Friends in Small Places- RUSKIN BOND AND SUDHA MURTHY

Yesterday was yet another enchanting day at Spring Fever'13, with much loved authors Ruskin Bond and Sudha Murthy. Paro Anand started the session by narrating how she met Sudha Murthy for the first time. Paro Anand went on narrate a story from Sudha Murthy's book- 'The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk' about the young ticketless traveller who was hiding underneath her berth. The ticket collector caught her and threatened to throw her out on the next station. But Sudha Murthy thought it was not right to throw out a young girl on an unknown station, so she took the girl to her home. Now the girl- Chitra works in the U.S! 
Followed by this moving incident, Sudha Murthy's editor Shruti read out the wonderful tittle story from the book. 

The session really became interesting as Ruskin Bond read out a poem from his collection- Hip Hop Nature Boy.
Before reciting the poem he said that publishers are usually not interested in publishing poetry so what he does is, he tells his publisher that he would write a story only if his poems are published!As it was expected, the poem was absolutely delightful and humorous but what made it better was his style of reciting it. He read it out like a little child who was enjoying the funny poem!

 Ruskin Bond really made the session interesting and fun. When Paro Anand asked him- "How many books have you written", he replied- "its unlucky to count!" 

He did it, He said it and we loved it- Ruskin Bond

"My favourite genre is short stories, because I am a lazy writer and they seem to keep getting shorter with age! When I run out of people, I write ghost stories."

"When  a particular character becomes popular, people expect more stories about him or her. When you run out of stories you have to make them up. My uncle Ken is long gone, so he cannot sue me now!"

" When you are telling lies in your stories like me, you tend to get a writers block. Keep the script aside and come back to it later. You should be patient and draw the story in your mind properly so that you don't get stuck half way through."


"My landline was not working, so I asked my grand daughter- Dolly to get me a cellphone. I held it to my ear and she said- dada you are holding it up side down, then switch it on. But nothing happened. So she said go to the window. I went the window. Open the window, she said. So I opened the window but nothing happened. Lean out of the window. I leaned out of the window and I dropped it!"

What we love the most about him, were his poems! I am sure he impressed every body sitting there with his innocence and spontaneous humour.

Here is the video of Ruskin Bond reading his poem- 'If Mice Could Roar'

                                                           Video by Writerspoint

She did it, She said it and we loved it Sudha Murthy

I take two-three years to complete a novel. I like to share whether

it is my experience, my joy or my sorrow. So I like to share everything, except my husband!  

Life has a larger canvas than imagination. Imagination has  limit, life does not. When I started meeting different people- tribals, rich people, poor people, politicians- my canvas became larger

I want to write a children's novel and for that I want to understand today's children. Today children have a greater exposure than what they had say 50 years ago.

When I was young, my grandfather asked me to promise him that when I have enough money, I should buy books for at least one library. And now, when I have made enough money I have bought books for fifty thousand libraries! 

I like children because they are un-biased and straight forward. Adults don't do that. When they tell me my book is good, it is very often followed by- we applied for a loan or something like that, because they mix my job in infosys and my job as writer. Once a little child told me- you write well but you do not read well. And that was the last time I read out my story.

Watch my interview with Paro Anand at Bookaroo HERE

The Global Storyteller- MIRA NAIR at Spring Fever'13

On her journey from ‘Salaam Bombay!’ to ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’

I attended the ongoing Spring Fever at IHC today and it was a delightful experience. Organised by Penguin Books, the Spring Fest has a great line up of eminent personalities for each day. After spectacular sessions by Shobha De and Gulzar on 15th and 16th respectively, today the genius film-maker Meera Nair graced the literary festival. 

It was a perfect setting in the open air amphitheatre with a lovely stage and the library. Mira Nair was there on time and the session started at seven as scheduled. 

She had some really interesting experiences to share. Some made us laugh while others left us awed. Here are some of the interesting things the story teller talked about- 

"I always played the girlfriend's mother or something un-sexy like that"

Before Salaam Bombay, my beginnings really come from theatre, when I was an actor. And the first inspiration for me as a kid growing up in Bhubaneswar was actually Habib Tanvir who brought logical theatre in the most radical way to the school fields of Bhubaneshwar. That made me feel that I could perhaps be a part of the “tamaasha” that he had shown me as a young girl. So that led me to join theatre. I was on stage most of the time. I always played the part of the “girlfriend's mother” or something un-sexy like that. 

" My Antony was Shashi Tharoor! "

I was a part of Shakespeare society in St. Stephens College. I was cast as a very heavy weigh Cleopatra and to carry me on stage there was a bunch of slaves led by Amitav Ghosh in a langoti. Not really a pretty picture! And my Antony was Shashi Tharoor! I better behave, he is a minister!

"I would say, come to India, I will send my elephant to pick you up from the airport"

I made about four documentaries, all in India in the early 80s. It was interesting but I found frustration in not finding an audience. Here in India, there was no room for them. In America they would ask me dumb things like-“I saw running water in your movie. How come you have water running in India?” I would say- come to India, I will send my elephant to pick you up from the airport and they would not really get the joke!

"The kid would dance and sing- I am a disco dancer!"

The idea of Salaam Bombay came from a documentary; I made, ‘India Cabaret’ about strippers. I lived with these girls, Rekha and Rosey. And every day at twelve in the morning this tea-boy used to come and this wonderful role- reversal used to take place where Rekha would say- "Nacho" to the boy and the kid would dance and sing " I am a disco dancer!" and they would drink tea like Nawabs’. That got me to look at a street kid- the tea boy. What was remarkable about kids in each street corner is that, on the surface they have absolutely nothing but inside they have such a will to live!

                          "I polluted the poor guy"
Sooni Taraporevala, writer of the film (Salaam Bombay) and I found a bunch of rag pickers. At first they ran away from us but then we gradually befriended them and for four months just picked rags with them, went to the movies, waited at the weddings. After documenting it and writing down own version, I asked Barry Jones to come and we did a six-week workshop with nineteen children. The main thing we did in the workshop was to create discipline and focus in the children through either dance (weirdly enough, they would choose Madonna songs to dance on) or yoga.
I met Raghubir Yadav, who played Chillam, yesterday after 25 years and he said- "main to saala cigarette bhi nahi peeta tha, main to bolta tha ki bas Mira Nair ne hi mujhe cigarette dia"
I polluted the poor guy. 

"The kids have no self-pity"

I did not want to make an ‘arty-farty’ film. I wanted children to go to Liberty and watch it. These kids have no self-pity. My earliest images were of when I was shooting India Cabaret, being in a taxi in a traffic jam and one hand held on to my open window. I looked down and saw this kid- just the torso on a hand-made platform with wheels. The lights changed and with the velocity of my cab, he moved on and at the end it he just let himself go, did a piravid, held his hand up like a circus player. Even though no one was clapping, but for him that was his performance! 

        "I was the aunty ji Delhi"

I am currently directing the musical of Monsoon Wedding. We have recorded seven songs and have four more to go. We hope to open in May'14. 
My son and I wanted to make a film in his school holidays, in the monsoon. I met Sabrina Dhawan and we both got along like a house on fire! She was like the hipper Delhi and I, the auntyji Delhi.  Once Naseer was cast, I started casting other people around him but many people, who said yes, did not turn up! I had to take many auntyjis’ from my area-Vasant Vihar and anyone who was for free was in monsoon wedding. The actor who was supposed to play the lover of the bride called me one day before shooting and said- Sorry for not being able to come, because he had been asked to compare Amitabh Bachchan's dinner! I called a young actor in London and asked him- Do you have a brother?  Yes, I actually did that! 

This was followed by questions from the audience. Later Mira Nair, signed copies of Salaam Bombay and The Reluctant Fundamentalist for the audience! It was a wonderful evening with the global story teller. Thank you Penguin Books!

Spring Fever is a must attend.  Click here for more information.
Did you attend Spring Fever? Share your experience with me- writerspointblog@yahoo.in

Edited by Prakriti Anand

JAIPUR LIT FEST'13—more to it than glamour

By N. Madhavan

Columnist/Associate Editor

Hindustan Times

Jaipur is just the place and the last week of January is just the right time to hold a literary festival. For one, there is a colourful air about the Rajasthani capital, with its exotic past and camels that go with history and the magic of the printed word. On the other hand, not far from Delhi, it is great for both those wanting to get away from the metro rush and international travelers at the end of a cold period to catch some sun.

The festival has acquired its own unique colour. 

credits- Shweta Maheshwari 

For a festival that calls itself the “greatest literary show on earth” it is not just about staid writers and sombre sessions. The Diggi Palace lawns, where the festival is held, has the air of an Indian mela, and has also acquired what some might call “Page 3” glamour with fashionable ladies and somewhat loud partying people making up the ambience. It also helps that the festival organizes musical evenings (this year shifted to the Amer area in the suburbs).

The festival this year was less controversial than last year, when writer Salman Rushdie was prevented from coming by Muslim group protests. This year,  protests erupted towards the end of the festival when sociologist Ashis Nandy mouthed a comment about corruption and backward/scheduled caste leaders. 

The furore underscored the fact that the festival has become a political event of sorts.

Alongside politics, the festival also sees a Bollywood touch. Lyricists Prasoon Joshi and Javed Akhtar and actress Sharmila Tagore were among the attendees this year, as was cricketer Rahul Dravid.  

So, is literature about such glamorous figures? Clearly not. While these lent fodder for the news media, there is undeniably some depth in the festival from less fashionable sessions held in the large tents and halls outside of the front lawns and the “Char Bagh” front grounds where the bigger sessions occur.

I particularly enjoyed a session on books about music, featuring Vikram Sampath, author of “My Name is Gauhar Jaan” -- about a British colonial era courtesan. There was another serious session on books about India’s Maoist heartland and the Northeast. Yet another one discussed the life of the mathematical genius, Srinivasa Ramanujan.

These sessions more than made up for criticism that the festival is shallow.

My high point as a Tamil speaker was listening to a US scholar, David Shulman, who is fluent in Indian languages and about the history of India’s temple towns and holy places. Such scholars are ones who notice only when a festival showcases offbeat topics and writers. For this, one must thank the organizers of JLF!