Bhopal Literature and Art Festival 2

The Literature Festival saw multiple book launches and varied art exhibitions. The key exhibition was on tribal art, centered around the works of the noted tribal artist Bhajju Shyam, a Padma Shri awardee who has exhibited his art all over the world. These works, assembled thanks to the efforts of Gita Wolf publisher, Tara Douglas animator and Anubhav Nath art collector were truly mesmerizing. These included paintings that had led to the publishing of the famous London Jungle Book when Bhajju Shyam had gone to London on an invitation to do the interiors of the Masala Zone restaurant. Amongst those who advised about curating this exhibition was John Bowles, a former Professor of art in the United States and now a prominent art collector.

An artist Nicola Strippoli (he was nicknamed Tarshito by Acharya Rajnish, meaning ‘thirst for inner knowledge’) from Bari in Italy carried a 10-meter-long canvas with himself, half-completed in Italy and  finished painting it on the site in Bharat Bhawan with the help of several Gond tribal painters. The central message was “A sense of peace and union between India, Italy and all the nations of the world as art unites people.”

A graphic visual discourse on prehistoric rock art of India by Austrian experts Erwin Neumayer and Christine Schelberger helped the audience to understand the inscriptions at the famous UNESCO heritage site of Bhimbhedka near Bhopal.

Amongst the book launches were the following:

·         Wild Madhya Pradesh by Bittu Sahgal

·         A Conjurer’s Archive by Jyotindra Jain

·         The Last Ball Six by Dr Pradeep Kapoor

·         A Fools Creation by Geetanjali Jain

·         A paperback edition of The Undocumented Wonder by SY Quraishi

·         Bhopal by Joe Alvarez and Sushil Prakash

The three-day festival began with an invocation of Goddess Saraswati by the famous Dhrupad singers, the Gundecha Bandhu. It also included a retrospective of songs from Hindi cinema spanning the life and work of OP Nayar presented by the husband wife couple Ajay and Atima Mankotia. The second day started with a philosophical, though pithy, discourse on Achieving Happiness by Geshe Dorji Damdul, the Director of the Tibet House and ended with a musical evening curated by reputed jazz singer Joe Alvarez and his daughter Shefali Alvarez. The third day ended with a local band called Upswing, comprising of enthusiastic youngsters from Bhopal.

All the citizens of Bhopal, including the authors who attended the festival appeared unanimous in their acclaim that this should become an annual feature. The general feeling and perception of the audience was that this event not only pleased their cultural sensibilities, but, for once, they also felt -- intellectually provoked, stimulated and energized.