There are some things that you look forward to , desperately, and when it arrives you experience a marijuana-kinda high. You feel that you are lost in a different world altogether. There are no prejudices, no judgments and you are all by yourself living the quintessential part of your dream, where you think that you are a perpetual part of a literary club and you spend your life interacting with the laureates.
Well, that's how it was for me, for the past three days at the Bangalore Literature Fest. The second edition of this fest was on a much larger scale and it gave me a chance to participate as a volunteer and give back to the community who has given us such beautiful pieces of literature. I thought it would be my way of expressing my gratitude to all the authors and laureates who come up with these amazing pieces of literature which keep avid readers like me entertained.
The thirst for knowledge is unending. Sometimes I feel I could read all my life. I could go on reading and reading and reading, and there are times, when I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day. Some days, I pray I was a zombie, so that I don't experience human conditions like fatigue etc. That's the kinda high reading gives. And BLF was the perfect place to be for enthusiasts like me! (Kinda rhymed, didn't it?)
BLF was nothing less than a celebration. I don't know where to begin. I don't think I can write a big post here. Or I might just end up writing one. I have no clue. I want to write because I don't want to forget things, but I am still existing, not in the present, but in the past, and it's difficult to pull myself from those beautiful moments back into reality. I am somewhere loitering in the limbo, enjoying those moments, feeling the kick and basking in the warmth of the sunshine in the beautiful green lawns.
But, it had to end some day. All good things come to an end. And only when things end, I get a chance to rant about it. So, let me start how the volunteering deal all began.
BLF-1 was a very unique experience. That was the time when I was reading the Shiva Trilogy and Amish's session was like an icing on the cake. Hearing the man himself speak about the last book of the trilogy glued me to the fest even more. After the three day of soul-satisfying rendezvous with all awesome people, I decided that I would be a part of the fest the next time. Hanging around in Bangalore kinda paid off, and when I saw the updates about BLF-2, I wrote to these wonderful guys and they had me on board in the volunteering team.
Slogging has never been so much fun. After the initial meeting at the venue on Saturday before the event, I was a little skeptical about how we would all gel together. 30-40 of us were total strangers. A few of them knew each other, but I knew none of them. I wondered, how would we work as a team and pull this off. I always live in doubt, and then find myself creeping out of the obscurity with a convincing alibi. So, obscurely optimist about the whole deal, I plunged into it, without thinking much.
That's one decision I would never regret in life. Not only did I make some lovely friends, but also found reading enthusiasts with whom I could talk about the topics I loved. The volunteering team had a majority of members from the Symbi Coll of Mass Comm and they were this exuberant lot, who reminded me of my college days, when we slogged for hours and days and weeks to make a fest successful. Working with them was like going back to college. I learnt so many things from them. Apart from the students, there were veterans who knew how to deal with the mood swings of the celebrities, how to fetch things for them, and how to deal with crisis. Not that I didn't know any of it, but this was a totally different platform and I always try and learn!
The event was taken care of by the Redbox event management firm and they did a fantastic job! Here are some pictures!
I'll write about the specifics in coming posts, because there is so much to write, but words just don't seem to gather for a write up Yep! I am still in the past! I know.. I should be moving on, but like a love you lose, you expect to hang in there and expect it to turn back, and it takes a while to move on, this is just like that.. :)
I had few very personal, beautiful experiences during the fest.
I am this dreamy writer. I have fictions going on in my mind all the time. There was a time when all the fictions would come on the blog and I would effortlessly bring life to the characters. But now a days, they just exist inside my head and talk to each other. I would want to bring them to life someday, but I don't know, if it's denial, or laziness or sheer lack of motivation that I do not do the essential thing.
Basking in the glory of fictions that always go in my head, I took the characters with me to the BLF. I never thought I would have a face for my characters. But my protagonist, just walked my way. I saw her, and I thought 'isn't she someone I was always wanting to write about?'. All my poetry, stories found a muse. I fell in love with her instantly. The vibrancy was so forthcoming, that I couldn't help but start writing all over again.
It'll take a while to get the stories going, also I don't know if i wanna publish any of those, but this experience matches only one experience that I had before. I could feel a sense of deja vu and I realized if I let go this opportunity of writing my thoughts down, then it would never ever happen. I don't know if she knows what a difference she has made to my life! But she has! :) (If you are reading, lady!)
***
Since I was volunteering, I did not get a chance to attend the sessions. I happened to hold a few moments steady and sit for a session with Gulzaar Saab and Prasoon Joshi. There aren't many things that move me. But these few lines here, did that. I was in tears, inconsolable. Like he just spoke what was in my mind. Only that, it wasn't me!
Lamhe
Main aksar pilpile lamhe utha kar dekhta rehta hu
ungli se daba kar
hawa ke bulbulo jaise hi lagte hai
har ek lamhe me koi ek dhadakta waqt rakha hai
pichak jaaye koi toh jaane kya nikle?
ya ho sakta hai tanhai ka virana nikal aaye
ya balkhata bagula koi bhanwrata hua nikale
uda de aur fir paanv na padne de zameen par
samandar phoot ke nikle kisi lamhe se shayad
aur aankh bhar jaaye
bade zarkhez hote hai ye lamhe
kai toh haamla hote hai unse aur lamhe janm lete hai
magar kuch baanjh bhi hote hai sukhe ber ki gutli ke jaise
wo pichakte hai na kat te hai
wo pichakte hai na kat te hai
***
More in next post~
...to be contd..
Well, that's how it was for me, for the past three days at the Bangalore Literature Fest. The second edition of this fest was on a much larger scale and it gave me a chance to participate as a volunteer and give back to the community who has given us such beautiful pieces of literature. I thought it would be my way of expressing my gratitude to all the authors and laureates who come up with these amazing pieces of literature which keep avid readers like me entertained.
The thirst for knowledge is unending. Sometimes I feel I could read all my life. I could go on reading and reading and reading, and there are times, when I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day. Some days, I pray I was a zombie, so that I don't experience human conditions like fatigue etc. That's the kinda high reading gives. And BLF was the perfect place to be for enthusiasts like me! (Kinda rhymed, didn't it?)
BLF was nothing less than a celebration. I don't know where to begin. I don't think I can write a big post here. Or I might just end up writing one. I have no clue. I want to write because I don't want to forget things, but I am still existing, not in the present, but in the past, and it's difficult to pull myself from those beautiful moments back into reality. I am somewhere loitering in the limbo, enjoying those moments, feeling the kick and basking in the warmth of the sunshine in the beautiful green lawns.
But, it had to end some day. All good things come to an end. And only when things end, I get a chance to rant about it. So, let me start how the volunteering deal all began.
BLF-1 was a very unique experience. That was the time when I was reading the Shiva Trilogy and Amish's session was like an icing on the cake. Hearing the man himself speak about the last book of the trilogy glued me to the fest even more. After the three day of soul-satisfying rendezvous with all awesome people, I decided that I would be a part of the fest the next time. Hanging around in Bangalore kinda paid off, and when I saw the updates about BLF-2, I wrote to these wonderful guys and they had me on board in the volunteering team.
Slogging has never been so much fun. After the initial meeting at the venue on Saturday before the event, I was a little skeptical about how we would all gel together. 30-40 of us were total strangers. A few of them knew each other, but I knew none of them. I wondered, how would we work as a team and pull this off. I always live in doubt, and then find myself creeping out of the obscurity with a convincing alibi. So, obscurely optimist about the whole deal, I plunged into it, without thinking much.
That's one decision I would never regret in life. Not only did I make some lovely friends, but also found reading enthusiasts with whom I could talk about the topics I loved. The volunteering team had a majority of members from the Symbi Coll of Mass Comm and they were this exuberant lot, who reminded me of my college days, when we slogged for hours and days and weeks to make a fest successful. Working with them was like going back to college. I learnt so many things from them. Apart from the students, there were veterans who knew how to deal with the mood swings of the celebrities, how to fetch things for them, and how to deal with crisis. Not that I didn't know any of it, but this was a totally different platform and I always try and learn!
The event was taken care of by the Redbox event management firm and they did a fantastic job! Here are some pictures!
I'll write about the specifics in coming posts, because there is so much to write, but words just don't seem to gather for a write up Yep! I am still in the past! I know.. I should be moving on, but like a love you lose, you expect to hang in there and expect it to turn back, and it takes a while to move on, this is just like that.. :)
I had few very personal, beautiful experiences during the fest.
I am this dreamy writer. I have fictions going on in my mind all the time. There was a time when all the fictions would come on the blog and I would effortlessly bring life to the characters. But now a days, they just exist inside my head and talk to each other. I would want to bring them to life someday, but I don't know, if it's denial, or laziness or sheer lack of motivation that I do not do the essential thing.
Basking in the glory of fictions that always go in my head, I took the characters with me to the BLF. I never thought I would have a face for my characters. But my protagonist, just walked my way. I saw her, and I thought 'isn't she someone I was always wanting to write about?'. All my poetry, stories found a muse. I fell in love with her instantly. The vibrancy was so forthcoming, that I couldn't help but start writing all over again.
It'll take a while to get the stories going, also I don't know if i wanna publish any of those, but this experience matches only one experience that I had before. I could feel a sense of deja vu and I realized if I let go this opportunity of writing my thoughts down, then it would never ever happen. I don't know if she knows what a difference she has made to my life! But she has! :) (If you are reading, lady!)
***
Since I was volunteering, I did not get a chance to attend the sessions. I happened to hold a few moments steady and sit for a session with Gulzaar Saab and Prasoon Joshi. There aren't many things that move me. But these few lines here, did that. I was in tears, inconsolable. Like he just spoke what was in my mind. Only that, it wasn't me!
Lamhe
Main aksar pilpile lamhe utha kar dekhta rehta hu
ungli se daba kar
hawa ke bulbulo jaise hi lagte hai
har ek lamhe me koi ek dhadakta waqt rakha hai
pichak jaaye koi toh jaane kya nikle?
ya ho sakta hai tanhai ka virana nikal aaye
ya balkhata bagula koi bhanwrata hua nikale
uda de aur fir paanv na padne de zameen par
samandar phoot ke nikle kisi lamhe se shayad
aur aankh bhar jaaye
bade zarkhez hote hai ye lamhe
kai toh haamla hote hai unse aur lamhe janm lete hai
magar kuch baanjh bhi hote hai sukhe ber ki gutli ke jaise
wo pichakte hai na kat te hai
wo pichakte hai na kat te hai
***
More in next post~
...to be contd..
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