Bangalore Lit Fest 2016

The 5^th annual literature festival took place on 17^th and 18^th of December 2016 in hotel Royal Orchid. As always, it was a fun to meet and interact with some of our favorite authors. Also, to meet new ones and hear their perspectives. 

In a rather witty session where Chetan Bhagat was in conversation with Sudha Murtha, Chetan Bhagat said that he notes that the matrimonial ads always require a “homely” and “simple” girl for the groom. He remarked that what “homely and simple” could mean. Although as a crowd we went in laughing splits, it was also thought provoking. The young India educates their daughters, but wants their daughter-in-law to be “homely” and “simple” – someone who would be simple enough to stay within the constraints of home!

Margaret Alva in conversations with Anuja Chauhan

I understood that anything good would sell and that’s the formula! 

Session on the evolution of Bangalore and its current suffocated state. It called for volunteers who can contribute to the well-being of the city they live! In fact, there is a website through which interested volunteers could register themselves (http://citizensforbengaluru.in/).

Anand Neelakantan was at his witty best. He emphasized that only the winners write tales and hence, the perspective of the loser goes unheard. 

This time not only books, but also movies were discussed.  - Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Anuja Chandramouli was quirky and her energy was contagious. 

Ashish Vidyarthi recounted an incident – he was once travelling in Mumbai local trains. It was crowded as usual and a commoner identified him. He asked, “Sir, what are you doing here?” Ashish replied, “The same thing that you are doing!”  The commoner was perplexed of course.

Preeti Shenoy repeatedly mentioned that a good writer writes good stuffs. She had statistics of her facebook likes and twitter followers. I have also read her books. But somewhere, she sounded arrogant to me. I mean humility is the key. Play with it, I wanted to tell her!

Aiswarya Rajinikanth Dhanush spoka about how it is to be a super star kid. Her simplicity and humility was so charming that we almost forgot who she is. She is multi-faceted and spoke very sensibly.

Some interesting activities for children

In short, this was lot of fun!!!!