E-Paper
Random Forays | The inimitable charm of book launches
Book launches are occasions to savour and relish. No such event leaves the audience feeling morose, shaken or put off.
Some of my most memorable moments have been spent while attending book launches and basking in their literary glows. People who make it convenient to be present at a book launch, despite the pulls, pressures, deadlines and targets of today’s world, generally feel elevated afterwards.
Book launches are occasions to savour and relish. No such event leaves the audience feeling morose, shaken or put off. Barring the usual exceptions, book launches are feel-good, uplifting and elevating experiences. The author in question usually looks and behaves like a newly-wed, glowing at all the praise which inevitably comes his or her way. He blushes quite often too.
Guests who are invited to deliver speeches are typically erudite, expressive and distinguished individuals. Such luminaries make it a point to praise not only the book but also the author to the skies. At times some suggestions for the author’s future journey will also be offered, especially by those who have long traversed the same dusty pathways.
The lighter side of a book launch also deserves a mention or two. Most attendees are there not so much for the love of books but for the love of the host. And the host usually is the writer himself. He will thus keep an eye on the doorway to see who all have actually popped in, knowing well that an invitation to cocktails would have ensured more footfall. Book launches are normally morning or afternoon affairs. Tea, coffee and cakes are more the norm at these dos than the bubblier stuff.
Some individuals show up just to be seen at an intellectual gathering for a change. Others simply want to exchange glances with the author who is on stage and mark their presence. They will then make their exit asap, since they are usually headed to more entertaining jaunts thereafter. Why waste an opportunity to have some real fun now that they’re all dressed up?
But to be fair, such escapees are not many in number. A large portion of the gathering at a book launch will genuinely enjoy the whiff and feel of an embalming afternoon, well aware that coffee and conversation are in the offing. Such human beings will also share some of the author’s glee at having accomplished the life long objective of becoming a published writer. Even those who have been there and done that before will never tire of the adulation and affection that they receive at their umpteenth book launch.
Our Chandigarh Literary Society has organised dozens of these launches and continues to do so, thereby giving fledgling authors the hope that they too, one day, will be propelled to the stage and to the limelight.
Which brings me very humbly to the subject of the recent launch of “It’s Still A Wonderful Life” published by Ferntree, which, happily, is a collection of 120 of these random forays. This column is as much the reader’s property, as it is mine or the Hindustan Times’. Together we have traversed five long years, and the upheavals, highs and lows of life have been encapsulated by this columnist to the best of his ability. The endeavour of this column has been to foray into as many territories as possible without treading into the unknown. Thus, from love and relationships to social media and governance, one has been able to paint a largish canvas.
The aim, above all, has been to leave the reader with some hope for the future, some balm for the mind, and some calm for the soul. Thus, to choose the title of one of these pieces to be the title of the book, was not a tough decision.
An author’s life is not just about writing, though it is primarily that. It is also about editing, getting published, promoting one’s work and then basking in glory, however dimly lit the horizon may be.
“Success comes to a writer, as a rule, so gradually that it is always something of a shock to him to look back and realize the heights to which he has risen”, said my favourite man of words, PG Wodehouse.
Book launches are celebrations which assure writers that “It’s still a wonderful life”, after all!
vivek.atray@gmail.com
