The third edition of IHC Indian languages' Festival will have a one-if-its-kind jugalbandi between Gulzar and iconic Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh. Its creative director shared details with Karan Bhardwaj
In our times, when anybody and everybody pretends to be a master of the English language, speaking to Satyanand Nirupam, creative director of Samanvay: IHC Indian languages’ Festival, offers a fresh perspective. He doesn’t speak the British lingo because he thinks he lacks the “knowledge” which many of his peers may possess. As we called him to explore more about this edition of the festival, to be held during October 24-27, he informs that he doesn’t speak any language just for the heck of it. His love and respect for languages reflect through the conversation. “Every language has its beauty and purity. You must respect it. If you feel inspired by it then speak it,” he says.
In its third year, the festival is aimed to promote, revive and spread more about literature in Indian dialects and languages which are on the verge of extinction. “We have kept the theme ‘Jodti Zubanein, Judti Zubanein: language Connections’. The idea is to learn how various languages in India are connected to each other and also, how they have united the countrymen for ages. For instance, even if you take popular music, they many a times have folk influence or are based on folk tunes. Also, look how curiously North Indians watch cinema from south even if they don’t understand the dialogues. But they do realise that they are our own languages,” he says.
This edition, the festival will also focus on “fast vanishing” dialects and will have interesting sessions on them. “We will talk about oral literature belonging to four dialects from Karnataka. They are Tulu, Kodava, Beary and Konkani. There is a need to talk about relevance, richness and details of their oral literature. From Jharkhand, we are focussing on Asur tribes. Sushma Asur is joining us from this tribe. She is a modern-day historian from this tribe. She is rigorously documenting the language, literature and culture of her tribe in books, audios and documentaries,” he shares.
On the other hand, over the last few years, a lot of communities have promoted their cultures aggressively in order to restore their languages. “Rajasthan is one such state. People are leaving no stone unturned to spread awareness on their languages through cinema, music, journals and theatre. They didn’t even have market back up. Maithili, which was once considered a dialect, has become a language. Rajasthan and Delhi have Maithili academies today,” Nirupam said.
While there are already such festivals existing here, what inspired the organisers to have another eventIJ “We felt the need for a platform dedicated to Indian languages. Information related to English novels, its best-sellers and Man Booker’s Prize are floated everywhere. But what’s happening in our desi circles remains unknown. Except for few literary works in Marathi and Bengali, our original compilations and their writers are not given importance. Also, government academies and institutions like Sahitya Kala Akademi only support languages listed in the Constitution, ignoring the fact that there are hundreds of lesser-known oral literature works that need promotion,” he said.
One of the key highlights of the festival this year would be jugalbandi between popular lyricist Gulzar and iconic Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh. “They will be coming on stage together for the first time. They will recite their poems and have a dialogue. Another interesting session would be on Manoranjan Byapari’s life, how Mahasweta Devi inspired him to become an eminent writer from being a rickshaw puller,” said Nirupam. Other popular faces expected to take part include Jerry Pinto, Mahesh Bhatt, Piyush Mishra, Ruskin Bond and others.