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Deepika Gurdev recounts her experiences at the readers’ and writers' festival in Ubud, Indonesia
As far as festivals go, you can’t get any better than this. I had an accidental meeting with Janet de Neefe at a media conference for the Singapore Writers Festival around July 2005. I was one of those noisy journos, asking tons of questions: why can’t we have an equivalent of a FLIP—the celebrated Brazilian Literary Festival on Southeast Asian shores? How many big book launches? How many Indian authors? And you get the drift. Ignorant me didn’t know that sitting in our midst was someone who had created just that in Ubud in 2004. I’d hear more of that when Janet got one of the Singapore Writers Festival coordinators to introduce her to me. Janet casually started the conversation with "Oh, I run this small writers festival in Ubud" (speak of understatement!), then she told me about her fascinating book, Fragrant Rice, then the restaurants and other businesses she runs together with her husband Ketut, then the four children. She invited me to chair two sessions at the Ubud—In Conversation with Booker Prize-winning Michael Ondaatje and Passages From India with Amitav Ghosh, Randhir Khare and Chetan Bhagat. I’d already said yes to Passages when the second session cropped up. I distinctly remember Janet’s email: "Since you will be in Ubud, would you mind moderating another session with Michael Ondaatje. If you are ok with it, I’ll pencil in your name." I love her words, just as I love the way she has created the festival as a perfect bridge between worlds. Would I mind? Michael Ondaatje? Of English Patient fame? Hell, no I’d give my life for it. It was my second time in Bali, but the first in Ubud. The fascinating rice fields, mountains and of course the Honeymoon Guest House took my breath away. But nothing, I repeat nothing had prepared me for the perfect backdrop at Indus, which was the setting for many of the sessions. I’d met Michael at the Palace Opening and the "aha" moment, as it’s often called, was finally here. The weeks of snuggling up to Billy the Kid’, Anil’s Ghost, The English Patient, Coming Through Slaughter, not counting the hours spent on the Net were about to be tested. This was It! The venue was packed. There was very little standing room even, I noticed. The moment was now. And I began by talking of terror attacks and my belief that the way to fight terror was not to be terrorised by it. There are guests and then there are guests. But I couldn’t have hoped for a subject better than the engaging Michael Ondaatje. He put me at ease from the word go and that sure helped. He was amazingly grounded despite all the awards and a lifetime of stunning work. He was warm, personable and humorous throughout the session. An excerpt, he read from Running in the Family had the audience in splits, a side of him which also came to the fore during the lunch session with none other than the celebrated Nury Vittachi. Passages Through India took us on an interesting journey through Indian writing in English and more. Amitav Ghosh read from his latest book The Hungry Tide and the sheer magnificence of his writing and the research that goes into creating his work came to the fore. It was a similar journey through Gujarat through Randhir Khare’s work. While my sessions were over, the day had well and truly begun. The night saw the famous love debate Who Writes Better Love Scenes: Men or Women. It was a three-man team led by Nury versus a two-woman team, comprising Australian author and former senator Irina Dunn and yours truly. But when you’ve got someone like Irina on your side, the debate can be considered yours even before it begins. Her extremely well-researched arguments saw the men defecting to our side with Irina walk away with the well-deserved trophy. On my second day at Ubud, I decided to play observer with my videocam in tow. There was Amitav in conversation with Indian diplomat and author T.S. Tirumurti then the poetry session, Linda Spalding’s session, the big literary lunch and at night the poetry slam beckoned. In the middle of it all, I managed to shoot a couple of authors and Janet herself and get their thoughts on this festival that was fulfilling a far deeper purpose than just reading and writing. A special session on terrorism addressed all the troubling issues of our time. But as the writers and readers clearly demonstrated, the way to fight terror was not to be terrorised by it. In fact, some of the readers I spoke to had got on to the next flight to attend the festival after they heard Janet’s interviews. That’s the spirit that promises to make the festival at Ubud immensely exciting in the years to come. And those who didn’t make it this round—all I can say is you have no idea what you just missed. |
