By Patricia Mukhim
Last year a local bookstore was completing its 75th anniversary, a few people had got together to plan an event to commemorate its platinum jubilee. A literary festival of sorts was mooted and Chetan Bhagat’s name came up as the ‘crowd drawing’ invitee speaker. Bhagat costs a bomb (for a small city like ours) and there were attempts to mobilise funds for that purpose. Sadly the bookstore went through its own travails and got drowned in the flush of water sprayed by the Fire Brigade to quell the flames in the adjacent eating joint! That put paid to the project. One is therefore gratified that Bhagat has finally set foot in Shillong, his ‘over the top’ heavyweight costs notwithstanding. Bhagat is a celebrity and acted true to form.
I must confess I have not read a single Chetan Bhagat book although I have read quite a few books by esoteric authors. But my children are Bhagat fans and discuss his books with rare fervour. One of them texting me from Bhopal said, “Plz tell him iv read each and every book of his cuz he’s too funny. Lol” Children, even when they are adults have certain idealism. They think that a mother who is also an editor of a newspaper would have free access to all the celebrities who land up in this city. Alas! Such is not the case. Organisers have that right. Not the media! After the talk at the Aurobindo Institute, Chetan Bhagat who repeatedly laboured the point, “I am a people person… I want to reach rural India… My success can be measured by how many Indians I reach ….blah, blah and blah, was whisked off immediately after the function in almost a similar style that Shah Rukh Khan might have done. So we are talking ‘celebrity’ or star-plus writer here. And mind you he came with an entourage and the trip was all paid for!
Interestingly, at the Jaipur Litfest, some of the world’s renowned writers move around and relate to as many people on a one to one. They don’t shy away from them, especially from their readers. They don’t postulate what they don’t practise. How can you be a ‘people person’ and yet not spend even a second to talk to the few young ‘people’ who wanted to ask some very pointed questions? Unless Bhagat’s definition of people is that of the virtual variety! Or did Bhagat sense that Shillong is not an intellectual vacuum after a young man in the audience challenged him saying, “Mr Bhagat, you yourself do not take too kindly to criticism and you were quite rude in your rejoinder to a critic on your blog.” The writer was caught off guard but having been an IIT-IIM grad, he navigated very cleverly through this one. Perhaps if the Q&A had gone on longer and the first flush of celebrity daze had waned, tougher questions would have followed. Was that the reason Bhagat left so little time for the interactive session?
Now coming back to the festival, appropriately named CALM (Creative Arts, Literature and Music), one must admit that it is a great leap towards creating a platform for the arts, literature and music. We have budding and experienced artists, litterateurs and musicians in our midst. The former can learn from the latter. Besides, in a small city you cannot possibly have only a literary festival unless you have created the revenue model of a Jaipur Litfest and roped in people like William Dalrymple or Orhan Pamuk or better still, the irreverent Salman Rushdie. Brand ambassadors are irrefutably a huge selling point. Friends on the left side of politics would call this a very elitist and bourgeoisie (Oxford meaning – conventionally respectable and unimaginative, humdrum, capitalistic) meet. In fact a young rebel had recently disparaged all such meets as attempts by the government to gain visibility. For the government it will anyways be, “Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.” So like Chetan Bhagat advises, “Government should also be like the Lotus. It has bright, pretty petals that are naturally waxed so it never lets the muck stick to it.” Arguments for or against any idea are the essence of democracy. But the fact remains that Litfests are an irreversible part of life. Above all they are good for tourism. And rebels too make the world go round. So it all balances out.
What was disconcerting about the CALM fest and did not somehow resonate with the core idea, were the side events. Why on earth would you include an exposition on drugs and drug abuse or counselling for adolescents with a captive audience that would have learnt more from the Harper Collins, Book Launch? Sudeep Sen remarked wryly that the launch could have been less formal with no bureaucratic frills. It was unfortunate that the senior bureaucrat who chaired the poetry reading session was least bit interested in what was going on and left before the session was over after making some vague comments on ‘poetries.’ The side shows diminished the importance of the main event. They digressed from the core idea of the festival. How often do students get the opportunity to listen to poets like Sudeep Sen, Robin Ngangom, Ananya Guha, Desmond Kharmawphlang et al? How could this have missed the attention of the organisers? More so when smart, intelligent young civil servants were part of the planning process. And yes the compere at the inaugural session (am told she is also a civil servant) was over the top in her acclamation of the Chief Minister and other dignitaries. Author Prajwal Parajuli known for his sharp wit said, “Her prose is more purple than Rushdie’s.” She would have been good as a Miss Shillong compere with her bucket of flowery vocab.
What was interesting on Day- 2 of the fest was the launch of Chirodeep Chaudhuri’s photo-journal, “A Village in Bengal.” Chirodeep answered several questions from aspiring photographers about how to begin their journey into the complex domain of photography, some as strange as looking for sponsors. Chirodeep looks at village life in Bengal and how some facets of culture have remained unchanged, including its rural architecture. This was followed by two parallel sessions, one on creative writing and the other a discussion on the theme – Is India the new cradle of English Literature. It had eminent writers like Anjum Hasan, senior journalist (NDTV) Kishalay Bhattacharya, publisher Susan Waten and was moderated by Dr Ananya Guha. Listening to this panel gave one a lot of insights into the realm of English literature which often is like Holy Grail to those of us who have not gone through the drill.
But it was the evening with Aroha Choir which was the icing on the cake. Aroha have come a long way and almost all of their singers can sing solo which is a great attribute. But Toshan Nongbet and his expressions just warmed the cockles of the audience. It’s a shame that the auditorium was, as Pauline Warjri, the Aroha director said was half full. Those who were absent missed a real treat. Speedy Gonsales, Dream, dream, dream and a spiced up Hey Jude won plaudits. For the visitors from Delhi and elsewhere the evening was a treat. A happy ending to the second day of CALM! On Day-3 a stand up comedy show by Neville Shah, Aditi Mittal and Kunal Rao awaits Shillongites although we were warned that its X-rated and only adults would have the stamina to savour the show.
The event to look forward to is MJ Akbar’s talk on Saturday evening. I have heard the erudite Mr Akbar a couple of times and have always hugely admired his ability to convey as Sartre says, even the most volatile and controversial point in admirable, free-flowing prose. I suppose every writer wishes she/he could write in that inimitable MJ (sorry not Micheal Jackson but MJ Akbar) style. Alas, a writer’s journey is fraught with pitfalls. I cannot imagine how a caption in my article last week could appear unedited. Public was spelt without the ‘l.’ It was a scream and someone was kind enough to put the article up on Facebook with the word circled. Thank you for the favour!
And last but not least is Babatdor Dkhar’s conversation with Prajwal which promises to be quite a show stopper knowing the latter’s penchant for baring his heart irrespective of who he is speaking to. Babatdor edits an online magazine Northeast Monologues and seems to have thrown away his legal career.
So much for today…. It’s been a long day for all at CALM.