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Sanatkada Day 4: Talks on Attar, love, and a bit of Dastangoi dominate
The Sanatkada Lucknow Festival attracted literature, culture, and food enthusiasts despite rain threats. Highlights included discussions on the works of Maneklal Gajjar and Naseem Iqtidar Ali, as well as film screenings and a showcase on Indian perfumery.
The Sanatkada Lucknow Festival continued to draw crowds even on the penultimate day, attracting literature, culture and food enthusiasts despite the threat of the rain.
The fourth day saw a discussion on the works of Maneklal Gajjar, a textile wood block maker and craftsman from Gujarat. He had also been a recipient of a national award for his work, before he passed away in 2012. Actor Mala Sinha and singer Suchitra Balasubramanyan, spoke at length about his love for art, and led the discussion with pictures and snapshots of his work and his house.
The session ‘Ek Khaas Mulaqaat’ was an endearing conversation with the team of Aashiqana Lucknow (the theme for the festival this year) who discussed the various facets of love from the lens of a Lucknowite, and film screenings of documentaries made by the team, and discussions on the same followed.
In the evening, visitors got to be part of an erudite discussion on the works of the scholar and social activist of Lucknow, Naseem Iqtidar Ali, led by Urdu scholars Fatima Rizvi, Sabiha Anwar and Ayesha Siddiqui, where the audience revisited Ali’s work, dissecting and reading deep into her words and the symbolism she used in her Urdu writing.
Among several other stage programmes and a very vibrant crafts bazaar, a lengthy discussion on the evolution of Indian perfumery and Attar as well as a Dastangoi showcase by Himanshu Bajpai and Pragya Sharma marked a successful fourth day of the 15th Sanatkada Lucknow Festival.
