Khushwant Singh Lit Fest Ends On A High Note!

It is tough to talk about someone in the past whose very existence personified life. Author, journalist, storyteller, Khushwant Singh is perhaps the only name there is a literature festival dedicated to. The recently concluded third edition of the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival (10 – 12 October, 2014) was based on the theme of storytelling and the art of fiction.Amidst the tranquil setup of the Kasauli club, the festival began with the release of the book, ‘Khushwant Singh: The Legend Lives On,’ an anthology of obituaries on the author. The book was launched by columnist Shobhaa De in the presence of Khushwant Singh’s son Rahul Singh and publisher Ashok Chopra.
As a token of remembrance, Pakistani author, art-historian and leading scholar Fakir Aijazuddin presented a brick from the ruins of Khushwant’s house to Rahul Singh during the event. Daman Singh, daughter of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked about the history behind her latest title, 'Strictly Personal: Manmohan and Gursharan' and said, “I haven't mentioned them as people of importance or VIPs but as they are in day-to-day life". It took her five years to complete the book.
Few highlights:
‘Publishing houses are controlled by accountants’
While discussing the various aspects of commissioning, selecting stories, sourcing and writing that inform a publisher's journey, Ashok Chopra lamented on how priorities have changed and said that, "Publishing houses are being controlled by accountants who only look at the bottom-line". The session had HarperCollins' publisher Karthika V K and author/columnist Shobhaa De in the panel. Senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai talked about his upcoming book, ‘2014: The Election That Changed India’ with the ever-witty Suhel Seth on Day 3 at KSLF '14, with ,many a friendly dig at Times Now's Arnab Goswami! In his book, Rajdeep examines the reasons behind the spectacular victory of the BJP in this year's historic elections, the many missteps that spelled doom for the Congress Party and the bubble of the Aam Aadmi Party that burst too soon before seeing the light of day.
"A 62-year-old PM candidate lures 20's age group better than a 47-year-old PM candidate," said Rajdeep, while arguing why he finds a young leader's absence in social media (an effective medium to reach out to people) simply bizarre.Rajdeep also suggested that Narendra Modi should send out "Thank-you" cards to five people for his historic win -- Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Akhilesh Yadav, Ajit Pawar & Mani Shankar Aiyar!
Former Minister for External Affairs, Salman Khurshid shared his perspective on the Kashmir issue and said, "Kashmir for us is part of an idea, a definition of India. If we start redefining the very idea of India, it would create more problems than there already are". Vivan Sundaram and Bina Ramani were among other significant speakers on the concluding day of the KSLF '14.
On the art of writing stories
Short stories are often considered the neglected cousins of novels and it was during a session on the art of storytelling that panellists - Githa Hariharan, Samhita Arni and Shobhaa De seemed to build a case for this genre. The craft of writing a short story is not easy to learn and Githa raised a pertinent point when she said how the exercise of "creative reading" determines the quality of "creative writing". Shobhaa De launched her latest short-story collection - ‘Small Betrayals’ and said that writing short stories is like a "stress-buster" for her. Since this year's theme was storytelling, all participating speakers turned storytellers in their respective sessions. For instance, Capt Amarinder Singh reminisced about his days in the army and expressed remorse at his decision of leaving the armed forces too soon, while talking about his new biography - ‘The People’s Maharaja’.
Chetan Bhagat, Jane Austen and literature
One of the most engaging discussions was on the 'Value of Commercial Fiction' where thought-provoking questions on what merits being called literary and commercial fiction were raised. When Vinita Dawra Nangia, senior editor, Times of India asked, "If Jane Austen had written today, would she be considered a literary or a commercial writer?" Jaishree Misra placed Jane Austen in the category of 'chic lit' writers while Manju Kapur categorically denied the claim. Soon, Chetan Bhagat was inevitably dragged into the debate. While he is definitely the change-maker when it comes to redefining the rules of the publishing industry; his writing is yet to leave a ‘literary’ impression. "I don't think Chetan Bhagat is literature. You cannot read Chetan Bhagat and pretend you are reading literature," asserted Manju.
Khushwant Singh Book Renaming Contest
On the concluding day of the Khushwant Singh Literary Festival in Kasauli, a unique contest to rename Singh's book, 'I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale' was announced. In collaboration with the Khushwant Singh Foundation and Penguin India, the competition is open across all age-groups and the winner shall be awarded on Singh's centenary birth anniversary in 2015 when the book too would be re-released. Chiki Sarkar, chief editor, Penguin India, Khushwant Singh's daughter Mala Dayal, publisher of Ravi Dayal Books comprise the judging panel.
Five poetry books that were shortlisted for the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for poetry at the lit fest are: Sridala Swami's "Escape Artist", "Central Time" by Ranjit Hoskot, "When God is a Traveller" by Arundhathi Subramaniam, Keki N. Daruwalla's "Fire Altar" and "Selected Poems" by Joy Goswami. Suhel Seth had earlier this year announced this award in memory of Khushwant Singh. The winner will be announced at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) in January.
Other participants at the fest:
Aakar Patel, Brig. Brian McCall, Vijai Vardhan, Dr A K Banerjee, Arshia Sattar, Asif Noorani, and Manju Kak among others were part of the three-day festival. Attentive listeners, well-informed readers and literary enthusiasts made for a power-packed audience.
Organising team:
Rahul Singh
Niloufer Bilimoria
Ashok Chopra