Tagore lit fest may draw big names

KOLKATA: Imagine book-reading sessions, literary lunches, interactive sessions, talks and cultural performances by the side of the Hooghly, Metcalfe Hall, Rammohan library and Old Currency Building by the likes of Orhan Pamuk, Amitav Ghosh, Kiran Desai, Gulzar, Shabana Azmi, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Girish Karnad and so on.
If everything goes according to plan, these personalities and many more will be in Kolkata in January-February next year to participate in the Tagore Literary Festival - the cultural bonanza organized by the state government to mark the 150th birth anniversary of the poet.
The roadmap of the ambitious project has been prepared by the tourism department, which has drawn up several plans for the celebrations. Officials said invitations are being sent to many celebrity writers and personalities with international recognition, including those mentioned above.
Interestingly, Pamuk, in his novel The Museum of Innocence, mentions Tagore museum, which the narrator Kemal visits among 1,743 museums throughout the world before making one for his beloved, Fusun. "...And what a happy day I had walking through the labyrinth of rooms at the Tagore Museum, gazing at the author's watercolours, and recalling the dusty, musty scent of the first generation of Ataturk Museums, all the while listening to Calcutta's unending roar!" Pamuk writes in his book.
The Jaipur Literature Festival is now a major draw in country's cultural calendar where talks, debates, performances and interactive sessions are held at the heritage property, Diggi Palace. Pamuk was present at the festival this year. Now, with a literature festival planned for Kolkata, the state government is inviting the author, among others, to come down to the city.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is taking up major initiatives to mark Tagore's 150th birth anniversary and all the programmes are close to her heart.
"Kolkata has heritage buildings as well as great literary legacy. We are hoping to make the literary festival a major event in the country," state tourism secretary Raghavendra Singh said on Sunday. "We are finalising several locations where the literature festival will be held and inviting some of the most celebrated writers and performers". One of these sites will be the Rammohan Library auditorium, where Tagore was felicitated after winning the Nobel.
Apart from sessions on Tagore, there will be other discussions too. "It is a literature festival covering many genres and topics, including Tagore," Singh said.
In its fifth year, the Jaipur Literature festival has already hosted some of the most celebrated writers and personalities, including J M Coetzee, Salman Rushdie, Wole Soyinka, Vikram Seth, Roberto Calasso, Roddy Doyle, Kiran Desai, Pico Iyer, Hanif Kureishi, Vikram Chandra, Hari Kunzru, Girish Karnad, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Suketu Mehta, K. Satchidanandan, Geoff Dyer, Amit Chaudhuri, Fatima Bhutto, Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Shashi Tharoor, Christopher Hampton, Prasoon Joshi, Anoushka Shankar, Aamir Khan, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan and so on.
With the Jaipur festival raising the bar for such an event, a huge challenge lies ahead of the West Bengal government to make the Tagore Literary Festival a major draw as well. "It is a programme planned with a lot of dedication and ambition, and we are sure people will respond positively," an official said. "West Bengal has a long literary heritage and many writers, held in high esteem internationally, have Kolkata connections. Many writers and performers would be delighted if there is a literature festival in Kolkata," another official said. "The cultural scene in the city continues to be very vibrant, and will contribute to the festival's success."
Other programmes lined up to mark Tagore's 150th birth anniversary:
*Destination Santiniketan: To be launched early next year with special buses to Santiniketan; guides with brochures on the poet's books, paintings, and films on the poet to figure throughout the tour, along with improved wayside amenities.
*Improve two libraries closely associated with Tagore: Sri Chaitanya library and Raja Rammohan library. In the latter, Tagore was felicitated after receiving the Nobel. The auditorium in which he was felicitated is being renovated.
*A north Kolkata trail involving different buildings of the city, that would include two or three buildings associated with Tagore - Jorasanko Thakurbari, Sri Chaitanya and Rammohan libraries.
*A special Tagore trail in north Bengal and renovation of buildings associated with the poet in this part of the state: Sureil bungalow in Mongpu, Tagore museum that has many memorabilia, Gauripur house which is a private property and at Chitrabhanu.