BENGALURU: After recording an enthusiastic audience on its first day, the second day of the Bangalore Literature Festival was no different in this respect, as almost all the three venues had sizeable audiences throughout the morning. And much like the first day, the variety of the event was very much evident from the schedule, which featured names ranging from Amish Tripathi, Sanjeev Kapoor and Kanhaiya Kumar, and genres included poetry, history, art, erotica, LGBT and even the culinary arts.
Amish Tripathi, author of the Meluha Trilogy and ‘The Scion of Ikshvaku’, the day’s crowd-puller-in-chief, set the ball rolling as he discussed his books and the philosophy behind his works, among other things, and also doled out advice to aspiring writers.
Titled ‘Sanatan Soul, New Stories’ and moderated by Vani Mahesh, the session began with the affable Amish speaking about how he had to change his writing process. He recalled what his wife had told him at the time - “You can’t write a book with the typical MBA attitude; go with the flow. Don’t write with the arrogance of a creator, but with the humility of a witness.”
A question led Amish to reveal that just like many of his readers, the climax of ‘The Oath of the Vayuputras’ had bothered him a lot too. He admitted that the ending wasn’t likely to provide a sense of conclusion, but argued that the traditional Indian way of storytelling involved a troubled ending so as to make the reader discover philosophies, which would help them in life.
But he did admit to some things about the ending still bothering him. These were: Does anger serve the cause of justice? (with reference to Lord Shiva’s act); What is justice? Is it retribution, or more of a balancing act? What is good leadership? (In Sati’s context).
His advice to aspiring writers was -- to be pragmatic in their decisions. “Have a job on the side to pay the bills, just like I had one until my second book was published. I decided to quit the day my royalty cheque became more than my salary cheque.”