My account of The Hindu Lit for Life 2015

 1st Day at The Hindu Lit for Life 2015. It started with a short introduction and lighting of the ceremonial lamp by Nayanthara Sehgal following which there was a book reading session by Man Booker Prize 2013 winner Eleanor Catton who spoke of her travails and tribulations in writing of the experiences of an adolescent girl. Following Ms. Catton's lively talk, there was a session with Geeta Doctor, writer Nayantara Sehgal who is cousin to Indira Gandhi and Sehgal's biographer Ritu Menon. Sharp and coherent despite her advanced age, 87-year old Ms. Sehgal passionately defended Perumal Murugan's right of expression and spoke of a need for a writer's union. She also vividly reminisced the 1975 Emergency days when she virulently opposed the censorship and dictatorial measures of the Indira Gandhi government. Her talk was extremely frank and sentimental. After Ms. Sehgal's interview, we had a talk by Jonathan Harris on his book "Firangis" which is about the earliest European visitors to India. Robert de Nobili is among the few glaring omissions from his otherwise very informative book. After lunch, we had a panel discussion on media and governability headed by Rajdeep Sardesai. The other participants were Sanjay Baru, our ex-PM's media man and CAG, Vinod Rai. After the panel discussion, we had a talk by British-Chinese author Jung Chang about her book on China's 19th century dowager-empress Cixi. Then we had a talk by Salil Tripathi and Samanth Subramaniam on India's relations with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka follwed by a talk on Carnatic music by Prince Rama Varma, the Maharajah of Travancore and musician T. V. Gopalakrishnan. The day ended with Chetan Bhagat's talk on his new book "Half Girlfriend". I thank The Hindu for providing this wonderful opportunity to listen and interact with internationally popular authors. This free initiative will surely benefit many.

[Posted on Facebook, 16 January 2015]

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