BANGALORE: Day two of the Festival had an eclectic mix of events for both the young and the old.
Writer, director and painter Venita Coelho conducted a quiz based on her book Tiger by the Tail, which seeks to engage with children on real issues in a fun manner.
Theatre person Vikram Sridhar employed storytelling to get the children thinking about values and environmental concerns. Arthi Anand and her characters from the Northeastern hills too found a rapt audience in the young ones.
Women’s Take
In a panel discussion that dealt with women’s narratives, ‘From the personal to the political’, Pakistani lawyer and human rights activist Asma Jahangir noted the need for an open dialogue between the women of India and Pakistan.
On Elections 2014
The debate of the day came in the form of ‘Ballot Box - Polls 2014’, with panelists Shekhar Gupta, Sankarshan Thakur, Swapan Dasgupta and moderator Madhu Trehan scrutinising the role media played in the last elections.
Most of them agreed that the Modi government has deliberately blocked journalists from accessing its affairs.
Gupta, however, pointed out that the current media is probably facing a tough government for the first time since Indira Gandhi’s reign.
E-Kannada
A panel with Mahamad Ismail and Prakash Kambathalli questioned whether audio books and online publishing in Kannada are a threat to the print medium.
To moderator Maya Chandra’s question on audio books helping a generation that cannot read or write fluently in Kannada, Ismail said, “If there are not enough users of the language, what is the point of trying to use technology to reach more people?”.