When the Mountains Echoed Literature: Ooty Literary Festival, 2016

This year, the hills of Ooty echoed voices of poets and writers who gathered to celebrate the first Ooty Literary festival. The two day festival was conducted on September 16th and 17th at the charming, warm and very Gothic, Nilgiri Library.

Ms Sajidabanu Iqbal, Former Teacher, Laidlaw Memorial College, Ooty, shares with us her experiences: 

Ms Sajidabano Iqbal, Laidlaw Memorial College, Ooty

Becoming a member of the Nilgiri Library has opened new horizons for me in every direction. I have met people and had experiences which would not have been possible for me otherwise.

The building is very old and is a heritage site. It is beautifully preserved and well maintained. The reading room, especially, is just pure pleasure for anyone who likes to read. There are huge windows that provide warmth and light to the place. They have the best brown leather arm chairs that are wonderful to curl up in. It is an oasis of calm and quiet in today’s noisy world. My only regret is that I do not spend enough time there.

We have a monthly Book Club meeting every second Saturday and the Book of the Month can range from very technical and high-brow books like 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks' to 'Alice in Wonder land ' or  'The Jungle Book'. We have our share of home grown authors and poets who may launch a book here. We have Tanya Mendonza, the local poetess. We also have Col. Vinod with his book, 'Blue Jeans to Olive Greens'. We have Dr. Chabbra who has made an extensive study on the Todas of the Nilgiris. He has lived with them,  learnt their language and studied their customs and beliefs. He has also studied the Nilgiri biosphere and has discovered a rare Rhododendron.  We have a lady who has written a fascinating book about the kolar gold fields who was filled with regret  that Kolar has now become a ghost town after the gold reserves were depleted. She is also a reporter  who has written about surrogacy. There was Shibu Kochery who has written about hydroelectric power is the Himalayas and now we have our own Dilip James who has recently launched "NeoClassical Physics or Quantum mechanics?"

The high-light last year was the Lit Fest . It was the first one I ever attended but it gave me a real high. I have never been so pumped up.

The unique memento presented to all the participants

    

    We had been planning  it for a year but suddenly on that day there was a  bundh because of the Cauvery  water disputes.  But nothing could stop it.  The hall was overflowing with literature lovers, and a CCTV covered the event under a Shamiana  for those who could not get in. There was a food count serving snacks,  drinks and meals.

           The event itself was meticulously  organised. There were school children from  Lawrence school, Lovedale  issuing identity cards and a cute book mark of Toda embroidery. The Todas and the Kotas, native tribes of the Nilgiris were there to welcome us with their traditional dances and music. There was a welcome speech by our president Geetha Srinivasan, granddaughter of C.P. Ramaswamy  lyer and wife of our distinguished Physicist, M.R. Srinivasan.

Beautiful Book marks

C.S Lakshmi and Ms Arundhati

C.S.Lakshmi, Ms Madhavi and Col. Vinod

A Session in the Fest

Then the session began.  We had authors, publishers, poets, translators and children’s  authors. You name it and they had it!

But the two people who completely captivated me were C.S. Lakshmi  who writes under the name of Ambai in Tamil and  M.T. Vasudevan Nair,  who writes in Malyalam and was honored with a lifetime achievement award. Both these authors have translations available in English. Both have published in there teens and held us spell bound with their anecdotes  and remembrances.   Mr. Vasudevan is 88 and was really impressive.

   Ambai has an oral history archive in Pune called ‘Sparrow’.  She believes that women’s histories journals, poems, stories even if written were not accorded the importance it deserved. And many stories have perished with them. She came across a journal of a great aunt and was told that all her other journals and work was cremated  with her.

         She is an inspiration.  So much spirit and an activity and just throbbing with life. She explained how women have always been changing history. She cited the example of the dog who is not allowed in the kitchen but would have only his tail and hind legs outside to appeared as if obeying but is making his own rules. She lived in a repressive society of Chennai in the sixties, but did her own thing.

Just to stand in the same space as these people is to feel the ecstasy. To be touched in some way by their greatness is to be enveloped in the fragrance of incense in a shrine.

To know more about the festival, visit: http://ootylitfest.com/