Capital colours in winter

India Diary zooms in on Delhi this week as it is that time of the year when the capital revels in the tinkle and colour of cultural events, writes Vijaya Sharma.

The India Diary zooms in on Delhi this week as it is that time of the year when the capital revels in the tinkle and colour of cultural events and exhibitions galore. It's only mid-January, and one has seen the New Year begin with Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, preceded by the huge Katha Annual Literary Festival. Now, the capital mood is in top gear with a fleet of swishy, shiny new cars at the 7th Auto Expo, Asia's largest automotive show.

The weather at this time is a gracious host and spreads its sunny smile making a trip outdoors all the more pleasurable after the trembling times of 3.7 degrees just a few weeks back.

The Melting Pot
Katha's literary fest had people from world over homing in on Delhi. Katha is a non-profit organisation which has won the funding of European Union, thanks to its sterling work in the areas of translating stories from regional languages, storytelling and story in culture linking and education. It was started in 1988 by Geeta Dharmarajan, who has been its driving force since inception. The organisation has moved beyond its work of translating regional literature into English with forays into road shows such as The Tamasha Road Show which is an ongoing programme to induce working children away from the street and into education.

Its 15th annual literary fest, brought together storytellers, filmmakers, puppeteers, artists and painters. One had personalities such as Budapest-born writer Peter Zilahy, Irish writer Jack Harte, the Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi with rare films like and being screened.

In a delightful display of her talent at the fest, former External Affairs spokesperson Nirupama Rao presented songs from British writer Thomas Moore’s romantic poem at the opening. Amazing and commendable how she dexterously handled her demanding job at the MEA and managed to sneak in time to keep her music interests alive.

The poem is about a young princess from Delhi, Lalla Rookh, who sets out to meet King of Bucharia, whom she has never met. On the way, a mysterious man regales her with stories. It’s only when she reaches Kashmir that she realises the identity of this story-teller, who is the king in disguise.

‘Harte’ to Heart
Irish writer Jack Harte was impressed with the range of activities organised and the high standard. Harte is contemplating a novel on his life, with the first volume dealing with his childhood. The writer has traversed from being a courier boy, a dock hand to being a school principal for a decade and more. He is now a full time writer.

He has experimented with plays, poems and novels and was the pioneer behind the Writers Union and Writing Centres in Ireland, with the Writers Employment Scheme also rolling out under his guidance.

His most recent book is Reflections on a Tar Barrel. Quite curiously he asked me would you know what a tar barrel is and I nodded a vigorous "Yes". He was quite surprised as tar barrels have gone out of fashion with new machines coming in which spread the tar on the road. Back in India, we still have those cylindrical, black, huge barrels with fire burning under them to keep the tar in molten state.

Harte's tar barrel is, thus, a symbol for times gone by. It is more

about an idea, a concept rather than characters, said Harte. Those barrels once emptied were used to collect rainwater sliding down the roofs. Dropping pebbles in the water-filled barrel, the pool of reflections ripples…

Harte has a dislike for the realist mode of writing so popular today. His style is symbolistic. He finds the same trend in India  - a growing incline towards the realist mode of writing as compared to the symbolistic. Why so one asks and Harte says: "Symbolistic writing has layers and one needs to go behind them and contemplate to understand its true meaning. But people have no time today. They just want to finish a book and put it aside. I see the trend in India also."

And he adds: "Society in Ireland has changed for the better too. There is cleanliness, more money, progress; but all this progress did not necessarily mean that some values had to be lost. There is no togetherness, community feeling..."

The land could be called by any other name - Ireland or India, the same wave sweeps us back home, too. Harte calls it the "21st century syndrome". The world is truly too much with us...

Harte does not forget to mention though that Indian restaurants abound in Ireland too, though there are not too many Asians. Chinese immigrants dominate. And with Indian restaurants around, can curry be far behind! Yes, Harte has fallen for the curry, too.

Pravasi Divas news would be just a tedious encore with the diaspora, I am sure, up to the ears with news on it.

Lots and lots more to share on happenings across India. So until next week lest this diary becomes a pot of P2C2E: Processes too complicated to explain, to borrow Rushdie's phrase.