Sometimes it is difficult to take literature festivals too seriously. Jaipur, the daddy of them all, always has enough big-name writers to make up for the annoying presence of Bollywood stars and politicians (even if some of them can read). Sponsors are seen as necessary evils, and there is a certain amount of kowtowing to those who pay the piper.
The Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) is unique. There are no sponsors’ banners since the expenses are met by the community. No politician inaugurates it, no corporator demands the best seats like he does at cricket matches, no organisers present themselves at the sessions. They prefer remaining in the background.
The list of donors, Friends of the BLF, is a Who’s Who of the city; not all of them are books people, but all of them take pride in the city and contribute various amounts.
Every Litfest has its own stories. My favourite is from one where Vikram Seth went unrecognized. This is rather like Virat Kohli being anonymous at a cricket match, or Shahrukh Khan at a film festival. Sometimes it is difficult to take literature festivals too seriously.
Seth was passing through with a friend who pointed out there was a litfest happening. Let’s go, he said, and there he was. Standing by himself, looking slightly bemused when I spotted him. Soon he was explaining the etymology of the word ‘serendipity’ to my wife and wanting to know about her recent sculptures. His range of knowledge is mind boggling.
Litfest speakers have a pecking order. At the top of the hierarchy are the Nobel Laureates who get first class return fares for themselves and their entourage, limousines, local guides, all-paid trips to places of interest, and/or appearance money.
Then come the popular writers with a bunch of best-sellers against their names. This includes the mythologists too who make up a special set.
The experts – specialists in their field – as well as the controversialists make up the next lot. Sometimes the categories overlap. Booker and controversy, as in the case of Salman Rushdie, or popular and expert, as with Richard Dawkins.
Indian language writers are hugely popular. Perumal Murugan, who writes in Tamil, is often the biggest draw, as he was at the BLF. He signs more books than most at the author sessions. When the festival bookstore runs out of a book, and the authors see a queue waiting, they are not sure whether to rejoice or be upset. At one BLF session, Michael Brearley’s memoir Turning Over the Pebbles was sold out, but his other books including The Art of Captaincy were available.
I sat beside him signing my books. I am sure I signed a lot more than usual in the wake of his signing which carried me along.
The Bengaluru December is soft and inviting; the BLF, a fixture for 12 years now, is the same. I don’t think Vikram Seth would have gone unrecognized here, but that may just be my bias speaking.
