Mangaluru Literary Festival Kicks off with the Theme ‘The Idea of Bharath’
Mangaluru: The first edition of two-day Mangaluru Literary Festival kicked off today, November 3, where a bevy of eminent litterateurs from India converged at TMA Pai International Convention Hall, MG Road, Mangaluru to discuss on the Theme ‘The Idea of Bharat’. The two-day ‘Mangaluru Lit Fest – 2018’ was inaugurated by Ms Sandhya Pai, the Managing Editor of Tushara, Taranga and Tunturu magazines. During the 2-day Fest, various sessions would be held in five languages – Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, English and Hindi. The festival will be a platform for Monologues, Panel Discussions, Conversations, Book Reviews, Symposiums, including Book and Art Exhibition.
Addressing the audience, Ms Sandhya Pai said, “There is no doubt at all that India has a vast culture and tradition of its own, and is a rich vibrant country. But it is sad to note that our youth are ignoring the culture and traditions of our country. Western culture has invaded our Country, and the present generation is hooked to it. Traditions have emerged and it is limited to certain boundaries within the region, along with humanity, several religions, customs. Literary fests like these will surely bring awareness among our youth to follow the Indian culture and traditions”.
Editor of Organiser Prafulla Ketkar and Chairman of NITTE Education Trust Dr N Vinaya Hegde also spoke on the occasion and stressed on the importance of Indian Culture and Tradition being inculcated in the minds of the present youth, and make them understand the logic behind it. Noted Kannada writer and Sahitya Akademi and Saraswati Samman awardee S L Bhyrappa was presented with lifetime achievement award on the inaugural day, for his immense contribution towards ‘The Idea of Bharat’.
During the 2-day Fest, four books would be released-they are “Your Prime Minister is Dead” by Anuj Dhar, “Jobs Crisis in India” by R Jagannathan, “What is Hinduism” by David Frawley and “Kasheera” by Sahana Vijay Kumar. Some of the speakers featured during the Lit-fest are filmmakers Vivek Agnihotri, Prakash Belawadi and Rishab Shetty, poets Subraya Chokkadi, H Dundiraj and B R Lakshman Rao, Padma Bhushan awardees B M Hegde and David Frawley, writer Preethi Nagraj, Yakshagana scholar M Prabhakara Joshi, Prafulla Ketkar, Editor, Organiser; Anirban Ganguly, author and director of Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, a think tank affiliated to BJP; writer Madhu Kishwar and the like.
In addition to a ‘kavi gosti’, there would be 14 literary sessions. Some of the topics listed for discussion would be urban Naxals; Indian academia and India in academia – a debate; women and religion – from triple talaq to Sabarimala; Hindu civilisation under seize or on upsurge; RSS 360 degree – facts versus fiction; regional art, culture and literature; engineered violence in Kerala and Kashmir; India in cinema – representation and narrative, Sri Aurobindo’s idea of spiritual nationalism – going beyond European idea of nation states and the like.
A workshop on clay modeling by Ravi Gunaga from Uttara Kannada and a workshop on photography by Saravanan G N are part of the Fest.
