hat would you rather attend? ‘Enter The last Mughal’, the inaugural performance at the Krishnakriti 2016 festival by author William Dalrymple and Vidya Shah, or a story-telling programme by Singapore-based writer Rosemarie Somaiah during the inauguration of the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) 2016?
If your answer is both, then get ready to make difficult choices between several interesting programmes from the Krishnakriti festival and HLF 2016, because many of them will be held simultaneously this year, from January 7 to 10. The clash of dates has left art and culture lovers in the city sorely disappointed, as they feel they will miss out programmes from one of the two events due to the clash.
The change of dates this time was of the HLF 2016, which has been advanced. Last year, it was held from January 24 to 27. According to Prof. T. Vijay Kumar, one of the festival directors, the dates were shifted due to various reasons. One of them was the availability of scholars, writers and other participants, for whom the academic year begins from the second week of January.
“We were holding it routinely in third week of January. Last year we lost out on three or four major names. In spite of their willingness, they could not come,” said Prof. Kumar. He explained that opting for the next weekend, before which Sankranthi approaches, would result in low attendance at the HLF 2016. “Half of Hyderabad will be empty. Printers and workers would not be available,” he added. Prof. Kumar also pointed out that the upcoming Hindu Lit For Life and Jaipur Literary Festival would also clash with the HLF 2016, if it is scheduled towards the end of January. “Please remember, we are at the mercy of the venue, the school did not have any dates,” he added.
Even though the Krishnakriti festival begins at 3 p.m., and the HLF at 10 a.m., the venues of the two events make it all the more impractical for one to even try to catch two events on the same day. Festival venues for the former are the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, Madhapur and Rock Heights at Shilparamam, both of which are far away from the Hyderabad Public School, where HLF will be held.
Prashanth Lahoti, organiser of the Krishnakriti festival, said that the dates of the event have been the same from the last 12 years, and that planning is taken up four months in advance. “One of the biggest draws will be Rashid Rana, who is coming from Pakistan,” he mentioned. The Pakistan-based artist will conduct an interactive session on January 9. Interestingly, on the same day, another Pakistani, nuclear scientist and political-defence analyst Pervez Hoodbhoy, will be a panellist on the programme ‘Reimagining Pakistan’ at the HLF 2016.
