So, I am pretty busy for the last 2 days.
The usual routine of cook, clean, wash, dry, sleep, gym, sleep has gone for a toss.
Not a single meal cooked. Yday husband cooked dinner though. No boiling milk!
Of all the senses and organs, my stomach and head are revolting against this new routine.
I am unable to get a decent,soothing lunch - on time and my stomach revolts by giving me acidity, which is why I am awake at 2:00 AM despite having slept at 12!
My head is a little better off - it is solving the migraine on its own. It knows that it cannot burden me with this issue while I am soaking in Gulzaar saab and other literary figures.
Back to Lit Fest.
Saw and impressed by Gulzaar saab, Prasoon Joshi, Rakeysh, Farhan, Shashi Deshpande, Ashok Vajpayee, William Dalrymple, Nirmala Lakshman, Karthika.
Learnings:
1) As fans, do not take your fandom easily. When you buy an author - you're buying a part of the author's thoughts and the author. Read everything with care. If the author is incomprehensible or not to your taste, it's ok to leave it. But otherwise, read it with utmost care. It's with such care, reverence and attention that a good reader is born - one who understands what the author writes and what he has not written too! A good reader is essential basement for a good writer.
2) Be on time. Be punctual. Else skip (unless u got late due to extraordinary circumstances). Value time.
3) I am increasingly believing that authors find you... the book or poetry finds you... Just when I was feeling overwhelmed at how to complete so many profound authors.. and whether I will miss most of the canonical authors.. given the number.... and my own limitations at completing books - I got this thought. It's essential to make your foundation first. Learn to observe, think, analyze. Be philosophical. That's required for everything in life. Once you have a reasonable answer for who you are, what you like, why you act this way, etc - and a sound thinking/rational mind.. start exploring the world. It's ok to miss a few authors. Most people just observe the world in a new way. If the billion of us became good writers, how can we read each other, right? So, don't despair. The books that you have to read, will reach you. I firmly believe that. Do not fear missing out.
Can you believe? I bought a Gulzar saab's book yday. I was thinking ki, maybe on the last day, I will get it signed. I just opened the book and saw that it was already autographed! I was thinking - is it a printed autograph? I donno. I felt it was a miracle. Gulzaar saab in my house.. with me.. teaching me to read. I now believe in miracles and divine power of the cosmos and blessings of the great teachers and sages and divine people.
4) Plz don't forget the guru shishya parampara. Please respect your guru or your favourite author. Stand up when they come. Touch their feet. Cry for them. Never let them down.
5) It takes 10,000 or more hours of reading - to become an eligible writer. Forget "achieved" writer. Be willing to take that effort.
6) All accomplished artists are spiritual beings. Their art is meditative. They all write for different reasons, but they all put in their 100 or 200%.
7) Artists have pet peeves too! They mourn. They mourn the lack of discerning readers. They mourn the lack of publicity / readership for good books. They mourn the loss of local language. They feel bad when their books do not sell. Classics do not make money for the author. The author is dead before it churns money! In today's world of fake bestsellers, when mediocre writing fetches a fortune, their hearts cry.
8) Nobody wants to publish a dud but an unworthy candidate, through massive promotions, etc can be made a bestseller.
9) Do not focus on too many things. You achieve none. Decide a path and dedicate yourself to it. Do not allow yourself the luxury of distraction. In this world of internet, we're filled with distractions. We are losing time and focus. We're lost. Don't let that happen.
10) Beauty is a distraction (I mean physical beauty). Why are the page 3 here at the LitFest? I find it distracting. Till I overcome this weakness, I need to work on it.
11) Our physical form is quite limiting. I imagine Baradwaj Rangan to turn up in a particular way.. and look in one way. When he doesn't look like that, I am minorly disappointed. Sadhguru said - thank god, the dhyanalinga does not have a physical form, else we'll put so many prejudices and limitations on him. What if we never saw Gulzaar saab's face or Hariprasad ji's face and just their work? (Think the era of radio and newspaper only). How u felt when u saw them some day.. and in today, when they are all over youtube?
12) Secret of polymaths : How can these people excel in so many things? First - start by being a philosopher (I guess most of them have a divine gift pretty early on). Then focus on one interest, Master it. Pay it all ur attention. Be aware of yourself. Even peeling the skin of a carrot can lead to interesting poetry when done with utmost reverence to the art and attentively. That';s the only way to master an art form. When your foundation is strong, you can shift to other interests with ease. There are some basic principles to excelling at anything. They hold good across domains. It's when we do not make these foundations and get so wildly distracted that we stumble. I can see the same in my husband. He made a solid foundation. He pays huge attention to everything he does. So, I see him excelling in many things like - cooking, gardening, coding, singing, driving, etc. The principles are the same. He hardly reads fiction - he hardly reads.. but his basics have delivered him well.. Else, you'll be left wondering how he's such a genius. He uses every bit of time to think abt things, analyze, come up with the theory of working. You cannot read books abt how everything works. You'd go mad. You can observe.. think.. make your theory.. validate. If your interest level in it is high.. u dig deep. Else u skim the surface.. understand a bit and move on. You cannot dump ur brain with too many things. It's unproductive.
13) When you do something with utmost reverence, attention, enthusiasm, prepare your ground work well.. know ur audience and try to satisfy them - everything rubs off. That's how u engage an audience. William Dalrymple's sessions.. Gulzaar saab's sessions..Prasoon, Rakeysh, Shashi Deshpande - all these people taught that. I was thinking why Grace hopper was such a dud.. People do not have that conviction.. the enthusiasm, the attachment - to what they are doing, When there is this disparity, it shows. The session flattens and bores you. Despite having a good panel, it flattens.. So don't do that. Do not do anything where u are not a 100%. On the other hand, do not give up. If 3 or the 4 panelists are driving away from the topic and making it tastless, u stick to the theme.. give it ur best, so that u can rest in peace. So, 3 people could have ruined ur day.. and ur session.. but u would have worked to save it, as much as you could.
14) You need to overcome the ego and obstacles. William, Nirmala and Anjum told how the initial JLF had just 4 people.. what a shame. no sponsors.. no audience.. and yet they continued with their conviction. Today, they have succeeded fairly, with JLF being a super duper hit! William mentioned being foolish abt inviting Rushdie n putting his name in print. It was heartening to note their mistakes, their agonies, etc. What happens behind the scenes.. probably tears them. They need a separate shield to protect themselves from these unwanted criticism.. and concentrate on their books.
Hats off! Learnt abt why many lit fests piggy back on JLF - authors from abroad want to cover India together and leave.. not come again and again.. Also each litfest has a different group of struggles.
Dailt writing too has so many takers. The venue of a lit fest is chosen for multiple reason - weekend travel being one of them!!!! Weather too plays an important role to choose a season.. Also chennai lit fest piggy backs on carnatic season! It's a given that some authors are good performers or are popular among crowds. The media does a shameful job of reporting. They report page 3 on lit fests, so much that people think that lit fests are a cocktail party! They do not cover minority artists...Shameful...Media shapes perceptions of the society and its shameful that such mediocre people work in the media and our perceptions are being shaped by horrible people. If we knew the right things abt a lit fest, we'd be enlightened n encouraged to attend it!
15) Preserve the local language - Ashok Vajpayee, Navneeta, Gulzar. Middle class - confused class? In our race to ape the west and earn more.. we're losing everything. We have 50 yrs of unproductivity! No significant improvement in society! English - some say is an urban phenomenon. Rural people buy local books in millions - especially Patna! We shud expand the scope and breadth of a language. Give it more ground by imbibing the best in other languages. We shud not lose the language. because with language, a whole generation and many centuries of culture is lost forever!
Imagine english swallowing 700 Indian languages!
If our childhood is in english - our thoughts will be in english.. and our writing too. So, learn ur mother tongue.
Khadi gave us this freedom so that we could abandon it to wear wool..Ironical. Hinduism is going thru the same trauma. We're giving us a religion which freed and empowered us.
17) Unknown parts of Delhi and mughalism. Why do we need foreigners to research n archive us so well? Don't we have the skill?
18) English is my skill like my computer skill - Hindi is my language - Prasoon!
19) Anytime is good to pick a new language.. I want to learn Hindi/ bit of urdu, Tamil, Assamese and Bengali (For Gulzaar saab, Mirza ghalib, Manto, Ashokamitran.
I want to keep the sahitya writers, etc from each language.. get a flavour of each language's greatest writers.
20) It's fascinating how - so many people could ruin a movie's vision. Rakeysh beautifully highlighted the essence of communication, how art is collaborative.. how art heals.. and how his vision needs to be carried by the lyricist, screenplay artist, the actors, the music, the editor! Hats off.. All of them - sharing a vision.. sharing a dream.. A movie is a lot of work compared to books! Solely because so many people can break the vision and dilute it.
21) Storytelling to children creates fertile imagination. There could be a 1000 chudels but if u show a TV program of chudel and say to ur child that it's a chudel, we'll be left with one chudel. We need to change with times..our story. Also grow with the child. Talk the same language to him as u talk with ur other adults.
22) Did the poem create the poet or the poet created the poem?
Behnen hamesha badi hothi hai. Rakhi si dhaage se bada banna chahtha hoon.
Different moments encapsulated.. pregnant with other moments.
Ageing - greying - weighing more.
Dad vs Mom.. chup jaatha hoon maa ke liye.. chupatha hoon dad ke liye. Mom's world..vs Dad's world.
Whom I want to marry - not the king or goldsmith but the ironsmith who can break my chains and set me free.
Let the small girl grow slowly. Let her play with purple marbles. Let her wear her dupatta later, not now. Do not steal her childhood.
Terrorist: He would be ok if you stole his aam. He would be ok if you stole his kite/ manja. He will be upset but not angry. But u stole his childhood and changed his life forever.. How will he forgive?
You can use two languages, but stitch it in such a way that the seams do not show :-)
Fan: Sir, I carry u on my iPod everyday.
Gulzaar saab - Now, I know my real size!
Prasoon sings awesomely. Soulful music.
23) Indian movies and movie making, etc are not well archived.
24) Each writer has his/ her constraints. What time they can write, where they can write.. their need to get away from the writing.. and introspecting.. gestation period before writing.. Some of them fear travel.. they go thru the humane issues like all of us.
25) Art - is an escapism from the mundaneness of reality. Everyone's life is mundane.. but once in a while when u change ur lens and become an artist, you pen beautifully abt relations.. and people.. and the things around us. We imagine them in new light. We bring a different - beautiful/ enlightening perspective to mundane things. Art is necessary for life. We need this beauty to escape life! Wondering - if reality is grim for even the artists?
26) Ashoka mitran - I can pardon the standard of his writing - he wrote at a very early age (published) or 42! It's assumed that u can produce good works only when u retire! Have patience and pursue!
27) When u do ur job well - audience is automatically created.
28) There are the 10 bestsellers and 1.5 million - long tail of books - many of which are classics.. which don't sell much! Shashi - I just write, do my job well.. and work with my editor and I do not do anything for marketing.. and I am still here! She was hurt at Sanghi rattling off statistics of bestsellers like crazy - she said " I am going home". Loved the woman's conviction. Need to read her. Shoba De amused herself with some "playing to the gallery". I cannot take her seriously and Shoba if I shud have read some book of yours which I haven't u have urself to blame. Ian Jack - there isa lot of mourning in the publishing industry. I was amazed at how much effort and unwanted meetings I had to go through, in the name of marketing. I thought I had written and my job was done!
Shoba's only good point was - a french editor pointed out a glaring mistake where some character was mentioned in one page and never found closure or was forgotten ever after! Karthika proved to be a woman of strength too - talking for good editing, good writing and refusing to buy into bestsellers... Shoba was musing if authors will be sold like IPL cricketers. Sanghi said he's eager to see that day. Both of them disentangled themselves from serious readers.I have 2 less authors to read. Also Sanghi had some big XL sheet, tracked his target audience, and did funny things - things an author shud never be doing. I am sure Chetan and Amish and others have done this - manipulating the bestseller lists, buying reviews, buying their own books, posting on twitter etc. Cheap. Thanks for exposing yourself.
29) There can be a 1000 perspectives to the same thing - thats why we have so many authors. Accomplished, realized people do not compete. They co-exist. They root for others. They learn from newcomers. Gulzaar saab praised Prasoon so much! I was wondering, my parents never gave me a literary heritage but I can probably lead them in that path. Age is not a reflector of wisdom. You can learn from someone younger than you.
30)There are no permanent winners/ losers in history! Same with historians.
History went from being entertainment/literature focussing on hero worship to psychoanalysis / social science.
History - as it is - is tweaked by the government in power. So, the history books will look different if Congress is in power or versus when BJP is in power. Historians shud have no chauvinism abt idealogies, gender, history, etc. They shud be unbiased. They should not join politics.
31) I get literature and theatre better than music. Music is probably too refined and sophisticated for me. I get popular cine music but not other forms. So, I guess till I evolve I should keep patience. There will be a day when my music knowledge will ignite. Waise, most things have music to accompany work - sowing, reaping, etc. There is a raga for a mood/ season. How beautiful. How do they do it? How do they create this image of a pahadi atmosphere.. through music. When you hear a music, how do you feel? How do u imagine it? I want to sew the ragas into a mala and make something beautiful out of it.
32) The act of being in a lawn.. late at night.. a well lit lawn with some incomprehensible music flowing around.. with so many wonderful people for company.. was uplifting!
The usual routine of cook, clean, wash, dry, sleep, gym, sleep has gone for a toss.
Not a single meal cooked. Yday husband cooked dinner though. No boiling milk!
Of all the senses and organs, my stomach and head are revolting against this new routine.
I am unable to get a decent,soothing lunch - on time and my stomach revolts by giving me acidity, which is why I am awake at 2:00 AM despite having slept at 12!
My head is a little better off - it is solving the migraine on its own. It knows that it cannot burden me with this issue while I am soaking in Gulzaar saab and other literary figures.
Back to Lit Fest.
Saw and impressed by Gulzaar saab, Prasoon Joshi, Rakeysh, Farhan, Shashi Deshpande, Ashok Vajpayee, William Dalrymple, Nirmala Lakshman, Karthika.
Learnings:
1) As fans, do not take your fandom easily. When you buy an author - you're buying a part of the author's thoughts and the author. Read everything with care. If the author is incomprehensible or not to your taste, it's ok to leave it. But otherwise, read it with utmost care. It's with such care, reverence and attention that a good reader is born - one who understands what the author writes and what he has not written too! A good reader is essential basement for a good writer.
2) Be on time. Be punctual. Else skip (unless u got late due to extraordinary circumstances). Value time.
3) I am increasingly believing that authors find you... the book or poetry finds you... Just when I was feeling overwhelmed at how to complete so many profound authors.. and whether I will miss most of the canonical authors.. given the number.... and my own limitations at completing books - I got this thought. It's essential to make your foundation first. Learn to observe, think, analyze. Be philosophical. That's required for everything in life. Once you have a reasonable answer for who you are, what you like, why you act this way, etc - and a sound thinking/rational mind.. start exploring the world. It's ok to miss a few authors. Most people just observe the world in a new way. If the billion of us became good writers, how can we read each other, right? So, don't despair. The books that you have to read, will reach you. I firmly believe that. Do not fear missing out.
Can you believe? I bought a Gulzar saab's book yday. I was thinking ki, maybe on the last day, I will get it signed. I just opened the book and saw that it was already autographed! I was thinking - is it a printed autograph? I donno. I felt it was a miracle. Gulzaar saab in my house.. with me.. teaching me to read. I now believe in miracles and divine power of the cosmos and blessings of the great teachers and sages and divine people.
4) Plz don't forget the guru shishya parampara. Please respect your guru or your favourite author. Stand up when they come. Touch their feet. Cry for them. Never let them down.
5) It takes 10,000 or more hours of reading - to become an eligible writer. Forget "achieved" writer. Be willing to take that effort.
6) All accomplished artists are spiritual beings. Their art is meditative. They all write for different reasons, but they all put in their 100 or 200%.
7) Artists have pet peeves too! They mourn. They mourn the lack of discerning readers. They mourn the lack of publicity / readership for good books. They mourn the loss of local language. They feel bad when their books do not sell. Classics do not make money for the author. The author is dead before it churns money! In today's world of fake bestsellers, when mediocre writing fetches a fortune, their hearts cry.
8) Nobody wants to publish a dud but an unworthy candidate, through massive promotions, etc can be made a bestseller.
9) Do not focus on too many things. You achieve none. Decide a path and dedicate yourself to it. Do not allow yourself the luxury of distraction. In this world of internet, we're filled with distractions. We are losing time and focus. We're lost. Don't let that happen.
10) Beauty is a distraction (I mean physical beauty). Why are the page 3 here at the LitFest? I find it distracting. Till I overcome this weakness, I need to work on it.
11) Our physical form is quite limiting. I imagine Baradwaj Rangan to turn up in a particular way.. and look in one way. When he doesn't look like that, I am minorly disappointed. Sadhguru said - thank god, the dhyanalinga does not have a physical form, else we'll put so many prejudices and limitations on him. What if we never saw Gulzaar saab's face or Hariprasad ji's face and just their work? (Think the era of radio and newspaper only). How u felt when u saw them some day.. and in today, when they are all over youtube?
12) Secret of polymaths : How can these people excel in so many things? First - start by being a philosopher (I guess most of them have a divine gift pretty early on). Then focus on one interest, Master it. Pay it all ur attention. Be aware of yourself. Even peeling the skin of a carrot can lead to interesting poetry when done with utmost reverence to the art and attentively. That';s the only way to master an art form. When your foundation is strong, you can shift to other interests with ease. There are some basic principles to excelling at anything. They hold good across domains. It's when we do not make these foundations and get so wildly distracted that we stumble. I can see the same in my husband. He made a solid foundation. He pays huge attention to everything he does. So, I see him excelling in many things like - cooking, gardening, coding, singing, driving, etc. The principles are the same. He hardly reads fiction - he hardly reads.. but his basics have delivered him well.. Else, you'll be left wondering how he's such a genius. He uses every bit of time to think abt things, analyze, come up with the theory of working. You cannot read books abt how everything works. You'd go mad. You can observe.. think.. make your theory.. validate. If your interest level in it is high.. u dig deep. Else u skim the surface.. understand a bit and move on. You cannot dump ur brain with too many things. It's unproductive.
13) When you do something with utmost reverence, attention, enthusiasm, prepare your ground work well.. know ur audience and try to satisfy them - everything rubs off. That's how u engage an audience. William Dalrymple's sessions.. Gulzaar saab's sessions..Prasoon, Rakeysh, Shashi Deshpande - all these people taught that. I was thinking why Grace hopper was such a dud.. People do not have that conviction.. the enthusiasm, the attachment - to what they are doing, When there is this disparity, it shows. The session flattens and bores you. Despite having a good panel, it flattens.. So don't do that. Do not do anything where u are not a 100%. On the other hand, do not give up. If 3 or the 4 panelists are driving away from the topic and making it tastless, u stick to the theme.. give it ur best, so that u can rest in peace. So, 3 people could have ruined ur day.. and ur session.. but u would have worked to save it, as much as you could.
14) You need to overcome the ego and obstacles. William, Nirmala and Anjum told how the initial JLF had just 4 people.. what a shame. no sponsors.. no audience.. and yet they continued with their conviction. Today, they have succeeded fairly, with JLF being a super duper hit! William mentioned being foolish abt inviting Rushdie n putting his name in print. It was heartening to note their mistakes, their agonies, etc. What happens behind the scenes.. probably tears them. They need a separate shield to protect themselves from these unwanted criticism.. and concentrate on their books.
Hats off! Learnt abt why many lit fests piggy back on JLF - authors from abroad want to cover India together and leave.. not come again and again.. Also each litfest has a different group of struggles.
Dailt writing too has so many takers. The venue of a lit fest is chosen for multiple reason - weekend travel being one of them!!!! Weather too plays an important role to choose a season.. Also chennai lit fest piggy backs on carnatic season! It's a given that some authors are good performers or are popular among crowds. The media does a shameful job of reporting. They report page 3 on lit fests, so much that people think that lit fests are a cocktail party! They do not cover minority artists...Shameful...Media shapes perceptions of the society and its shameful that such mediocre people work in the media and our perceptions are being shaped by horrible people. If we knew the right things abt a lit fest, we'd be enlightened n encouraged to attend it!
15) Preserve the local language - Ashok Vajpayee, Navneeta, Gulzar. Middle class - confused class? In our race to ape the west and earn more.. we're losing everything. We have 50 yrs of unproductivity! No significant improvement in society! English - some say is an urban phenomenon. Rural people buy local books in millions - especially Patna! We shud expand the scope and breadth of a language. Give it more ground by imbibing the best in other languages. We shud not lose the language. because with language, a whole generation and many centuries of culture is lost forever!
Imagine english swallowing 700 Indian languages!
If our childhood is in english - our thoughts will be in english.. and our writing too. So, learn ur mother tongue.
16) Ethical fashion. Don't go by trends. Buy handmade. Buy minimal clothes.
Khadi gave us this freedom so that we could abandon it to wear wool..Ironical. Hinduism is going thru the same trauma. We're giving us a religion which freed and empowered us.
17) Unknown parts of Delhi and mughalism. Why do we need foreigners to research n archive us so well? Don't we have the skill?
18) English is my skill like my computer skill - Hindi is my language - Prasoon!
19) Anytime is good to pick a new language.. I want to learn Hindi/ bit of urdu, Tamil, Assamese and Bengali (For Gulzaar saab, Mirza ghalib, Manto, Ashokamitran.
I want to keep the sahitya writers, etc from each language.. get a flavour of each language's greatest writers.
20) It's fascinating how - so many people could ruin a movie's vision. Rakeysh beautifully highlighted the essence of communication, how art is collaborative.. how art heals.. and how his vision needs to be carried by the lyricist, screenplay artist, the actors, the music, the editor! Hats off.. All of them - sharing a vision.. sharing a dream.. A movie is a lot of work compared to books! Solely because so many people can break the vision and dilute it.
21) Storytelling to children creates fertile imagination. There could be a 1000 chudels but if u show a TV program of chudel and say to ur child that it's a chudel, we'll be left with one chudel. We need to change with times..our story. Also grow with the child. Talk the same language to him as u talk with ur other adults.
22) Did the poem create the poet or the poet created the poem?
Behnen hamesha badi hothi hai. Rakhi si dhaage se bada banna chahtha hoon.
Different moments encapsulated.. pregnant with other moments.
Ageing - greying - weighing more.
Dad vs Mom.. chup jaatha hoon maa ke liye.. chupatha hoon dad ke liye. Mom's world..vs Dad's world.
Whom I want to marry - not the king or goldsmith but the ironsmith who can break my chains and set me free.
Let the small girl grow slowly. Let her play with purple marbles. Let her wear her dupatta later, not now. Do not steal her childhood.
Terrorist: He would be ok if you stole his aam. He would be ok if you stole his kite/ manja. He will be upset but not angry. But u stole his childhood and changed his life forever.. How will he forgive?
You can use two languages, but stitch it in such a way that the seams do not show :-)
Fan: Sir, I carry u on my iPod everyday.
Gulzaar saab - Now, I know my real size!
Prasoon sings awesomely. Soulful music.
23) Indian movies and movie making, etc are not well archived.
24) Each writer has his/ her constraints. What time they can write, where they can write.. their need to get away from the writing.. and introspecting.. gestation period before writing.. Some of them fear travel.. they go thru the humane issues like all of us.
25) Art - is an escapism from the mundaneness of reality. Everyone's life is mundane.. but once in a while when u change ur lens and become an artist, you pen beautifully abt relations.. and people.. and the things around us. We imagine them in new light. We bring a different - beautiful/ enlightening perspective to mundane things. Art is necessary for life. We need this beauty to escape life! Wondering - if reality is grim for even the artists?
26) Ashoka mitran - I can pardon the standard of his writing - he wrote at a very early age (published) or 42! It's assumed that u can produce good works only when u retire! Have patience and pursue!
27) When u do ur job well - audience is automatically created.
28) There are the 10 bestsellers and 1.5 million - long tail of books - many of which are classics.. which don't sell much! Shashi - I just write, do my job well.. and work with my editor and I do not do anything for marketing.. and I am still here! She was hurt at Sanghi rattling off statistics of bestsellers like crazy - she said " I am going home". Loved the woman's conviction. Need to read her. Shoba De amused herself with some "playing to the gallery". I cannot take her seriously and Shoba if I shud have read some book of yours which I haven't u have urself to blame. Ian Jack - there isa lot of mourning in the publishing industry. I was amazed at how much effort and unwanted meetings I had to go through, in the name of marketing. I thought I had written and my job was done!
Shoba's only good point was - a french editor pointed out a glaring mistake where some character was mentioned in one page and never found closure or was forgotten ever after! Karthika proved to be a woman of strength too - talking for good editing, good writing and refusing to buy into bestsellers... Shoba was musing if authors will be sold like IPL cricketers. Sanghi said he's eager to see that day. Both of them disentangled themselves from serious readers.I have 2 less authors to read. Also Sanghi had some big XL sheet, tracked his target audience, and did funny things - things an author shud never be doing. I am sure Chetan and Amish and others have done this - manipulating the bestseller lists, buying reviews, buying their own books, posting on twitter etc. Cheap. Thanks for exposing yourself.
29) There can be a 1000 perspectives to the same thing - thats why we have so many authors. Accomplished, realized people do not compete. They co-exist. They root for others. They learn from newcomers. Gulzaar saab praised Prasoon so much! I was wondering, my parents never gave me a literary heritage but I can probably lead them in that path. Age is not a reflector of wisdom. You can learn from someone younger than you.
30)There are no permanent winners/ losers in history! Same with historians.
History went from being entertainment/literature focussing on hero worship to psychoanalysis / social science.
History - as it is - is tweaked by the government in power. So, the history books will look different if Congress is in power or versus when BJP is in power. Historians shud have no chauvinism abt idealogies, gender, history, etc. They shud be unbiased. They should not join politics.
31) I get literature and theatre better than music. Music is probably too refined and sophisticated for me. I get popular cine music but not other forms. So, I guess till I evolve I should keep patience. There will be a day when my music knowledge will ignite. Waise, most things have music to accompany work - sowing, reaping, etc. There is a raga for a mood/ season. How beautiful. How do they do it? How do they create this image of a pahadi atmosphere.. through music. When you hear a music, how do you feel? How do u imagine it? I want to sew the ragas into a mala and make something beautiful out of it.
32) The act of being in a lawn.. late at night.. a well lit lawn with some incomprehensible music flowing around.. with so many wonderful people for company.. was uplifting!
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