It was great connecting with writer friends
at Litlive 2015 at the NCPA, which was sixth edition of this redoubtable
literary meet. I have been a steady presence in their scheme of things right
from the start. This edition was resplendent in that it has grown into a lot
more than just literature: plays, performance poetry, literature about
politics, mime-drama, etc. The range and variety was, what to say, mind
numbing. I couldn’t attend all the events and had as companion my
childhood-friend Gangadharan Menon, whom I had persuaded to attend, and who,
later took a keen interest in all the programmes. Gangadharan is the author of
Evergreen Leaves (published by Partridge Press) which is all about his
escapades into Indian Nature Parks, which you may want to have a look in. He
was nearly gored to death by an elephant in a jungle in Kerala. As events
turned out, he developed into a festival junkie, showing more enthusiastic than
me to attend all the good programmes. He has an advantage in that he lives in
Chembur and by car it’s only twelve minutes from the centre of South Bombay,
yes, we counted, twelve minutes.
That’s a great advantage. In my earlier
days of working I used to commute from Chembur to VT, which took me an hour.
Now it takes only twelve minutes by road. Isn’t that wonderful? How much time
could I have saved if I had lived in the present and been able to take
advantage of this new freeway? I could have written more poems and short
stories, read more books, and met more friends. Now what’s the use of
remembering all these things? A sense that things could have been better
pervades. But, then I could also have been better.
A hello was said to the talented writer
Annie Zaidi, maverick Dan Husain (redoubtable poet and writer, whose play “Ek
Punjab Yeh Bhi” is being staged at the Prithvi. Dan recently returned his
Sahitya Akademi award in protest against the climate of growing intolerance in
the country. Writer Maya Sriram (who is working on her second novel after her
first one “Bitch Goddess for Dummies”) was also there with her now grown up
daughter, whom I had seen as a small girl. Well, there were writers who didn’t
say hello, which doesn’t matter, to me, at least.
There were an aging population of Bombay,
the NCPA types, present in strength. I meet Usha Sheth, daughter of
K.D.Malaviya, one of the first ministers in Nehru’s cabinet. She asks me about
Kamala Das, but I was not part of the literary scene in those days. Ganga was. So,
I divert her to him. There was an artistic-looking person carrying a sketch book
looking remarkably like cartoonist R.K.Laxman. He went around caricaturing
people and then getting them signed by his subjects. Ganga said it had to be
R.K.Laxman’s son: the looks, the conservative dress confirmed my feeling that
it was him. “Laxman lived to be ninety-something and if he had a son at age 30,
it has to be him.” That’s Ganga for you. I know that Laxman has a son, who is a
journalist, and maybe, it’s him. I had met him some time ago when he was
covering aviation-related subjects for the Times of India. But, then I lost
track.
As usual with anything worth attending in
India there were queues and skirmishes for tickets for the events. But Ganga
ensured that he drove to NCPA in the morning on the Eastern Freeway to collect
passes for me and him. So I got to see Astad Deboo’s pirouetting performance in
Rivers Run Deep (he rotated Dervish-style for fifteen minutes), which made us
wonder how he did it at his age. It was a beautifully choreographed
performance, one that would be truly representative of the new India. The dance
was well orchestrated, great music, and Tata Theatre is the best in terms of
sound. The Manipuri dancers rhythmically jumped and danced while playing the
drums on stage. Ganga said this is the only percussion instrument in the world playing
which a drummer can also dance. I agree.
There was this performance poetry by Hannah
Silva in which she tears the novel Fifty Shades of Grey with her mouth, as the
preamble to the performance. She combined elements of poetry, deaf-mute-sign
language, performance poetry so wonderfully that the audience was spell bound.
I wonder why Brits are such good performers. They aren’t amateurish in the
least and have a good command over their material.
Chacha Pe Charcha (Discussion on Chaha
Nehru)
I sat through this discussion on Chacha
Nehru, which had Vir Sanghvi (journalist), Nayantara Sehgal (Nehru’s niece),
Anil Dharkar (Director, Litlive), and Arun Maira (former member of Planning
Commission) holding forth.
Vir Sanghvi sand that Nehru downplayed the
need for individual freedoms vis-a-vis freedoms of communities, e.g., in the
first amendment. True, in the first
amendment (apart from the freedom of expression clause) clauses were introduced
to prevent “misuse of freedom of expression”, which in later days was open to
misuse. This, it seems, have curtailed freedom of expression even more. Do we,
in this country, have something like “original intent” which the US has? If so,
I feel all these clauses in the amendment would not have been required.
Moving on, Sehgal opined that secularism
was (still is) the bedrock of the Indian freedom movement. The freedom movement
cut across religions, caste, and ideology to create a new state based on
freedom for all. So why are we discussing “secularism” as a concept so late in
our democracy? It’s an integral part of our constitution. Moreover Nehru was an
agnostic and didn’t believe in any religion in particular. He may have
performed certain rituals, but he was a true-blue secularist.
Overall, it was agreed that India didn’t
choose to be a Hindu nation. It has been seen as the only democracy in a sea of
autocracies, dictatorships and, authoritarian regimes. Now, even that attribute
seems to be besmirched by the Hindutvavadis, out to create a fanciful Hindu
state.
The Play “Ila”
There was a huge crowd waiting patiently in
queue for this play and I wanted to see what it was all about. Ganga had a pass
which he misplaced. We decided to take a chance and queued up for half hour to
get in. Luckily we managed to gain entry, into the sunken garden which
chock-a-block full. Since Ganga has a back problem I gave him my seat – the
only one available – and said I will sit on the mattress on the floor. I also
have a back problem, but, I know Ganga’s problem is bigger than mine. But, no
one, no one including the youngsters, would offer their seats to us, old
beggars.
The story is by Devdutt Pattanaik and is
about a king who wanders into a forest and is cursed to become a woman when the
moon changes phases. To his own surprise, the king, in his female avatar, becomes
pregnant. The story is told on the background of train journeys on Bombay’s
western railway between Virar and Churchgate, and this being the best part,
shows the little politics of the women in the ladies’ compartment. I love the
part when all of them in a co-ordinated move mimic the violent swaying of a
compartment. Delicious! Delectable! The play is produced by Patchwork Ensemble
and in the cast I espy my friend Mukul Chedda, who is a model and competent
actor. He plays the role of king Ila in his male form.
Anyway, a geat time was had, though the
commute to the venue proved to be a bit hectic for me, what with my health
issues.
