As India's literary festivals increasingly become platforms for political agendas and sensational debates, the Pondicherry Literary Festival offers a breath of fresh air
Literary festivals are reasonably new phenomena that have sprouted across the globe. They are gatherings of authors who come from all corners of the world to discuss the evolution of literature and the modern trends that drive it.
A festival syndrome has taken over India’s literary world. The land of Kalidasa is bereft of any authors who are incapable of matching the stature of global-quality writers. Though there are writers who get patronage from some publishing firms or newspapers because of their obsession with anarchy and “out-of-the-box” stances like equating Maoists as “Gandhians with AK-47 rifles” and comparing their country to a “mobile-free republic”, they are mere pygmies when compared to the ones in the global arena.
The literary festivals that mushroomed across India gave a lot of hope to average Indians. The general expectation was that young authors would get a platform to tell the world what they felt about the emerging Indian literary world. But what we saw was that the festivals were getting hijacked by a coterie who set the agenda for wannabe writers. They want the new-generation authors to speak and write only against the concept of India. These literary festivals became an extension of the Progressive Writers' Forum of the former Soviet Union, where the Communist Party was the last word on literature. The Party would decide what constitutes literature and ask the writers to “compose” ideology in the form of novels and poems.
The two-day Pondicherry Literary Festival held on 21st and 22nd September brought in a refreshing change. The Pondicherry Literary Festival, officially launched in 2018, has emerged as one of the leading cultural events in south India - nay, in India itself. The event featured the crème de la crème of India’s intelligentsia. It saw the active participation of authors like Aravindan Neelakantan, Anand Ranganathan, Kanchan Gupta, Vikram Sampath and many others.
The event has systematically avoided noise from debates that are curated for the sake of polemics, thus giving an undesirable lease of life to debunked narratives. “We empower with knowledge on spiritual, religious and cultural subjects that showcase Bharat Shakti and critically evaluate what holds her back via lectures and conversations, book talks and presentations on science and technology, defence and security. This year we focus on Bharat in the New Age. ‘Bharat Shakti’ is a phrase we have chosen from the writings of Sri Aurobindo to serve as our guiding principle. Pondicherry is Sri Aurobindo’s seat of sadhana and we take these associations with reverence and respect,” said Alo Sud, the festival director, who is the moving spirit behind this event.
Pondicherry Lit Fest had a baptism by fire in 2018. “There were attacks and diatribes on us from the Left ecosystem, who had no qualms in designating this festival as a Sanghi, right-wing event. We do not categorise people based on rights, lefts or based on religions. This is an event where delegates can come, take part and return with their minds filled with ideas, knowledge and ground realities,” said Alo Sud.
In an era where commercial writers/authors advertise their new works well in advance, authors like Aravindan Neelakantan and Anand Ranganathan are exceptions. They do not publicise their new works and it is by word of mouth that their contents get disseminated. The “secular media” blackout their groundbreaking works because of the unpalatable facts they highlight. It is Pondicherry Lit Fest that offers everyone (irrespective of caste, creed, ideology, and religion) a platform to air their views and grievances.
The delegates were given a bird's-eye view of the happenings in spheres like science, technology, defence and security. The festival stood out because there was no name-calling or Modi-bashing. The rest of the literary festivals staged across India seem to be dedicated to abusing Narendra Modi. Sometime in 2016, a Carnatic musician, feeling he was being relegated to the fourth round, came out with a startling disclosure that there was no freedom of expression under the Sangh Parivar regime. It hogged national limelight, as even the staunchest critic of Modi was hearing such an allegation for the first time. The result? The musician became an overnight star and was honoured with the title Sangeeta Kala Nidhi!
What Dr M Rajeev Kumar, a noted critic and author of many short stories and dramas, says about lit fests is noteworthy. “We do have many lit fests, but their agenda is fixed. There is no literature or culture in these events other than promoting certain politicians, their ideologies and some publishing houses. Lit festivals are for open discussions and not for name-calling and abusing rivals,” said Dr Kumar, who has been writing for more than five decades and has yet to be invited to at least one lit fest in Kerala. Interestingly, there are lit festivals in West Asian countries too, where the targets are Modi and Indian nationalism. There are frontal organisations of extremist outfits as well as the CPI(M) (masquerading as cultural associations).
This is what makes Pondicherry Lit Fest stand out from other events. Lucid speeches, lively discussions, and speakers who are keen to take the participants into confidence make it distinct from other such festivals. Delegates are treated to sumptuous meals of knowledge, wisdom and erudition. Who said avant-garde art and literature are meant only for intellectuals? Come to Pondicherry and you will be elevated to the level visualised by Sri Aurobindo, for whom the waterfront state was the second home.
