Day 3 Hay Festival, Kanakakunnu Palace, Trivandrum – Afternoon

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I had been looking forward to the first session in the Palace Hall after lunch- British novelist Sebastian Faulks being interviewed by journalist Rosie Boycott. Faulks began by introducing his upcoming book, Faulks on Fiction, in which he evaluates many fictional characters (including Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pride and Prejudice and Ronald Merrick from Paul Scott’s epic Raj Quartet). He not only discussed his works so far, such as the iconic Birdsong, Charlotte Gray, Engleby, and the recent James Bond novel Devil May Care, but also his life as a journalist. His recent novel A Week in December (which I have reviewed here), featuring seven characters and set in the week before Christmas, was evaluated in great detail and some amount of airtime was dedicated to the research conducted on hedge funds and investment banks- even though, I couldn’t agree with 60% of his thoughts on the bankers and I wondered what an LMH Unionite and current hedge fund employee, who shared his same surname, would have thought as well. The session was followed by book signing at the nearby tent, where my newly purchased A Week in December was soon adorned with his signature.

We couldn’t attend the remainder of the afternoon sessions since we had to attend the evening service at our church, a stone’s throw away.

However, the following were slated to happen in other talks elsewhere (and at the same venue):
- Namita Gokhale on the various interpretations of Sita, the wife of Indian king Rama.
- Novelist and broadcaster Kishwar Desai on her novel based on a sensational family murder case set between Punjab (India) and UK.
- Readings by writer and bureaucrat NS Madhavan.
- Historian Simon Schama’s musings on Barack Obama and the recent mid-term elections
- British director Hannah Rothschild’s discussion on the art of documentary film-making.
- Readings by poet Vivek Narayanan.
- Readings by author Jaisree Misra.

Day 3 Hay Festival, Kanakakunnu Palace, Trivandrum – Forenoon

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The resplendent Palace Hall was the site for Shashi Tharoor’s (The Great Indian Novel; The Elephant, The Tiger and the Cell Phone; Bookless in Baghdad) dialogue in the morning. Tharoor (whose achievements also includes being a candidate for the post of UN’s Secretary General, as well as a Minister of State in the Indian government), is presently the MP for my home constituency of Trivandrum.

At 1115, this very dais was occupied by Nik Gowing, the BBC anchor who might not be a stranger for the Beeb’s audience in India. Gowing focused on the role played by the global media. He also pointed out that the public participation has been revolutionised with the advent of cell phones with cameras- these clippings provide insights which even reporters may not be aware of. This power, wielded by the media, also ensures that the governments are aware of their responsibilities and are held accountable for their actions.

The same venue later witnessed an exhilarating and passionate ‘Intelligence Squared’ debate on the economic development in India and its impact on social development. The session was quite an eye-opener for many who were informed about how India’s economic development was not having any significant effect on the poor. In fact, it was stated (I believe, by Tarun Tejpal) that the modern-day politicians were not exhibiting any social responsibility: i.e the elite, the privileged, and the powerful were not contributing to uplifting the dregs of the society.

The sessions in the Reading Room commenced with Welsh poets (Menna Elfyn, Paul Henry, and Gillian Clarke) and Indian poets (Vivek Narayanan from Tamil Nadu and K Satchidanandan from Kerala) discussing about the role played by languages in creating poetry. Of much interest was their (who considered poetry not just as an art or a way of expressing themselves, but also as a way of life) thoughts on the challenges of writing poetry in their native languages and why some chose to write poetry in non-native languages. One could not however agree with the statement that one’s own native language had an influence on a poetry written in another language (in this case, English). In my instance, even though Malayalam is my mother tongue and English my first language, my poems (all written in English) is not at all influenced by Malayalam (which I suck at, in any case). But one did agree with Gillian Clarke’s admission of her poems being innately musical thanks to the tempo of the Welsh language. Menna Elfyn once again reiterated that an essence is lost when poems are translated from one language to another.

The same venue was also to feature a discussion between economist and novelist Meghnad Desai and Hannah Rothschild. Elsewhere, the Bandstand featured sessions of Upinder Singh (on the unwritten histories which need to be written) and Keralite poet K Satchidanandan’s discussions of his works.

Day 1 of the Hay Festival at Kanakakunnu Palace, Trivandrum – Forenoon

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After running an errand in the morning, we reached Kanakakunnu Palace in the late morning. Our expectation of the Palace’s premises teeming with cars, attendees (including hordes of school and university students), and police, were dispelled upon seeing that the grounds maintained its serene self, with just the volunteers, the attendees, and the media. After a quick registration, we followed the well-labelled paths to the brimming Palace Hall where the inaugural session of the Hay Festival was still in progress, fringed by a gaggle of media. A quick look around confirmed that the attendees were diverse- from around the world and from around the country.

Inaugural Session
The Festival was inaugurated by MA Baby (Kerala’s Minister for Education and Cultural Affairs), who affirmed that this confluence of writers and creators from around the world was bound to provide an enriching experience for everyone.

Dr Shashi Tharoor, the MP for the Trivandrum constituency (who apparently played a key role in arranging the Hay Festival in Trivandrum), whilst delivering the keynote address, referred to the past and recent history of Kerala which clearly demonstrated the sponge-like nature of Keralites who are happy (and willing) to receive intellectual input without any reservations. The session was also addressed by Keralite actor Mammooty, as well as the Hay Festival’s producers Sanjoy Roy, Lyndy Cooke, and Peter Florence.

Vikram Seth
We remained in the opulent Palace Hall so as to attend novelist-poet Vikram Seth’s Q&A with Anita Sethi. This was Seth’s first visit to Trivandrum (and second visit to Kerala- he had previously visited Cochin) and he planned on utilising this opportunity to visit the nearby Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin), the southernmost tip of India. The discussions were entertaining and mercurial. The lover of violin and sarangi discussed his novel works such as the verse classic ‘The Golden Gate’, ‘An Equal Music’, the famous magnum opus ‘A Suitable Boy’, as well as ‘A Suitable Girl’, the upcoming sequel of ‘A Suitable Boy’ focusing on the now 80-year old Latha’s quest for a suitable bride for her grandson, slated for publishing in 2013 by Penguin. Apparently, many other characters from ‘A Suitable Boy’ will make their appearance in the sequel, with the exception of Cuddles (the dog). A great influence has been Alexander Pushkin’s versified ‘Eugene Onegin’.

Seth (who read PPE at Corpus Christi, Oxford) also recited sonnets from ‘The Golden Gate’ as well as some of his poignant and profound poems (some unpublished). He also composed a haiku on the spot. He related of how difficult it is to convert ideas into creative work- something I can certainly relate to, for my brain comes up with a 1001 ideas of which only 10 are committed into paper.

The session was followed by book-signing at the nearby tent (Simon Schama too was in the vicinity). What stood out was Seth’s patience and affability to everyone, taking infinite care in scribbling personalised messages on the book, and initiating small talk. We bought ‘The Humble Administrator’s Garden’ (a collection of poems) for our mother and stood in the queue. Soon enough, I realised that the concept of queuing still remains alien to most Indians- even if they are at a literary festival! Very well, enough of caustic!

It must be admitted that Seth was exceptionally charming, garnished with good humour and a genuine willingness to learn more about the reader. He gracefully signed the book for our mother and answered Ruth's questions on 'A Suitable Girl' and about whether any of his future work will feature good ol' Oxford (I suppose not). Finally meeting Seth was a longtime dream coming true for Ruth- for she had been an avid appreciator of his works. Seth’s diminutiveness was also striking- I always expected him to be tall- or perhaps, was it a projection of his literary stature?

After coming home, I opened ‘The Humble Administrator’s Garden’, and mysteriously, my eyes fell on the following in page 23:
'As is Spring in the City of Dreaming Spires'
Indeed, I still remember Oxford and its version of Spring- the Radcliffe Camera, the gardens of Corpus, and the gentle Isis...

On to Hay...
Since we couldn’t be in two places at the same time, here’s a list of what else happened simultaneously at other venues.

- Writer Amrita Tripathi read her recent works at the Reading Room.
- Miguel Syjuco of Philippines, the winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2008, discussed about his novel Ilustrado in the adjacent Bandstand. He related of the days of yore when, in order to attain creativity, he attended creative writing classes. Whilst the classes were of great help and introduced him to other aspiring writers, he also realised its negative aspect: one component involved discussing the writings of the participants, which resulted in the writer being consciously/subconsciously influenced by the need to make his/her work acceptable to the other participants in order to gain their approval. Hence, it resulted in fettering one’s creativity.
- Movie makers Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Hannah Rothschild discussed their works at the Reading Room with Jisha Krishnan, The Week’s editor.

Marcus du Sautoy
We ended up missing Professor Marcus du Sautoy’s fascinating talk (also at the Palace Hall). The Professor of Mathematics (and the successor of Richard Dawkins as the current Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science) at Oxford University discussed about his book, ‘The Num8er My5teries: A Mathematical Odyssey Through Everyday Life’. One interesting titbit was about prime numbers, those which are indivisible by other numbers, and cannot be reduced, but can be added or multiplied into larger numbers. For instance, the number 23 is considered to be unlucky - most notably, Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times. Yet, it is popular in the sporting area, where footballer David Beckham and basketball star Michael Jordan sport jerseys numbered 23. The same pattern is seen in other sportsmen, including Zidane who preferred jersey number 5 and Ronaldo’s jersey number 11. du Sautoy cited an experiment which he conducted on an English lower premier league football team who had been performing dismally. After he assigned prime numbers to the footballers, the team’s performance improved and they came second in the league rankings. But halt those who have decided to utilise prime numbers in all aspects of their life- do note this pattern wasn’t repeated later!