in the past few decades, says contemporary artist Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh.
Prof. Sheikh says he is deeply impressed by the "dialogue that took place in civilised manner." Pointing to a "shrinking of knowledge" Prof. Sheikh says "I am happy that despite the kind of depletion of knowledge there are new venues opening."
"There is a place for the words spoken, words written and words printed. There is a need to reclaim that word again."
The Hindu Lit for Life Director Nirmala Lakshman said "now more than ever before, with the continuing assault on freedom of expression, the mushrooming of fundamentalist far right politics across the globe reflected in the rhetoric of fear politics, social divisions and attack on the "other" in many societies, liberal platforms like these and independent voices need to be strengthened and heard."
The seventh session of the literature festival begins.
Legendary artist Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh inaugurates the fest, Nirmala Lakshman, Director, The Hindu, Mukund Padmanabhan, Editor, The Hindu and Rajiv Lochan, CEO, Kasturi & Sons, light the lamp to mark the grand opening.
A glimpse of who spoke what:
Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh: I grew up with the word that is spoken and the word that is written. There is a need to reclaim the word again.
Mukund Padmanabhan: As B ill Clinton said, literary festivals are like the Woodstock of the mind.
Nirmala Lakshman: The increased registrations for Lit for Life 2017 is an indication that people want to engage with the written word.
Welcome to The Hindu Lit for Life, India's sharpest literature festival.
Here is today's schedule.
| 9.30 am - 9.55 am | Inauguration |
| 10.00 am - 10.50 am | Remembering Chandralekha - Sadanand Menon and Tishani Doshi. Moderated by Sashi Kumar |
| 10.55 am - 11.55 am | An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India - Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Gauri Viswanathan |
| 12.05 pm - 12.50 pm | Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks in conversation with Gauri Viswanathan |
| 12.55 pm - 1.40 pm | Gandhi: A Name, A Life, My World - Gulammohammed Sheikh and G N Devy. Moderated by Amandeep Sandhu 1.40 pm - 2.25 pm |
| 2.30 pm - 3.30 pm | The Age of Trump - Geraldine Brooks, Mark Kurlansky, Molly Crabapple, Nathaniel Brooks Horwitz, Talia Kurlansky. Moderated by Narayan Lakshman |
| 3.35 pm - 4.35 pm | A Nation and its Discontents - Akshaya Mukul, Josy Joseph, Sanjaya Baru, Somini Sengupta. Moderated by Rajiv Lochan |
| 4.50 pm - 5.40 pm | Notes and Maps of my Singing - Aruna Sairam in conversation with V Sriram |
| 5.45 pm - 6.45 pm | Love in India - Durjoy Datta, Preeti Shenoy, Ravinder Singh. Moderated by Nandini Krishnan |
