In the aftermath of the disaster that Chennai and its surrounding areas faced last month, a celebration seemed impossible. The ravages of the flood, the death and destruction, and the rescue efforts marked and consumed Chennai’s year-end calendar. Did it leave any space, then, for a festival that had so far always been a celebration? Would there be a The Hindu Lit for Life 2016?
The Festival Director, Nirmala Lakshman, grappled with the question, as did Programme Director Rachna Singh Davidar. “The devastation of the Chennai floods obviously impacted Lit for Life. The first, and most important, decision to take was whether we would be doing the right thing by holding the festival at all this year, given the enormous trauma Chennai had experienced,” says Davidar.
There were long, extensive discussions with colleagues and other Chennai residents before a decision was made. And that decision is going to see The Hindu Lit for Life held on schedule from January 15 to 17. “We thought it was important to go ahead, as we have always insisted on keeping the nature of Lit for Life inclusive and citizen-oriented. So, this time, we are coming together not for a celebration, but to take cognisance of what happened in this city, and the complete and unprecedented suffering that people underwent. This time, we have decided to dedicate Lit for Life to Chennai and pay tribute to its citizens,” says Dr. Lakshman. Davidar adds, “In the end, we decided that the best thing to do would be to have the festival as scheduled to salute and celebrate the indomitable spirit of the city.”
The planning and organisation, usually done over months, started late, as organisers were busy with relief work. “We had to make up for lost time and get everything ready for the festival, and I am glad that we have been able to do so,” says Davidar. Programme Co-ordinator Prasanna Ramaswamy adds that the decision to go ahead was further reaffirmed by the idea that “art can only heal and energise people”. While the three days of the main festival will be held as scheduled, it was decided to cancel the usual pre-event programmes and workshops. “We were all focussed on rescue efforts and didn’t want to divert attention from them,” says Lakshman. At the same time, she maintains that the organisers didn’t want to give up on the festival itself, which needed to be examined and understood. “The floods became the trigger area for the festival, and will emerge as a central theme for this year.”
It is to understand and examine the tragedy Chennai suffered that two important sessions find a crucial space on this year’s programme. In Cities Under Water: Lessons from Srinagar to Chennai, Gopalkrishna Gandhi speaks to M. Saleem Baig, Prof. S. Janakarajan and Nityanand Jayaram, trying to understand what went wrong, and looking at larger issues with long-term effects. In December Deluge & the Spirit of Chennai, the audience becomes the contributor, and the session a place to exchange testimonials of those who suffered and those who rescued. The Hindu’s CEO and MD, Rajiv Lochan, will chair the session, sharing insights into the company’s own rescue efforts during the floods.
Davidar says this year’s edition is the finest organised to date. “We have almost 50 sessions over three days at which Chennai audiences will get to hear (and interact with) some of the world’s finest speakers, writers and public intellectuals —like Omar Abdullah, Alexander McCall Smith, Shashi Tharoor, Lionel Shriver, Barkha Dutt, Colm Toibin, Manil Suri, Amish Tripathi, Susan Abulhawa, Devdutt Pattanaik, and Anuja Chauhan.”
“Apart from great names from English writing, LFL will see four of the finest of Tamil writers — Sa Kandasamy, Prapanchan, S. Ramakrishnan and D.I. Aravindhan — discuss how modern Tamil literature has reflected upon industrialisation and urbanisation,” says Ramaswamy, adding that the line-up also includes artists such as Gulammohammad Sheikh, Vivan Sundaram, V. Viswanadhan, and S.G. Vasudev as well as documentary filmmakers Deepa Dhanraj and R.V. Ramani. “This year, LFL also celebrates music by having Sangita Kalanidhi Sanjay Subrahmanyan in conversation with Nirmala Lakshman.”
As is evident from the programme, and has been since the festival’s first instalment, Lit for Life casts a wide net, including in its ambit not just the written word but everything that comes together to inspire and encourage writing. It believes, as Dr. Lakshman puts it, that literature is reflective of various aspects of life and connected to everyday experiences. So, this year too, LFL brings together a balance between sessions on contemporary and classical literature and those on current events and pressing contemporary issues. Apart from sessions on urban planning and climate change, Davidar says there will be a panel on LGBT issues. “Article 377 is always in the news and Shashi Tharoor’s bid to scrap 377 was rejected in Parliament recently. We will discuss politics, religion, gender, mythology, war, history, photography and much else besides. For the first time, we also have programming for young adults.”
Every year, LFL grows in scope, and Ms. Davidar, who joined the team four years ago, says that it is now much larger than when it began — both in terms of the number of speakers as well as the audiences for various sessions. “Any literature festival stands or falls on the excellence of the writers it features and the success of its programming. If you get these right, year after year, you’ve got a successful festival. The response from audiences has been phenomenally positive, which means that the festival has carved out a niche for itself on the city’s cultural scene. This year I’ve had many requests from writers who have been to earlier editions asking to return. I don’t think there can be a higher endorsement for a festival than writers who would like to come back, especially given the choice of festivals they have all over the country and indeed the world.”
