ORANGE CITY LITERATURE FESTIVAL

Author Manu Bhattathiri talked about Creating Worlds with Words at OCLF 2021. The author talked about his writing journey  from short stories to fiction and eventually to longer full-fledged novels. He talked about the imaginary place "Khartukda"  somewhere in Kerala and let out a hearty laugh when asked if he wanted to retire to that place. He talked about how  everything around him and everyday words triggers him to create a character, plot, or anything that can work in a story.  He then sets the character in the Khartukda setting and molds it into his character. It makes him a part of the story  and helps him get more ideas. The art of borrowing characters from the people around you, from the people you've  known and from the people you've just heard of. Author Manu Bhattathiri took an amazing session at OCLF 2021and  greatly elaborated on character formation, the journey of writing and creating infinite worlds with words!

Kaveree Bazmee: I think it's a gigantic task. Women work from home, work for home. Women have been doing this thing for years and years without having anything. The current generation of women know exactly how much their mothers sacrifice, and that's why we are here doing something significant. Big gaps in pay, gender, and social-economic gaps still exist in society. This generation of men perhaps could share the burden of what women carry.

Nandita Puri.: Men are working, women are working, and women are working more. The proportion of women in bastion like engineering, army and other women were negligible 20 years ago. Now it has increased to around 5% to 6%, which, I think, is not much. There was always a postman but not a postwoman. It's embedded in our minds. For a long time, bus drivers, truck drivers, train drivers were men, and still, they are women who found their place in these sectors but still, it's not satisfactory. The idea is to make the environment more women-friendly to find their way through.

Minni Vaid: We have very limited choices when women are engulfed with families. Responsibilities break their ambitions. They always think about family first. Women empowerment is possible only when a woman is confident enough to believe that she can do it. This is high time to accept that women are not yet fully empowered. We are at a very nuisance stage of equality. I agree that our generation is acting in a transition phase that will work out well.

“Book writing is a long journey. If you are interested, you need to find the project we would like to work on. Check what material is already available on the same subject and look if you could contribute something interesting to that subject. Hitler's biography is one of the most famous books. Most people have it or might have read it. Here we have two very common assumptions: Hitler, a friend of India, and whether he helped India get freedom through WW2. We presume this is due to various factors; first is WW2 and photo-op where we have seen Indian leaders like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose with Adolf Hitler. I must say Hitler was never a friend of India; rather, he had his concept of Aryan Race theory, and he never thought anything good about India. He thought Indians were unfit for self-rule. Hitlers Autobiography lacks context. I find it very hard to read. Mahatma Gandhi was criticized for being too soft on Hitler. Hitler never wanted to host the Olympics, but some sections of the Nazis convinced him to show a good image of Nazis. Subhash Chandra Bose met Hitler to convince him to remove the anti-India remark.”

“Many times mythology was used to foster very damaging narratives. Any mythology has so much potential to do good, inspirational and empowering. I find it hard when it is used to spread the narrative of hate, intolerance and inequality. I think our mythology is very empowering for women. I hate when mythological references are given that women in those days were so pure, women sit at only home and do household chores. Special comment on women dressing particularly comes from mythology. We worshipped Kali but were told to cover from top to toe. Women were topless in those days. The bra is an imported concept, and Indian women of the past didn't wear a bra. Nobody bothers to read ancient Purans because it is complicated to research, so people only do cherry-picks, which they find suitable. It is important to remove misconceptions about our mythology. Those aspects mentioned in Purana were good intentions, but those can't be applicable now. Women in mythology were not only housewives but warriors, philosophers too. A popular example is Kaikeyi, we have anguish against her that she sent Rama in exile, but she was heroic. She fought in battles and saved injured Dashratha. Women were never relegated to one role.”

After a very warm welcome by the anchor, Ms Madhavi Menon and Ms Anuja Deshpande acknowledge each other and Ms Deshpane asks Ms Menon about her thought process while she was writing her latest book ‘The Law of Desire’. Ms Menon talks about how she promised herself to not blame everything on the colonial masters of India but eventually ended up realising that the British played a crucial role in not only creating a divide among communities but also making desire a taboo. She goes on to talk about how rulers who invaded India before the British integrated into the Indian society openly which led to a mix in a culture that has more or less made the Indian food, architecture and many more aspects stand out. In her opinion, the case with desire was the same but a fractured society left behind by the British led to a vacuum now occupied by taboo. Ms Menon and Ms Deshpande talk about a few more aspects in regards to the topic as the session comes to a close.

Author Dr Prabhakar Aloka in conversation about The Role of Intelligence in Unfolding Security Situations at Orange City Literature  Festival. Dr Aloka talked about his book " Operations High Grief", a riveting work of fiction about Spies, Security Personnel and the  numerous ways and methods they use to safeguard the Nation. He talked about spies' in-depth role in his stories and how complex  that line of work is. He described a spy as an entity who continuously walks on the fringes of Law and Threats. Dr Aloka mentioned  that the Spying and Intelligence Profession is the oldest one in the world and holds great secrets and history and also explained the  role of spies and their efforts to safeguard the Nation. This session on The Role of Intelligence in Unfolding Security Situations with  Dr Prabhakar Akola is something you don't want to miss! An incredibly informative session with a unique storyline explained in great  detail.

Orange City Literature Festival witnessed an exciting session on "The Rock Babas and Other Stories" by Author Ameya Prabhu. He talked about his book and the nine stories inside it. He wrote about the Himalayan Babas who love jamming rock songs and performing them to their heart's content. But where do we find the babas? How did they get into Rock Music? His story of the Rock Babas is indeed very interesting and something to look forward to! Another one of his stories was named "The Accidental Philanthropist". It's an extraordinary story of a Japanese Businessman who, despite being wealthy, has no one to spend time with. This story of a lonely billionaire starts when he finds out he has very limited time to live and decides to reconcile and celebrate his life in the times he has left. The accidental part comes when he suddenly discovers that he isn't terminally ill but, in reality, very healthy. Thus, his journey of getting the assets he donated back and efforts in saving his wealth starts. There's no doubt Author Ameya Prabhu wrote nine unique stories with thrilling and interesting plots. Mr Prabhu talked about the journey of writing and the problems one faces when they start writing a book.  He had an interactive session with the audience and answered all their questions. He quoted, "Writing is 20% Talent and 80% Discipline, and it takes a lot of discipline to sit down and focus on writing a book". Author Ameya Prabhu hosted an amazing event at OCLF 2021 and shared numerous rules and tricks a budding author can keep in mind while writing a book.

An exciting conversation on health, nutrition and life lessons with Author Rekha Diwekar at OCLF 2021, an MSc Chemistry Graduate  Herself. Never imagined learning about minor aspects of nutrition and science could be this exciting. Ms Diwekar hooked the  audience on her stories and tips and witnessed an interactive session at the Orange City Literature Festival. She talked about  which materials will help improve one's mental and physical health and the materials that are a hazard to the body. Our body  is a temple, and the literal backbone of this temple is our spine. She advised everybody to increase the intake of ghee in their  regular diet. Even a little bit of ghee in your diet does wonders for your body and spine. She shared numerous anecdotes,  health tips and plentiful information and talked about India's food culture and how the west has adapted to a healthier lifestyle  that Indian culture promotes. Everything was discussed in this session, from the diet during the pandemic, the health issues  junk food creates, and the perks of homemade food. In conclusion, Author Rekha Diwekar's session on Arogya Samvad was  an absolute hit at OCLF 2021!

Sunil Mehta, Iti Khurana, Naveen Choudhary, Dipankar Mukherjee on "Future of Publication in the Era of Kindle and Online Platforms "in Conversation with Mehr Kohli

Dr. D. R. Karthikeyan On Meditation and Spirituality, a healthy way to lead in personal and Corporate Life In Conversation With Sandeep Agrawal