The Hindu Lit Fest could not have gotten more filmy. Women of all ages rushed to the book-signing square to get a glimpse of 70s’ star, Rishi Kapoor. “I never knew he was so articulate,” chirps Anu Bhasin, a die-hard fan. “During his days, when everyone was doing hard roles, he would roll in the snow and make all of us laugh, and he did such a good job! Have you seen Bobby ? He looks so sweet when he goes, ‘Mein Shayar toh nahi...’. He was such fun!” And, that very moment the star crosses them. All the women freeze, with a dreamy look in their eyes, except for one brave fan who shouts: “Come back, Rishi! We love you!”
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As I rush from one venue to the other, I notice author, Perumal Murugan, sitting unassumingly in a corner with his wife. Not surrounded by his admirers and fans, Murugan looked like he was at home. He said he enjoyed the ambience at the fest. “My session went really well. I never knew such a huge crowd would turn up. I also enjoyed the sessions of Vairamuthu and P. Chidambaram. But, my favourite was Kanhaiya Kumar’s. I can’t follow Hindi. Still, I liked his spirit.” Though many readers came up to him for autographs and photos, his most memorable incident from the fest was that of a young boy who started crying when he met him. “He was referring to the controversy. He was so young. It moved me.”
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The smell of books is what most people associate with literary events. But at Lit for Life, it was the delightful aroma of coffee that greeted one as they entered the author’s lounge. There was also the whiff of freshly baked cakes... thanks to The Brew Room’s first ever pop-up counter at the annual event. A variety of handcrafted coffees were on offer along with cakestands brimming with snickerdoodles, sandwiches, banana walnut cake, mocha cream cake and a bunch of convenient bite-sized delights, like mini cup cakes, spinach and corn tarts, vegan pumpkin muffins... “We had four varieties of black coffee, a couple of cold coffees and four varieties of tea. But it was the South Indian davara coffee that was most popular. Girish Kasaravalli, Shashi Tharoor, Rishi Kapoor, Aishwaryaa Dhanush... all seemed to enjoy it,” says Nivruti Reddy, one of the owners of The Brew Room. She says people actually kept coming back for it. “We served 250-300 people each day, including authors and panellists.”