I’d
always been a fan of litfest which is an event where authors and readers stand on the same ground and talk about the common thread that bonds them, books. We have a few famous lit fests in India like TATA lit fest that takes place in Mumbai and JLF in Jaipur every year. But now we can add Litomania to the list.
Litomania was a two day literature festival held at one of the plush B
schools of Mumbai Welingkers Institude of Management, 2014 being its first year. The event was grand and
generous.
On
the first day Sangram Surve, brain behind this fest, introduced us to the festival
in a majestic auditorium packed with people.
The
hall was later addressed by confident and shrewd articulator Amish Tripathi,
intellectual and wise Ravi Subramanian, subtle and kind Ravinder Singh and cute
and witty Ashwin Sanghai.
They
contemplated on ‘what is India reading’ and concluded with what Indians most
relate to.
As
soon as the session ended we headed to the quiet room of Nirvana. Four chairs
for four pretty ladies— upfront, honest and sweet Madhura Banerjee; the quiet
woman who exuded power, simplicity, intelligence and wisdom all with her husky
voice, Amrita Chowdhury; and the strong willed woman who dared, adorning a
beautiful white saree, Bhaavna Arora— sat at the panel to discuss ‘Is India
exploring the fifty shades’.
They
talked about struggles they faced with writing bold books and talked openly
about sexuality amongst other things.
Rachel
Lopez from HT, a young, vibrant woman who isn’t afraid of speaking her mind
moderated and tossed questions around for everyone.
All
four of them were an epitome of strong, independent women of 21st
century and at one point I almost longed to be like one of them.
One
of the most anticipated events of that day was master class by Ravi Subramanian
on ‘How to write a book and get it published’.
Though
it was an ‘invites only’ event, people without invites were allowed to sit in.
Ravi
started off with asking the roomful of aspiring authors, ardent readers and
dreamers why they wanted to write. All those who raised their hands ‘for money’ chucked the notion by the end of the session.
Someone
asked him ‘how can one market a book? What was the technique that he used?’
Ravi
sipped a glass of water and said, ‘I’ll give you my example.' When he wrote his first book ‘If God was a banker’ the first review he
got in a newspaper said ‘don’t bank on this book’. One
old lady approached him at one of his book signings and said, ‘you know, there’s
a grammatical error in the title of your book. It should be if God were a
banker.' One
of the first online reviews he read said, ‘Ravi did what no one else has ever
ventured to do. He wrote a book worse than Chetan
Bhagat.’
People shook their heads, and when the room fell silent again he explained, much with a sad voice, ‘But fortunately or unfortunately, that was what
worked for me. Negative reviews created hype for the book. So don't be disheartened. Just keep writing.'
Amongst
other events that ran in adjacent rooms were—
1.
The search of desi Harry Potter by Preeti Vyas,
Payal Kapadia, Anusha Subramanian
2.
‘India’s obsession with gastronomy’ by Sanjeev
Kapoor,
3.
A stand-up comedy Act by Sorabh Pant,
4.
Shaping the future of corporate and B-school and
5.
When writing mythology, does the writing change
the writer led by Amish Tripathi and Ashwin Shanghai.
 |
| old prized collection of authors present at the fest |
I
enjoyed strolling through the floors, mesmerized and dazed, taking in the vibe,
browsing through stacks of books and seeing authors live. My only regret
probably was not participating in any of those amazing contests they held and
getting to choose from those towering piles books. But apart from that, it was
worth bunking college for.
