Bangalore Lit Fest: Notes

I attended the Bangalore Literature Festival on 3rd December 2022. It was more out of curiosity about what Lit Fests are about than anything else. A writer friend pinged me about 5-6 days before it happened, till when I had vaguely heard about it and had no idea that it was happening on the weekend of 3-4 Dec. I had never attended Bangalore Lit Fest (BLF as it is called) or any other Lit Fest before this, either after I took up writing three years back, or in my days as a corporate manager before that. Earlier this year (in January) when another friend had asked me if I was going to the Jaipur Lit Fest (JLF), I had seriously evaluated going, but did not feel motivated enough after it turned part online, part offline due to the Omicron wave of Covid. So, long story short, this was my first Lit Fest experience. So how was it? Here goes.

Well, I didn’t know what to expect in a Lit Fest apart from seeing a lot of celebrities (writers, publishers, and generally famous people from the industry) talk about writing, reading and the ilk. So, to that extent, that is what I got. There were four or five ‘tracks’ so to speak that went about in parallel in the surroundings of the Lalit Ashok Hotel. Plus, there was the Atta Galata bookstore in a hall inside where you could buy books by authors featured in the Lit Fest. Each of those tracks, at any point in time, had someone on stage talking (typically an interviewer and an interviewee at least, and in some cases panels of interviewers and interviewees, too) and a large number of people listening to them. I had to choose which track to attend at any point in time and rush from one to the other, based on it.

My choices initially were based on who was speaking (or interviewing) and what the talk was about. But as the day progressed, many of the talks started seeming equally interesting or uninteresting. Hence, practical considerations like when was lunch, where the heat of the sun was the least (yes, it was a hot afternoon in Bangalore!), where the crowds gathered (or in some cases weren’t too much) and where I could stay put or get out easily started becoming important. Most of the track locations were close by, so logistically it wasn’t hard, plus the sessions had overlap, so in the afternoon, I found myself attending one session for a while, and then sneaking out for another. Therefore, in a sense, I could get the best of all worlds. Overall, I attended quite a lot of sessions. Which are the ones I remember?

Well, to start with, the one I missed. When I reached in the morning, the first session by Geetanjali Shree (Ret Samadhi) was just getting over, and one by Mallika Sarabhai on experiments with living was on. I skipped it and went to a session by David Davidar who spoke about publishing. There were quite a few aspiring writers and students in the crowd with questions, and I must say he answered them with patience. Another session I remember was by a writer Damodar Mauzo, who I had never heard of, being interviewed by Vivek Shanbhag, (the writer of Ghachar Ghochar which I had read and loved). Mauzo, who I realized is a Jnanpith Award Winner, was a 78-year-old man, who had been writing mostly short stories in Konkani for almost fifty years. He spoke passionately about how he got inspiration from characters he met in real life in his village in Goa. It was interesting, and I ended up buying two of his collections – one of which I have now finished reading.

I also attended a session by Cyrus Mistry who had written books about the Parsi community. His completely nonchalant, almost uninterested manner of talking about his writing while the interviewer was trying to promote it was intriguing. I ended up buying one of his books about a Parsi corpse bearer. That is the point of the Lit Fest, I guess – to introduce and promote books and authors, and spur readers to buy. It is not a bad objective. If you are a book lover, you might just discover a book or author you don’t know and might like.

Everyone talked about books except a few real celebrities like VVS Laxman and Barkha Dutt, who ended up speaking about themselves and their persona and opinions. I guess that’s how it goes – people want to listen about famous people and their lives and opinions, and their writing is secondary – many times, the book sells due to the celebrity and not the writing, which is done by someone else. That is the case with non-fiction. Whereas the not so famous (but actual) writers talked about their books and writing, because people don’t want to listen about them and their lives that much but more about their writing. That is the case with fiction.

One amazing session in the afternoon was one in which a not so famous writer but highly accomplished and knowledgeable person spoke. It was by Trilochan Sastry the writer of a book “Essentials of Hinduism” and a professor and dean at IIM Bangalore. He held everyone spellbound with his wisdom and knowledge, demonstrated with a rare dispassion, and at the end, in the spirit of his topic, declared that all royalties from his book go to charity.

After that, I attended a session by Ramachandra Guha who was at the other end as far as passion and eloquence goes. His speech in the evening about the research he had performed over more than a decade for his two-volume biography on Gandhi was full of anecdotes and jokes, many of which were on the left, liberal side of the political spectrum, but perfectly executed to hold the audience in awe.

Well, the left, liberal aspect was on display almost throughout the Lit Fest, but then if it is not here, where will it be? I tried not to read too much into it, but in some sessions, the anti-state rhetoric took centerstage rather than the literature and I found myself searching for the literature amongst those few shades of activism. Be that as it may, I just left it at that, and focused on the sessions which were about books, writers and writing.

There were a couple of sessions by Pico Iyer on travel writing, but I am not a reader of that type of writing (yet!) so didn’t quite resonate with it. There was also a session by Vikram Chandra and Anita Nair on crime writing, which had a lot of crowds, but I found it going above my head. That made me realize that if I didn’t enjoy a crowded session by such accomplished travel and crime writers, it basically meant that there are different types of readers and there are different types of writers, and everyone doesn’t have to like everything.

There was also a session by teachers of creative writing for students who aspired to make a career in writing late in the evening. Unfortunately, a lot of students (and their parents) had left by then.

So, overall, what did I think about the Bangalore Lit Fest?

Well, for a start, for the experience that comes once a year or even lesser, it was a decent one. Just for quelling the curiosity of what Lit Fests are about, the visit to BLF 22 was worth it. Beyond that, it really depends on who you are and what you are looking for.

For readers, if you find your favorite author and would like to meet him or her in person, take a selfie or an autographed book – avenues that aren’t available in general – a Lit Fest is perfect. Authors are there basically for that – to build and meet their reader base and promote their books. For publishers, it is basically a promotional event for their published authors. Some say, they also hunt for new talent, but I am not sure if that is true. For aspiring young writers and students who want a publishing contract, it is said this is a networking opportunity. But like so many conferences I have attended (in Tech and IT, in my corporate innings!), I am not sure one really gets publishing contracts at Lit Fests, the same way you generally don’t get customers at tech fairs. You may get a few business cards and leads, but just like that, expecting more from a Lit Fest, is perhaps, a bit immature.

And then there are a lot of people who don’t fit into any of these categories. These include the reading public, the literature society circle (of all types and ages!), the famous-for-being-famous people, the media, the hangouts and even people who don’t have any particular agenda and are there generally to have fun. For them, it is a decent day out.

I might attend a few more in the future as and when they happen, but I think they will be based more on convenience, specific interest for a session than for the general experience or curiosity which got quelled at BLF 22. I would still say that attending or being part of a Lit Fest, even for a day, is a good opportunity for those who have a specific agenda. In the absence of that, it is still a good way to spend a day amongst bibliophiles, writers and anyone who likes or has anything to do with books, reading and writing.

Just like it was for me. Overall, it was a day decently spent.