BENGALURU: The two-day Bangalore Literature Festival kicked off on a grand note with celebrated speakers covering a range of issues, starting from slain journalist Gauri Lankesh to cricket. The event being organised at Hotel Lalit Ashok at Kumara Krupa High Grounds received a large crowd on Saturday. This year’s festival, like the previous editions, had four separate sections based on their content, including a separate section for children.
Prominent panelists on the first day included historian Ramachandra Guha, celebrated cricketer Anil Kumble, Indira Lankesh (mother of slain journalist Gauri Lankesh), Tamil writer Perumal Murugan and journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.
With the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh still fresh in the minds of people, the event kicked off with a video tribute to her, followed by a session where panelists paid tributes to Lankesh by reading out poems and articles based on her life, her relationship with her parents and her murder, and some articles penned by her.
Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s session too was well received. The author spoke about the caste-based discrimination he has witnessed during his life, including from his own mother against his wife. He discussed the conception of the book ‘Black Coffee in a Coconut Shell,’ a collection of 32 essays by people about the caste-based discrimination they had faced.
Emotions ran high at the session with Indira Lankesh, mother of Gauri Lankesh. Indira Lankesh broke down several times as she recounted her relationship with her daughter and her late husband P Lankesh.
Sunday’s line-up of speakers include former cricketer Rahul Dravid, actor, director and playwright Girish Karnad and former JNU student and activist Kanhaiya Kumar. Sarod maestros Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash accompanied by Vijay Ghate too will perform on Sunday.
Faces at the fest Children’s section a hit
Philip Pinto, who attended the session ‘Tiger Tiger’ with his son Abhay, was pleased with the concept of a separate section for children. “I’m looking forward to a few sessions today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday), including a shadow puppetry performance by Prahlad Acharya on Sunday,” he said.
No language barrier
Sarat Chandra, who moved to Bengaluru from AP a few days ago, was one of the attendees. In spite of not knowing Kannada, Chandra attended a session on the history of Kannada script and language by historian Dr S Settar. “Our states share history, and I also like to learn Kannada.”
Diverse topics, crowd
The diverse topics meant that it attracted people from diverse fields. Renowned water conservationist expert Vishwanath S was among the visitors. He said he planned to attend a talk titled ‘Nature and the City’ on Sunday.
Publishing platform
The fest has a platform, Limart, through which aspiring authors can get their books published. Twenty-five finalists have been announced, and a final pitch by the authors will be made to literary agents, commissioning editors and publishers on Sunday. Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, co-founder of the event,
said 12,000 participants had registered for the event, and many more were expected to turn up. “Most sessions were packed with audiences. This time, we have a bigger area and have also increased the number of events in children’s section, and we have received a good response for it.”
Art meets lit
The fest features an art installation by poet, journalist and film maker Prathibha Nandakumar titled ‘Teredashte Bagilu.’ The ‘bagilu,’ translated to doors, refers to a metaphor in Kannada poet Jayant Kaikini’s writings. The installation is described as “an attempt to bring the spoken word and the visual to meet at a point.”