Shaharyar, Gandhi and Hindi in world literature- highlights of second day of Patna Literature Festival

The second day of the Patna Literature Festival was a power-packed affair with literature, art, history, politics, media and cinema on the agenda. The day resonated with its characteristic intense energy. There was tremendous diversity in sessions, speakers, and themes, from the erudite to the effervescent. Patna Literature Festival started on Friday, February 1 with tributes to VS Naipaul and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The day started by reminiscing the life and works of Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan. During the opening session – ‘A Revolutionary’s Quest,’ Mrs Sujata Prasad talked about her forthcoming biography on Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan. She discussed about the life and thoughts of Jaiprakash Narayan and said that he was a big advocate of the right to dissent. She also talked about the similarity between the philosophies of Mahatma Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan.

Speaking during the session – Gandhi’s Ideologies in retrospect Rajay Sabha Deputy Speaker Harivansh said that we don’t have any other way except the way suggested by Gandhi Ji. He further added that after the globalisation profit is the most important thing we are looking for. “I believe in Gandhi's ideology because his idea seems to be the only solution of all kind of problems we are facing today or will face tomorrow”, he said. He discussed the last book of Stephen Hawking and related his views on world problems with Gandhi's thoughts.

During the second session- ‘Eternal Glory and Glamour of Bollywood Star’, the panelists discussed about Bollywood and how fans remember their favorite stars. This session was moderated by National award winner film critic Vinod Anupam. Maithili Rao, famous film critic said that the current breed of actors is different from the earlier actors. Currently actors establish themselves first in popular films then they start working in parallel films but it was different earlier, lot of actors during that time started their career from parallel cinema.

Moderating the session on ‘Hindi in world literature’ author Anant Vijay said that Hindi literature is nowhere at world stage and we still have not won any Nobel Prize in Hindi literature. Eminent author Narendra Kohli, Suresh Rituparn and Sundeep Bhutoria took part in the discussion.

In another session- Electronic Media: reducing the space and scope of Print Media, panelists discussed about the possible threat to print media from electronic media. Speaking during the session Journalist Manoj Jha said that there is no threat to print media from electronic media and its space is not shrinking. Peoples’ love for newspaper has not diminished yet, he added. He further said that newspapers are experimenting with lot of things so that the readers could get news things and remain connected with it. Another journalist Namrata Joshi said that actually the circulation of newspaper has increased by 20% in the recent 5 years. However, she added that digital and social media are posing challenge to both print and electronic media.

Works of famous writer and poet, Shaharayar were discussed during the session ‘Shaharyar from progressive to modern’. During the session, his contemporaries remembered him and recalled some of his works and recited his poems.

As a part of the cultural evening, Himanshu Bajpai presented Dastangoi which was a new experience for the people of the capital and they enjoyed it thoroughly. Dastangoi refers to the art of storytelling. It is a compound of two Persian words, dastan and goi which means to tell a story.