No wonder writers and artists find their muse in Nature, no wonder ones creativity comes to its full expression in the lap of nature and no wonder one of the best Literary events of the year ‘Literature Live’ attended by the who’s who in the field of Literature was held at no other place but Lavasa.
The event which celebrated the power of the written word was definitely going to be attended by me. I wouldn’t boast about myself being a critic or someone who understands art and literature but definitely I enjoy and love it more than anybody else. So there I was at Literature Live, amidst Bachi Karkaria, Anubhav Pal, Chetan Bhagat and Sorab Wadia.
“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts…”
While writing this, Shakespeare definitely had not thought that one man can actually play seven different roles/ parts in a span of not more than 50 minutes. But then yes, Sorab Wadia became a one man army and devised a stage performance in which he single handedly enacted 7 different characters and covered one third of The Kite Runner in just 50 minutes. This enthralling performance by the son of Mumbai in collaboration with Chris Snock inaugurated Literature Live. This was followed by the discussion of the performance which expectedly led to the discussion about the book.
I had always thought that that books can only be adapted into movies (which most of the times prove a miserable attempt) but something like this opened me to a altogether new perspective of adapting a book not into some shoddy movie but an engrossing way nonetheless.
We all grew up reading (okay, I am not saying ‘understanding’ here) Bachi Karkaria’s columns. I remember the time where I tried to show off by a very very fake attempt at Laughing out loud while reading Bachi’s columns. How naïve was I to not realize that those canned laughs and loud guffaws must have made me a butt of ridicule for all those who had some understanding of Bachi’s humor. But for me I was lucky that these show off attempts were thankfully infront of my 8th std classmates. At literature Live I got my chance to share space with the queen of sophisticated humor and allusions Bachi Karkaria.Accompanying her was Anubhav Pal and the topic of discussion was ‘Humor is a Serious Business’. Well before this event, I didn’t know who this guy Anubhav Pal was, but then his wit and and gift of gab showcased at the event definitely left a mark. The first thing I did on reaching home after the event was to down load his movies from torrent.
The event concluded with one of India’s bestselling novelist and youth icon Chetan Bhagat ‘Speaking for Young India’. He was in conversation with Anuvab Pal about young India’s aspirations and fears. True to his nature, Chetan connected with the youth in a manner that few have. But somehow, Chetan has never impressed me as a writer. No doubt he is an amazing marketer and all but as a writer his books can at best be just breezy reads for me. Didn’t get a chance to raise my point, but to Chetan’s rant that “he doesn’t care what a few self imposed high fliers of literature say about him” I just wanted to respond that I don’t know what is there in those books of Woolfe, Rushdie or Amitav Ghosh but somehow they go deeper. They touch you at some level, one might not able to draw similarity between ones life and the characters life but somehow the emotions exhibited (and here emotions do not include the mere “I love u” said by Chetan’s characters) always strike a chord in you.
Overall, an amazing day. After ages did I spend my day watching, listening to things I really love.
