ORANGE CITY LITERATURE FESTIVAL

Mr Nikhil Taneja portrays his struggles with patriarchy as a young boy and develops the conversation with Ms Sonali Nakshine about the long-lasting impacts of the same. In his word, patriarchy has opened up a valley between the thought processes of today’s youth and the older generations. And the freedom of expression and interaction on social media has played a very prominent role in this. As per Mr Nikhil, this gap results from our patriarchy failing young boys, who grow up around an environment that puts men in an authoritative position and gives them the liberty to abuse that authority. Subsequently, the conversation moves towards the fact that patriarchy forces young boys into a black hole where the line between authority and abuse is faded and even none existent leaves the entire society in a limbo where the usual consensus accepts inferiority of the opposite gender. Mr Nikhil Taneja very beautifully puts into perspective that behind men who abuse authority and impose it at unwanted intervals are young boys who have grown up in situations where their elders did the same. The behaviour not only became acceptable but also pushed towards a thought process that affected everyone around them.

With a warm welcome from the anchor, Mr Tuhin and Mr Vaibhav start the conversation with an introduction Mr Tuhin’s book on Birsa Munda and very swiftly the conversation moves towards the issue of the general public not really aware of Birsa Munda and the legacy he left behind because of him being a tribal freedom fighter. Mr Tuhin very well sums up how Birsa Munda shook the very foundations of the British Empire with the help of his tribe and how the British made sure that his legacy was forgotten by rigging historic records. Mr Tuhin tells how this eventually led to Birsa Munda not being a recognisable figure among the public. As the conversation rolls on, Mr Tuhin and Mr Vaibhav take a deeper dive into Birsa Munda’s legacy and how he managed to give the British masters of the subcontinent a run for their money and how it eventually impacted the tribal community in general. As the conversation starts moving towards conclusions, it comes to a close with an excellent homage to one of the greatest freedom fighters of the country.

After a very warm welcome to one of the most celebrated authors of the country Dr Manjiri Prabhu and moderator Mr Dipankar Mukherjee, the session gets underway. Without wasting any time, Mr Mukherjee cuts to the chase right away and requests Dr Prabhu to give the viewers an insight into her story, Dr Prabhu starts with how she was very fascinated by books as a child and knew at that very moment that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. Dr Prabhu goes on to talk about how she has always felt that her destiny was always to be a writer. Then she goes on to talk about how the suspense thriller and children’s genres played an important role in helping her pick her preferred genre. Mr Mukherjree in a very curious question asks Dr Prabhu how she manages two starkly different genres and if she set up two different systems to keep them different. As the session rolls on, Dr Prabhu helps the viewers get a deeper insight into how she maintains her creativity and what it’s like to be a writer in general. Mr Mukherjee does an excellent job of bringing her story out in the best possible way. With a few more questions back and forth, the session comes to a close.

“I had consistently appreciated understanding history, generally Indian history, in school. However, tragically, the set of experiences we read in school is neither far-reaching nor locks in. When I began going around the nation, with my better half, who is in the military, being posted at better places, I began studying our nation's set of experiences and culture. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to live in spots with a brilliant history and significant occasions set apart in their authentic schedule due to my extraordinary favourable luck. One such spot was Jhansi.

What's more, if you are in Jhansi, you can't get away from the overwhelming Jhansi fortification or the accounts of Maharani Lakshmibai. You can feel her quality for what it's worth. Orchha, the past capital of Bundelkhand, is only 20 kilometres from Jhansi and is an unquestionable requirement for a vacationer location for all guests to Jhansi. When I visited this enchanting town, I was scared. There was simply an excess of fables to be overlooked. Both these towns had a rich, authentic legacy, and however, in two unique states, offered me enough material for a story. Our set of experiences resembles a secret stash. The target of a chronicled fiction essayist should be to bring certain alive parts of history, not change it; to present and upgrade what's there, or haul it out from layers of lack of definition. I don't think we deserve the privilege to change the occasions by and large. In any case, history is abstract as well and diversely deciphered.”

“I grew in a family where my parents were already in theatre. My father was a director, and my mother was also engaged in the theatre. At the time of my birth, my family was already in the field of theatre for a decade. My father had a flat in Colaba on the fifth floor without walls except for washrooms. That’s where he practices, and people have to get on six floors without a lift. My father headed NSD, Delhi and created a curriculum for them. The theatre has a long history starting in 320 BC. Different place, theatre artist performs live. Emotions are very strong. Certainly, it is hard to work on stage than in films as there are no retakes. Artists have to reach out to every audience from the first row to the last, and it’s a big challenge. We get an emotional compliment when the artist performs well. The theatre will never disappear. People have an emotional attachment to it. Reading a play has personal experience. Watching a play is sharing experience between audience and performer. We won’t get satisfaction by reading a play what you will get by experiencing or watching it. In the case of music or painting credibility of theatre, the artist is here and now. Not all places are meant for all people. The theatre will never disappear. People have an emotional attachment to it.”

Satyarth Nayak on SuperStar Sridevi - The Eternal Screen Goddess In Conversation with Sangeeta Varma

Ms Daman Singh brings a sensitive but rarely explored topic to the table in conversation with Ms Shalaka Kulkarni. As the introduction very well sums up, Ms Singh took a deep dive into India’s mental health infrastructure and processes as a whole that date back to pre-independent India. In Ms Singh’s words, when mental health was a taboo across the world, the British masters of the subcontinent brought the taboo to India. They set up systems to segregate mentally ill patients from the general population. As Ms Singh continues her conversation with Ms Kulkarni, light is shone on how mental asylums came up in India and were managed by old systems set up by the British for years. When India gained independence and the mass exodus of people across the newly formed border started, many had to leave their family members behind in the asylums because there was no provision for their transfer across the border. Some patients in these asylums waited for as long as three years before the governments could sit down and set up a process for their transfer. Ms Singh also talks about how national newspaper archives were an immense help to her cause as she found several stories she couldn’t have found elsewhere through old newspapers. And she even managed to find details that weren’t mentioned in the government records. All in all, the conversation ages like fine wine in its final leg as Ms Daman Singh brings attention to how modern India, along with the help of medical science from western countries, did away with several harmful processes used in asylums and why the strained mental health system in the country is moving towards a brighter future. With that, an excellent conversation between Ms Daman Singh and Ms Shalaka Kulkarni ended.

Dr. Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai is a renowned visual anthropologist, historian, journalist, columnist and author. She has researched extensively on Indian socio-cultural anthropology and history which includes Indian folk culture and traditions. Her enthusiasm and knowledge towards this topic is very much evident in her talk with Prof.R.Radhakrishnan who is also an anthropologist and an international columnist. Their conversation mostly revolved around her book ‘The Owl Delivered The Good News All Night Long: Folk Tales, Legends And Modern Lore Of India’. She shared with us the stories behind selecting the unique book title and the making of the critically acclaimed design of the cover page. They both together covered various aspects and dimensions related to the history, significance, influential nature and beauty of folktales around the globe. Overall, the conversation is very enlightening and informative regarding various cultures and dialects and traditions and teachings and a lot more.

After a warm welcome by the anchor, Ms Kavita Ashok acknowledges the opportunity to be a part of a session with Ms Kavita Devgan. Ms Devgan acknowledges the opportunity to be a part of OCLF 2021. Ms Ashok asks Ms Devgan how her new book The Don’t Diet Plan happened. Ms Devgan explains how after publishing her first book she started working on The Don’t Diet Plan but ended up publishing two more books before this one came out for the readers. The reason was that she wanted to take all the time in this world to come up with a book that not only served the needs of the readers but also helped them understand things better. In the book, Ms Kavita Devgan talks about why the reader should not be dieting the way people normally do and why it’s important to identify the type of diet you want to get into. The session rolls on in the direction with more discussion on Ms Devgan’s new book. Soon the session comes to a close with interesting insight from viewers on dieting as a whole.

“I do write a lot about music, reviews of theatre. At one point, I was a professional musician. Translation takes a huge amount of time, and I am humbled by all writers who approached me for this. It has not that I stopped writing fiction; I do. Pandemic has put a stop to many things, but we were moving. I do write children stories to get into their minds. Initially, there was a lot of violence in my writing, but as I became a senior citizen, I wrote a lot about ageism. Assamese community is a small reader-writer. So it’s very important to bring those stories in English to a wider audience. English has a wider reach, but Assamese Sahitya Sabha has membership in lakhs. People are enthusiastic, even younger writers who write about contemporary things. People are reading in Assamese, including English. A lot of books are sold in exhibitions. Northeast has huge oral literature, and writing came later. Due to missionaries, the school might have chosen to write in English. Self-editing is important while writing or translating. You have to hold the theme. I’m not too fond of footnotes; rather, I choose to describe if something has to explain. We have to correct the draft if the content doesn’t make sense to non-Assamese personal. But not explaining every time is good. Because theme may get lost in the process.”