The Lit for Life, My Way - Day 2

I caught a couple of buses and went over to the Lit fest on the morning of the second day.

I had planned to catch the talk that was a tribute to Kalaignar Karunanidhi, moderated by N
Ram, with Dr Ezhilan and Kanimozhi Karunanidhi as speakers. By the time I got on to the bus however, it was 9:15, and I figured I would give that a miss, as it was the opening talk that day, at 10. But being a Sunday, first the 99 to Adayar depot, then the 29C, that went the roundabout way through Mylapore, took me to Chetpet by 10. I reached the talk venue just five minutes late, (after having put my bag down at the MLS stall), and found that it hadn't started yet. It was at The Showplace, and  I settled down in a seat and waited.

The talk was focused on the Dravidian ideology, and was intended to be a homage to Kalaignar. Kanimozhi was extremely candid, talking about her personal experiences, and what he had meant to her, and about the Dravidian ideology. Dr Ezhilan was a close friend of Kalaignar, in the last few years, who had been known to have late-night conversations with him. Dr.Ezhilan very frequently ended up swerving into idealism, and instead of talking about Kalaignar would begin to promote the Dravidian movement. In fact at one point, when N Ram asked him what Kalaignars views, and not his, were, on a subject, he hesitated, before answering. The talk was extremely enlightening, overall, and I learnt about how he, Kalaignar, would sit up late every night, against medical advice, and be up by 5:30 every morning. How he would read even the most obscure newspapers, and how, apparently The Hindu was the first paper he read every morning. He was someone, they said, who was unable to hold a personal grudge, and if you came to meet him personally, he would engage in debate with you, but allow you to change his views.

From here it was back to the MLS stall.

Left column: Reciept book, collection box, and the book on the history of the MLS., with the 2019 calendar next to it.

Next column: A book that is the model for how the Madras Journal will look, (after reprinting), the box of MLS badges for volunteers, MLS bookmarks,and the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 1880 edition. The printouts are of the library, and the letters in the library's collection; Annie Besant's and Bose's. The notebook on the right is for being added to the mailing list. 

I was at the MLS stall for a while, talking about it to visitors, wowing them with the letters, and the various items of interest. People were most interested in the letter from Bose. 

At 11:45am, the audio systems were turned on and so I walked over to the stage set up outside, and began recording it. I knew what was going to happen, as an announcement had been made at the talk. 

The singer/songwriter, Sofia Ashraf, was singing a song on saving trees, in Tamil, as part of a series for children, to make them environmentally conscious. The song was fun and had a good rhyme, and the audience was very interactive. Its a fun narration, where herr character walks around complaining how hot it is, and in this song, another person tells her of ways in which she can be cool, but she keeps linking it somehow to cutting trees, until the other character gets fed up and goes away. It seems that when the zero waste team, (that organised this), had gone to rural villages to perform, some child had actually sung this the next time someone in the area was chopping down a tree!

Just then people in the audience started throwing garbage onto the stage, and one piece knocked her ipad off its stand! However, I realised soon that these people were planted and that this was an introduction, for her to introduce a man who was key in bringing in the plastic ban and implementing it in Kanyakumari. He began answering questions anyone might have on plastics, and the recent ban. 

Sofia Ashraf at the outdoor stage

I decided to go back to the MLS stall at that point, and talked to quite a few people who came there, telling them about the library. 

At around this point my mother had also arrived, and she and I went for Rajmohan Gandhi's talk, Modern South India, based on his book. Sharp and poignant, it got everyone's attention when he began, more or less with the reason as to why he wrote the book "North India has needed to be educated about South India for a really long time". 

Over the course of the next 40 minutes, he outlined various aspects of what he covered in the book, how he covered them, and why he did. He explained that he had tried to stay as neutral as possible, gathering various sources from across the Southern states, talking about a few characters in it as well, like Yusuf Khan and Marthanda Varma, and how, when detailing the freedom struggle he wrote that segment as neutrally as he could, giving equal importance to all key players, like Periyar, Rajaji, Gandhi and the rest. 

After the talk, when I got my copy of the book signed, I got the impression that he seemed a little stressed.

From here, I rushed upstairs to listen to Ira Mukhoty and Audrey Trushke talk about "The Great Mughals", as the schedule called it, at the Hindu Showplace. It was meant to be moderated by Manu Pillai, author of 'The Ivory Throne', and 'Rebel Sultans', but surprisingly, he had been replaced. The room was packed, and there was no sitting place, so I stood by the side. I saw many familiar faces, but was not able to greet them as the talk was already underway/ I learnt many new things about the Mughals, and especially about their women, in this talk, Ira Mukhoty's area of specialisation. The chief woman of the harem was given the title Padsha Begum; the title was almost never the King's chief wife; the Zenana was orientalised by Europeans to be a site of sexual fantasy for the Emperor, when in reality it was just where the women lived. The number of women in the Zenana indicated the number of women the man could care for, the majority of whom were his blood relatives. 

Towards the end of the talk, I got a call from a friend who was to be volunteering with me at the MLS stall that afternoon. Having finished the talk, I came downstairs and found him there. The three of us, (my mother, him and me), went for lunch. I had a slice of pizza this time, which was also pretty good. 

My friend, (Jhubal), and I, then went to the MLS stall, and reported for duty. I then found out, that a few speakers had visited our stall that day, and I'd missed them! The first had come the previous day, when I was there, but I'd missed those who'd come that day. 

Volunteers at the MLS stall, relaxing at a lean time

We spent some more of the afternoon at the stall, and at 3;15, went off for a talk called the Battleground of Indian History, with both Ira Mukhoty and Audrey Trushke (from my previous session), with Rajmohan Gandhi and John Keay, moderated by Professor Mukherjee, who began with an impassioned speech, picking apart the current education system on history that provides its own version of events and chooses who gets more importance. Ira then gave her views. There was only enough time for each person to give one speech, before question and answer session. 

Ira spoke about how there was almost no mention of women. She talked about how women constitute only 5% of history, and this is despite the tremendous role they've played, in all aspects. She highlighted how, in Mughal times, Sha Jahan allowed his daughter, whom he'd made Padsha Begum, to construct the central market, and caravanasarai, (lodgings for travellers), in Old Delhi, while he built only the fort structure. 

Audrey Trushke talked about how history has been politicised, and how it's being used by people to twist facts. She talked about how people like herself got trolled and attacked for writing factual versions of history that went against the popular narrative. 

Rajmohan Gandhi addressed the issue of fake news, and talked about the true story behind the 1946 Congress Presidential elections, the story that is being spread as the way Jawaharlal became Prime Minister! Rajmohan Gandhi told us how, when the Congress elections were to happen, some provinces nominated Patel, some Kriplani, and some more nominated Azad, who was the incumbent President of the Congress, offered to continue for another year. The policy was that if there were multiple nominations, Gandhi would choose. With the coming of the Cabinet mission, Gandhi felt that Nehru would be the best man for the job, and so the three were asked to step down, which they did. Nehru was, later, in his role as  Congress President, asked to be interim Prime Minister. 

Finally John Keay was given his turn. So far everyone had mentioned how Eurocentric history was, and he elaborated on that, talking about how that had been the norm, as Europeans were the ones writing history, but had now become the norm. He said there needed to be histories written in places that were centric to that place.                 

 .

From left to right: Audrey Trushke, Ira Mukhoty, John Keay, Rajmohan Gandhi and Professor Mukherjee

After the talk, I returned to the MLS stall. Jhubal had chosen to stay behind for the last talk,and now wanted to go for one on feminism. It was titled, "Why We Should All Be Feminists". He had gotten it into his head that there would be some excitement like what had happened the previous day at the Aurangazeb talk, and wanted to go for it. I accompanied him, but didn't intend to stay for long. On the way, I met another friend of mine. We went to The Showplace, and it was packed, so the three of us went and stood along the side, and I decided to stay on.

There was one woman who insisted she was not a feminist, and reiterated that one point, drawing harsh criticism. .She said she had once been a feminist, but now chose not to take sides.The others, rightly said, if women had chosen to remain neutral and passive, they would have never gotten themselves any rights. The other speakers said one or two substantial points in the beginning, but the talk began to stagnate after a while. 

Once downstairs, the other friend took off, and Jhubal and I went back to the MLS stall. My mother, who had gone to grab a coffee, came and joined us, and while talking about to the people there, mentioned that Rajmohan Gandhi would be coming to our stall. I had already invited him the previous day, but he had had no time at that point. He had promised my mother he would come once he had got his vadas, and his hunger was satiated. Jhubal and I rushed down there, and saw that he was indeed on his way, and so rushed back to the stall; but a friend stopped Jhubal and began talking to him at that moment. I firmly dragged him away, and we went back to the stall to wait for Rajmohan Gandhi, who slowly walked up to the stall. When he got there, there was a silence that fell over everyone. A couple of us told him about the MLS, showing him the letters, the calendars, and the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. Throughout it all, he was quite thrilled, and at the end, even remarked that he should have come here before writing his last book. Someone commented that he could still come before writing his next one. 

Rajmohan Gandhi and his wife at the MLS stall

(photo courtesy: Kaveri Bharath)

As Rajmohan Gandhi walked away, my mother walked up to him, and informed him that his daughter had been her junior, before they had moved to Delhi. He was intrigued, and took down my mother's name, promising that he would ask his daughter. 

Just before the day came to a close, I spotted Jonathan Gil Harris, walking around below our stall. I called him up, and he hesitated, before promising he'd come the following day. 

With an ending like that, the second day suddenly got exciting, and I was happy that I'd caught a speaker at our MLS stall. 

Day 3 would prove, for MLS, to be its biggest yet. 

The Lit for Life, My Way - Day 1

The annual 'Hindu Lit for life', literature festival came around for the 9th time, this January. I have only been for 3 so far(2016, 18 and this year's, 19), but having vaguely followed it for the other years of its existence, I knew what a big deal it was - and rightly so. I decided that I would attend all three days this time, and, as it was free, there was no two ways about it.

The first day, I was there by 9:30. I had signed up to volunteer at the Madras Literary Society's stall on the second day, but it would be my base for all three days. I kept my bag stuffed with books, and my camera, behind the stall, whenever I went in for a talk. This year, the festival aimed to reduce waste as much as possible, and so had encouraged people to bring their own bottles, and fill them at the venue. I conveniently forgot mine all three days.

That morning, as I pinned on my MLS badge, and looked around at all the people coming and going I wondered how well the stall would do.  Our stall was by the side of the semi-circular front corridor where all the stalls were, overlooking the entrance and the open space where people moved around from one venue to another. The MLS stall had not been provided a table, and that morning would be spent with volunteers of both MLS as well as The Hindu running around, looking for one, and it would slowly come towards lunch time. When it did, we piled it up with our products, to entice potential members forward(or in other words, made a mess that would make anyone curious).

The co-ordinators of our MLS stall, after we got our table

The first talk I attended that day, was an interview of Lemony Snicket, allegedly Daniel Handler.
Snickets books have been read by most of us of my age group early on, and have been for us the introduction to a non-happily ever after, and ambiguous endings. This was the question the interviewer began with, about whether he was greeted by shocked parents  everywhere he went because of his books. Handler's response set the tone for the rest of the talk. Well yes, he said, but I live in America and people are always shocked and appalled. For the next forty minutes he had the audiences' attention, and was waltzing around with the interviewer's questions, while she tried her best to figure out what he was actually doing, and why was he dancing with her questions?
Most people agreed that she was unable to understand his humour, and that the interview might have gone better if she had been able to understand it, but personally, it was great, and I enjoyed the talk the way it was.
Outside for the signing, he signed my first book of the series with an "with all due respect" . My mother, who was taking pictures informed him that I had intended to bring all my Snickets to sign, but she had made me choose 2. "Who is this woman?" he asked?  "My mother" I answered "Ah yes that explains it," he said. "Have you ever thought about running away from home, Nandan?", and he signed, "To Nandan, who has a suspicious mother, Daniel Handler, <allegedly, L.S >" in the next book.

Daniel Handler 

Giving him my cousins' book, he asked why she wasn't here. I said she and my sister went out for lunch. "Ah well, we wouldn't want to bring that here, now, would we?" he asked and signed, "To an alleged cousin".

After a short stint standing at the MLS stall, I joined my parents for lunch. They shared a biriyani and thayir saadam. I had noodles with momos. The plates and spoons were all eco-friendly as well, and the waste generated was considerably less, something to commend all partners of this Zero waste venture for.

My next session was at The Hindu Showplace. This was a new venue, and I was unsure as to how to get there. A volunteer sent me up a flight of stairs, which took me behind the stage. I retraced my steps, and came all the way around the building, and found my way up.

The Hindu showplace. Sometimes half empty, sometimes overflowing,but never exactly full.

This next session was on "The Literature of Myth: The use of Myth and Legends in storytelling". The speakers were Sharanya Manivannan, who had written a book on Kothai, or Andal, a Vaishnavite poetess from the 9th century. Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni, a writer of the epics from the eyes of women(Ramayana from Sita's perspective, and Mahabharatha from Draupathi's perspective).And Ravi Shanker Etteth. I think he was a political cartoonist who used mythology in his cartoons. The whole session was moderated by Jonathan Gill Harris, an English Professor at Ashoka university.
Sharanya spoke quietly but it had impact. Chitra Bannerjee had a slightly loud voice, with melody in it , and she spoke confidently. Ravi Shankar Etteth tried playing to the audience, in the sense, he tried making the audience like him. After his second response, however, some people began to wonder if he was drunk. After a while people began correcting him from the audience.
A few points that stuck with me from the discussion were: Myths evolve. They are molded by each retelling. It is not sacrilege to retell an epic or a myth. There are many contemporary versions of the same legends like the Ramayana.
Jonathan Gil Harris, surprisingly was much more formal and staid than when I saw him on stage the next time.

Seated: The moderator, followed by the speakers, in the reverse order of their names on the screen

The last discussion I attended for the day was Audrey Trushke's presentation on Aurangazeb. She split the presentation, with a little more than half of it talking about Aurangazeb, his life, and what she had found about him, and a little less than half talking about how he was being used as politically, the making of the book, and what she faced online(trolling, hate messages, anti-semitism). She displayed some of the reviews given to the book that were as unscientific as could be, some of the messages she received on twitter, and some of the insults thrown at her. It seems a talk of hers in Hyderabad had to be cancelled due to protests by a certain group who believed Aurangazeb had been a Muslim extremist, something her research did not agree with.
During the questions session, a man got up,and began to ask what scientific proof she had, and then began shouting, calling her a coloniser, how dare she come here and tell us about our history, and more on that line, similar to what we had just read in the slides about the abuse thrown at her.The man was booed down, and she did answer his question, saying she was a historian, and she used historic tools. She knew Sanskrit, Persian and Hindi, and could read primary sources on Aurangazeb. The man was relentless and continued to shout, and was eventually forced to leave. I was told later that those in the MLS stall outside heard him.
Some people complained that she didn't spend enough time talking about the king, and some complained that she talked too much about herself. I disagree. Though she could have spent maybe 5 more minutes on Aurangazeb, most of what she said was in the book. She has not been called to just promote the book, has she? The making of it was relevant, and was necessary, as this is a lit fest and not a history fest.

When she was signing my book, I noticed to my delight, that she was also left-handed.

Audrey Trushke's illustrated lecture.

That brought an end to my day. I said hello and had a quick conversation with a school friend,and then was off. That was the end of my first day at the 9th lit fest, and there were still 2 to go!

The semi-circular corridor with stalls. MLS's can be seen at the far end, empty at the end of the day.