The Shillong Literary Literature Festival now into its 5th year has made significant strides in terms of the quality of writers invited. This time International Booker Prize winner Banu Mushtaq was not only present for one session but was also engaged in two different sessions enlightening the audience about how she took to writing short stories, the challenges she faced and how she bravely overcame a fatwa against her for her writings and advocacy. These sessions where authors bare their hearts out are very encouraging for young listeners who are actually the target audience and who need to hear these stories of hope and resilience. The other event for school and college children was exciting and provided a platform where the young could understand where poetry comes from and why verses actually form in the deepest recesses of the heart and those words need to be given wings to.
The Ward’s Lake wore a festive look and had huge tourist footfalls. Many who were in Shillong for tourism purposes, heard of the LitFest and dropped by only to find that it was an exciting event with music following the cerebral interactions. What’s good about the LitFest is also that bookstalls were set up and people could buy the books by their favourite authors and get them to pen their autographs. Banu Mushtaq patiently signed books on the first and second day. To get a book signed by an International Booker Prize winner in itself is a special occasion for many. Litfests encourage the reading culture and that is perhaps the biggest dividend. In a world driven by byte-sized information and consumers get their news from their mobile phones rather than from newspapers, a literature festival is a timely reminder that reading and reflection still pay huge dividends because the human mind needs these exercises to remain sharp and responsive.
The Government of Meghalaya is keen on making the Shillong Literature Festival one of the best in the country and the Meghalayan Age Limited (MAL) team seems geared up for the challenge. Their ability to work round the clock to ensure that authors and invitees receive the best treatment shows their commitment. The food and wine stalls around Ward’s Lake are crowded and serve delectable local cuisines. Other stalls with souvenirs and other takeaways are also doing brisk business. What surprises the guests who were at the LitFest last year and are here this year too is, why the bridge across the lake remains out of bounds for visitors. Their question- why does it take so long to repair a less than one kilometer wooden bridge. Hygiene amenities at Ward’s Lake which will now be a venue for different festivals round the year need urgent upscale. They require to be models of cleanliness and the talking point of visitors to the Lake. A good example are the toilets at Jiva Veg Restaurant, Nongpoh which are exemplary. Word of mouth is the biggest advertisement for any place and the Ward’s Lake needs to become a memorable destination for the LitFest crowd in every aspect from intellectual and literary discourses to the arts and culinary delights and finally the rest rooms.
