Partnered Events Archives - Page 6 of 16

Tales from Rajasthan

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

How many times do we see characters from the tribal community of the far flung areas of India, particularly in English mainstream publishing? Well, breaking the notion, HarperCollins have published two novella called Bhaunri and Daura written by Anukrti Upadhyay.

In her conversation with Udayan Mitra, a literary publisher at HarperCollins Publishers India, Anukrti who is a lawyer turned writer, talked about her process of writing the two novellas set in rural Rajasthan. Reading Daura reminded Udayan of the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, which is a story of village through the journal of a district collector who starts getting deeply involved in the lives of rural people.

Both stories revolve around the theme of love. Bhaunri, a girl from the blacksmith tribe of rural rajasthan is married at a very young age and when she goes to stay with her husband as a young adult, she experiences an inclination towards another man. As Anukrti read an excerpt from the book Bhaunri, one could easily immerse in the narrative and detailing of the characters so profound. Udayan exclaims that her stories are redolent of sight, smell, and feel of Rajasthan.

Anukrti said that being born and brought up in Jaipur, nomads were a frequent sight and though she didn’t live in the desert, it always fascinated her, which were the inspiration behind the books.

When asked why she writes both in English and Hindi she admits that even though she is fluent in both, it is to compensate the inadequacy she falls in when writing in one of the languages. She further explained that there are certain expressions and words that are best expressed in a particular language and translation cannot do justice though she tries her best to keep the soul and rhythm intact if at all a translation is required.

The book that Anukrti has written in Hindi is a collection of short stories called Japani Sarai. For her love of the culture and aesthetics of Japan, Anukrti also talked about her upcoming book Kinsuki which has a cultural mix of both Rajasthan and Japan. For her, places are as important as characters in the story.

The session ended with a question about her past life where she was a lawyer working in global investment companies – what lead her to shift towards writing? She answered that she had been writing ever since a child and is addicted to it, though she shifted from poetry writing to prose when it came to formal publishing. It was just a gradual shift from writing a journal for herself to writing for everyone but writing had always been her love.

About the Author: Bhumika Soni is a literature enthusiast working in the field of data analytics, I have always found words more charming and powerful than numbers. Still searching for The Enchanted Tree created by Enid Blyton to travel to various magical worlds. She currently writes for TheSeer.

Discovering Bengaluru

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

The cool climes in the Red Couch at 10:30am adds to the authenticity of the topic of discussions. What else do we really know about Bengaluru apart from its pleasant climates that has been an abiding attraction for years? Meera Iyer, through her book “Discovering Bengaluru”, wishes to convey the idea that a city cannot merely be understood by words printed on pages, but by experiencing the city itself.

When Harini asked Meera why she chose to write a book on Bangalore, considering there’s an ocean covering this topic, her response was to make her book not too academic yet authentic and accessible. ‘Visual thinking’ is a trait she acquired from her work with architects for nearly twelve years. Meera said that she embodies this trait through her work by enthralling the readers with the scenic pictures of lakes and gardens that imbue the beauty of the city to the native parts like Frazer Town and Lalbagh.

“What is there in Bangalore?” is a question we often ask ourselves. The misconception that heritage pertains to just the buildings, but not in the natural components drifts us further away from understanding the land we live in. Meera spoke fondly of how she has rooted herself to the city by recognizing the affiliation between history, ecology, and heritage. She said that in the grand scheme of things, one notices the essentiality of all these components; the connectedness and how the tangible and intangible heritage shape one another.

Heritage walks held by INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) make an individual cognizant about the land they live in. Heritage does not just add to the character of the city but also the quality of living in the city.

“Post these walks, we’ve had people call back and tell us about a heritage building being damaged or demolished. Because now they know something and understand it. When you understand it you learn to appreciate it.”, were Meera’s words.

Meera then touched upon the factors that keeps the heritage of a city alive. Firstly, the memories and familiarity of the old buildings is what retains the uniqueness of a city. She said that unfortunately not many recognise this fact. Secondly, the indifference by government officials contributes to losing the identity of the city. She pointed out the importance of the government’s involvement in raising funds for heritage owners in order to indigenously preserve them.

The session concluded with Meera leaving us with a question to ponder upon “Why do the government-supported heritage spots close down when there is already a dire need for public spaces in this city? When would we be able to lend these places for people to congregate?”

About the Author: Deepti Anbarasu is a final year college student who’s always looking out for new opportunities which enrich her experiences. When she isn’t reading or painting, she’s probably singing, watching Game of Thrones and is overwhelmed by the physics of the cosmos. She currently writes for TheSeer.

The Untold Flipkart Story

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer TeamLeave a comment

The untold Flipkart story: Mihir Dalal with Pankaj Mishra

Business journalist Mihir Dalal, when asked why he did he choose to write about Flipkart, said, he had been writing on startups and internet companies since 2014. Flipkart has been the main subject of his coverage. It was also by far India’s biggest internet startup. He found the story very compelling. Without Flipkart, it would have been difficult to say if the startup scene in Bangalore and India would have been so big.

In 2014, its valuation was more than all the other startups put together. That’s how big it was. So, in every way, Flipkart deserved a book, Mihir added.

Mihir disclosed how Bansals were not friends initially but came together for a great idea and vision. He also mentioned how for Sachin’s marriage Binny couldn’t make it because he was occupied with a mountain of work and someone had to carry on the work at Flipkart. He also added how the Sachin took revenge by not attending Binny’s marriage and the crowd had a good laugh.

Mihir also talked about how it was extremely difficult for Flipkart initially to hire because people were not that willing to work for startups in those days. He also went on to talk about how Flipkart made it cool to work for startups and gave something for Indian entrepreneurs to look up to.

Mihir also touched upon the work culture at Flipkart and how people working for it took pride in themselves and their work, sharing an interesting incident when one of the initial members from Flipkart visited the flat where they had started from and when he asked the guard was that the place where the Flipkart started from to which the guard replied, “Of course it is the place” signifying how proud the people were for Flipkart.

While wrapping up his session he mentioned that although Flipkart could not achieve its vision of becoming a 100 Billion company, it gave the Indian startup ecosystem the spark it needed and also how its founders always encouraged the entrepreneurial spirit among employees, resulting in many new amazing startups being founded.

About the Author: An avid reader and traveller, Prashant likes to write and often expresses his opinions ranging from entrepreneurship to travel on his blog www.stonedsaint.com. He writes scripts for Edtech companies and also happens to be a marketing geek while struggling to clear his engineering backlogs. He currently writes for TheSeer.

India 2047 – Many India’s possible

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer TeamLeave a comment

A candid conversation of Ian McDonald, an award-winning Science Fiction author with Gautham Shenoy.

Getting straight into it, Gautham asked Ian about his book ‘River of Gods’ released in 2004 which talks about India in the year 2047, a century after its independence from Britain. He wanted to understand, now that we are approaching 2020, what did Ian think he had gotten right in his book. Ian responded by saying that people were not doing enough about climate change and they were still thinking that it’s a cause for the future whereas it is happening now. He spoke passionately about how India with the abundance of sunshine that it receives could become a fully solar-powered country in another 20 years if it took the cause up seriously. Ian further added that the state of a nation is always temporary. He felt that India is going through major technological changes and that the Western cliché of India being a call-centre hub was untrue on various levels.

Gautham then asked about the mention of the 3rd, 4th and even 5th gender or something called the neutral gender in Ian’s books. Ian said that he believed that writing science fiction was about taking something, any idea, and pushing it to its absolute limit. And that’s what he did in his exploration of gender in his book by creating something called the neutral gender. He said he wanted to explore what Indians call the Hijra community and find out about their lives and build on that further.

The discussion then proceeded towards what the future for India would look like if there is at all a definition of a single future or are there multiple futures possible. Interestingly, Ian was of the view that following various different threads would lead to a different version of the future. He added that we could have a dystopian or even a utopian world and that the way things are changing rapidly we could even be looking at an ecological collapse.

The discussion then shifted to talk about social media, personal data and how the government was watching us and to what extent. Ian remarked- “It is like Big Brother meets Big Data”. He said that what we are looking at is a technocratic India and we best consider ourselves lucky that we don’t have to deal with social credits like China, at least not yet.

Bringing the discussion to a conclusion Ian spoke about how we should support our local Science-Fiction writers. He added that while it is our choice whether to believe in a dystopian world or a utopian one we best be prepared because the state of our nation and the world at large is constantly changing. He reiterated his concerns about climate change before signing off thus bringing the discussion of Science and Fiction to an interesting closure.

About the Author: Pashmi Dutta is a reader, writer, political enthusiast. Trying to talk with ease about things that make us uneasy, she has her blog at PashmiBlog and currently writes for TheSeer.

Fried Rice and Fellowship – Days Of My China Dragon

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

First session of day 2 of BLF 2019 and one would have thought it would be a dampener given the heavy outpour of previous night. But that is not namma Bengaluru!

This delightful conversation started right on time.

The session was a conversation on the power of food to nourish and console. It had Chandrahas Choudhury, the author of three works of fiction, Clouds, Arzee and Days of my China Dragon and Rupesh Pai, a Mumbai based entrepreneur who managed his father’s Udupi restaurant back in 1992 and made it into the Chinese restaurant.

Chandrahas and Rupesh unfolded their journey together dating back to a decade in Mumbai. Chandrahas first met Rupesh when he moved to Mumbai in a rundown apartment in Prabhadevi. On a rainy night he went to Rupesh’s restaurant and there was no looking back since then.

Chandrahas has been a self-employed writer throughout. He got sucked into the multifaceted world of dragons through Rupesh’s restaurant ‘China Dragon”. This is where he realized that economics was not the measure of life. He very beautifully compared the writing of fiction to running a restaurant. Both have to understand people and make people happy in the short time they enter your world.

Rupesh added that to know every customers taste was very important and they ensured that they treated each customer personally.

Chandrahas reminisced how he missed the unlimited access in afterhours to the restaurant. The book is a representation of the afterhours of people who work in a restaurant. How the restaurant employees never ate the same Chinese food that they served. The restaurant represented a little India to him. A school of character where waiters would analyse customers and human nature.

Chandrahas added that he had really grown to enjoy Mumbai seeing tough people hardened by life’s journey. How it brought joy to people being called ‘sir’ and be served by a waiter. Difference between business and hospitality is not just to serve but make the time warm. People will come in certain mood and leave in another. Customers would confess their worries. A restaurant is not just a pace to get food but a cross between a theatre and a therapy centre.

Rupesh engaged the audience with his journey in the restaurant business. How he started it when he was 11 years old. The age gap between his father and himself was forty-five years but he learnt everything from cooking and serving from his father In 1992 when he joined his father’s restaurant business was also the time of Hindu Muslim riots. How the Mumbai blast did not affect the daily operations. Mumbai is a city that never sleeps. He quoted some phrases in Mumbai accent which got many in the audiences relate to Mumbai. (“Uska dil jeetna hai toh uske pet mei ghuso”. Aaisa khilao jaisa uski biwi ne bhi nahi khilaya”).

Rupseh also spoke about the discipline that his father had and how he was charged rent to run his own restaurant that taught him a lot about running businesses. He spoke about the tough time he had to convince his father when grilled sandwiches were making way in Udupi restaurants.

Chadrahas’s book “My days of China Dragon” depicts many invisible characters drawn from the real life of Rupesh’s actual restaurant.They spoke about the shared life from which the book has emerged.

Chandrahas then had the audience quiet and attentive when he read a passage from the book about a character Pintu from Kolhapur – “portrait of a waiter from a young man”. It was heartening to know about Pintu’s journey and struggles. “Nothing like a restaurant to test a man’s character and nothing like a man’s character to test a restaurant” line struck a chord. Pintu was described as eager, sweet, nervous and out of place in Mumbai. Pintu thought only the rich wore a second layer of clothes. He did not understand the Chinese dishes as he came from the simple daal-bhaat family. Some very catchy lines to describe Pintu’s journey in Mumbai like “Long twisting noodle like road of life” left the audience with a warm relatable smile.

Chandrahas also confessed that he loved philosophizing some of the stories. He feels that the restaurant was the greatest university in life with no fees but so much learning.

There was a friendly banter between Rupesh and Chandrahas that was refreshing. Rupesh fondly remembered his times in the restaurant and his role to ensure all his waiters felt comfortable and at home. (He used phrases like “aye pintu kidher jaa raha hai re? mai hai na”.) The camaraderie with waiters and customers was narrated too.

Chandrahas and Rupesh had similar thoughts on how Swiggy or Zomato deliveries can never replace a small restaurant experience. Parcelling food loses its taste and the personal touch of being served. Plastic also has a chemical reaction that spoils the taste of food. The restaurants are to stay for a long time to come. On this note this very endearing conversation ended leaving the audience with a very encapsulating feeling and leaving them hungry for more!

About The Author

Neha Agrawal is an expressive-impulsive woman with the halo of positivism and energy, a smile that emanates from the heart and wants to reach out to the world. She loves books, children, rawness, originality, and nature – not in any particular order. A budding poet and a writer under the handle #fursatkealfaaz on instagram. She currently writes for TheSeer.

Keshava – A Magnificent Obsession

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

Bhavana Somaaya has been writing for cinema for more than forty years. She has not only worked as a film critic but published several books, worked on radio, and has no limit to her explorations. In her sixties now, she has started learning Bharatanatyam since past two years. “Keshava”, is her book on lord Krishna and his relationship with several elements of nature. Bhavana has written yet another book on lord Krishna and she finds him to be her inspiration to seek serenity and joy in life. “Anyone who comes in contact with Krishna is consumed by him,” said Bhavana. She said that Krishna is an alluring deity and adores the overall charisma he has.

Bhavana said that lord Krishna has the power to make everyone feel special; when a person comes in a relationship with him, one feels that lord gives all His attention and makes one feel important. Further in the session, she narrated how Keshava was not the original idea of a book or rather not just one single book, in fact it is a compilation of several small sections. She initially wrote “Tulsi”, her book which she struggled to publish as it was short of the required word limit. After a few years, she added the aspect as to how Tulsi is related to lord Krishna. While working on the book it thrilled her and she transformed it into an elaborated idea which dealt with Krishna’s relation with the natural elements of the world. That is how the book ‘Keshava’ came into existence with Tulsi as a part of it.

Bhavana spoke about how she considers evolution and absorption to be the mantra of her life. This, to her, is Krishna’s most prominent characteristics. Applying the same, she revealed that she got the inspiration to write the book from a Gujarati text on Krishna that she had wished to translate. But she faced many difficulties because she did not know the script. She learned several languages to complete her research and her book.

She told the audience that she has used very lucid language in this book which is different from all the other books that she has written so far. Despite the construction of this book being quite mechanical, yet it does not bind the reader to go by a chronological order. Each chapter serves as a different segment and establishes individual relation of the elements with Krishna. She calls it a book of devotion, belief, and prayer.

Bhavana left the audience wanting for more with her endnote informing about two more upcoming book launches.

About the Author: Aditi Dua is a Masters student in English with Communication Studies who has a knack for aesthetics and poetry. Apart from being a literature enthusiast, she highly celebrates challenging ideologies and provide disputing ideas of death. Always available for a conversation over good coffee. She currently writes for TheSeer

Telling Stories, Erasing them

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

What happens when you put a fiction writer in conversation with a poet and if both of them are very good old friends? You experience a very fulfilling, light and informative Sunday morning conversation.

Arundhathi Subramanian, an award-winning author of twelve renowned books and Jerry Pinto, an equally renowned writer and a journalist, got into a conversation about their works and inspirations.

It was an informal session that commenced with Arundhathi asking intriguing questions to Jerry and Jerry responding with very insightful answers.

Arundhathi expressed that her early impressions of Jerry were that of an irrepressible storyteller. Jerry would throw a cheerful malice and had a sheer delight of spinning a yarn. She specifically asked him about his book “EM and the Big Hoom”. What took the book so long? Jerry explained that he wanted to be sure and ready before launching something so close to his heart. He expressed that if he hurried into writing a book he might be turning his family into caricatures and that was not his intent. He wanted to convey the love of the family for each other and how it is not always an easy path to tread. But nonetheless, one has to embrace the thorny painful journey. Finding the tone for the book was the biggest challenge for Jerry.

Jerry then openly expressed that he felt like he was being naked while telling his story and how his old persona was catching up with him. He confessed that sometimes a writer strives to be witty in their writing, so that the audience accepts and focuses on it more than the content. He expressed how he has realized the importance of going bare and raw in his writing.

Arundhathi then brought up an important aspect about how one handles and negotiates family’s sensibilities while writing a personal story. Jerry agreed that he cares about it and no book is worth hurting a person you love. But an interesting question to ask would be if you make yourself a part of that family? Do you respect your own feelings and hurting them in the process? There is no sure shot formula of predicting the outcome of sharing a story of your pain. He said that he wishes well to all the writers who want to write about their stories and encourages them to go ahead.

When asked if Jerry is different today and if the impulse to tell stories has changed over time, Jerry said that there is a difference impetus today. The urgency is much less. He thinks it is very useful for a writer to be silent and listen to other people’s story and record them. He learnt a lot about being an empathetic listener. To carve out a space where words and stories are important. To be heard is to be loved. It was endearing to hear this view of his experiences. Jerry said that he loves to relentlessly slide to his old self, the unfilled unnourished self when he is amidst his close people.

Jerry also said that he believes there is a moral responsibility to tell stories. One has to care about the past to weave it into a story. He feels that his stories are driven by the need to be an ambassador who could be behind a teddy bear, a dancing superstar or a Dalit character in a story. Infinitesimally one has to bring the shift.

After this refreshing take on stories, the conversation shifted to Arundhati.

Jerry introduced Arundhati, knowing her long enough, as a very fine cultural journalist having done very fine pieces on dance and theatre. Arundhathi has to her credit some magnificent prose books like “The Book of Buddha” and “Sadguru, More than a life”. Jerry also strongly recommended her book “Eating God”, a wonderful reminder of what Hinduism can be.

When asked her reason to choose poetry as a central mode of expression, Arundhathi did not give any particular one. She admitted that her poetry rather sells modestly. On a lighter note, she also quoted that researchers claim that poets die sooner than writers. As a child there was an impulse to tell stories. An excitement about theatre and enacting stories – the performative element. Poetry seemed like a place where one could have a vertical engagement with oneself. That verticality of going deep but also reaching heights is the excitement of poetry. How vitally poetry and dance are connected. The capacity of language in poetry to leap from one place to another. She expressed beautifully that a pause on a page of poetry really means something. She wanted to come out of those blank spaces and poetry was her medium. Poetry came with much less anxiousness and much perforated to Arundhati over the years.

She said that her aspiration in life is to attain poise without tension. The conversation ended with a mesmerising narration from Arundhathi’s poetry book “Love without a story”, dedicated to Avviayar, the legendary Tamil poet.

About The Author: Neha Agrawal is an expressive-impulsive woman with the halo of positivism and energy, a smile that emanates from the heart and wants to reach out to the world. She loves books, children, rawness, originality, and nature – not in any particular order. A budding poet and a writer under the handle #fursatkealfaaz on instagram. She currently writes for TheSeer.

Lessons in Leadership and Love from India’s Sex Workers

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

“Don’t step on people who are having sex”. The session, which had Ashok Alexander in conversation with Vijayendra Rao, started with the former quoting this line from his book ‘A Stranger Truth. This was in answer to the moderator, Vijayendra Rao’s question about the former’s experience visiting sex workers. This session was an interesting exchange between lead economist of the world bank, Vijayendra and the former Mckinsey member, Ashok Alexander.

Ashok started with a heart touching video clip portraying the work of his NGO, “Antara Foundation”. He related how this journey was set in motion because of his love of adventure. He also said how in this journey he had to unlearn Mckinsey’s way of providing solutions and seek answers from the marginalized community himself.

The former businessman was inspired by the power of people at the bottom of the pyramid, especially women, who could solve the most complex problems society faces. Vijayendra gave an insight to Avahan, an initiative funded by the Gates Foundation that aimed to stop HIV in its tracks in the early 2000s. Ashok credited the stigmatized community of sex workers for the victory of Avahan, a revolution led by women across 600 towns of India.

Ashok put out the ultimate message of his book through the words of Dr.Sushena,

“It was very simple. Trust and compassion spread like wildfire. They scale up very easily”

He further explained the role of compassion in his life through a meditative process he practiced. It involved closing eyes and visualizing closed ones when we witness someone beaten down by society. Ashok felt this fills him with empathy and compassion.

He shed light into the state of sex workers in India, stating that 6-7% of sex workers are found in brothels and the rest of them work on streets. He expressed the difficulty of finding these women and helping them.

Another crucial topic that his book dealt with was the practice of unsafe sex, which he found was the root cause of violence towards sex workers. As he said, every sexual transaction was almost always an incidence of violence which is correlated to STI prevalence. He gave an example of a woman who asked her client to put on a condom and was brutally abused as a result of that.

To conclude, the session was informative and educative.

About The Author

Ayesha is a student pursuing Media Studies, Psychology, and English. She is an appreciator of new things, places and people. She believes good food and a trip to a beach can heal the soul. Her personal blog covers themes such as mental health and travelling. She currently writes for TheSeer. Instagram handle – gudiyaaa_

Typeset, Ready, Go!

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

The afternoon session commenced at the Tughlaq stage with Ravinder Singh, an Indian author and a software engineer. Ravinder is a best-selling writer in romantic genre from the state Odisha, with eight successful novels to his name and a publishing house named ‘Black Ink’, which promotes aspiring writers.

He headed the panel discussion that included Teesta Guha Sarkar, a senior commissioning editor at ‘Pan MacMillan India’. The other two panellists were Himanjali Sarkar, currently an editor with ‘Bloomsbury India’ and Udayan Mitra, a publisher at ‘Penguin group of India’.

Ravinder was excited to be on the other side of the table, asking questions rather than answering. He started the discourse with the statement, “Art of publishing is like a black box”. For the readers, it is all about the end product, the book or the novel, but there is a lot happening behind the curtains. The discussion was engaging with two contemporary Bengali people on either ends of the panel contradicting on various aspects of writing. Himanjali claimed that while currently in India the number of readers are at peak, but judging by extreme population, there is still a room for enhancement. Udayan enlightened the listeners about the print run scenario in India which has grown over the years from 1,000 to 3,000.

Teesta advocated the fact that works of literature may be of high merit to some publishers and of none to some others. The panelists discussed and dwelled upon the aspect of good writing and what actually defines a good write-up. There were a lot of viewpoints about the importance of language and literature in publishing. There were also talks, arguments, and suggestive measures for debut author and aspiring literati.

The author function was well elaborated and guidelines were provided to experiment with different genres and fusing various aspects of literature. An extensive argument was established in favour of Indian authors who have been attempting different genres. Some genres have been totally untouched like the horror and the gothic fiction. The panel also discussed the rise and fall of e-reading. Himanjali touched upon the physical literature aspect. Ravinder spoke about the dynamics of audio-visual format of literature which is now enjoying a fair share of appreciation from the Indian audience.

Towards the end, the panelists also portrayed their significant worry towards the peculiar aspect of readers who tend to love western crime stories but are disinterested in reading Indian versions of crime coverage. They closed by drawing parallels to visual media in India which adores crime stories like “Mirzapur” and “Sacred Games”. They defined the guidelines for a good novel for debutants and had a hearty discussion on the questions put forward by the audience.

About the Author: Abhinav Kumar is an MA in English with Communication Studies student from CHRIST ( Deemed To Be University), Bengaluru who believes in “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world”. He is interested in sports journalism and travelogue writing. He currently writes for TheSeer.

The Making Of Islamic Womanhood

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

The session had Hem Borker in conversation with Abdullah Khan. Hem Borker, a PhD scholar from Oxford University published her first book, “The Making Of Islamic Womanhood” in 2018. The book is a reflection of her deep interest in studying the condition and grooming of Isamic women and girls in India. It also captures the complexities of Muslim identity, gender and madrasa education system, its structures and how it has evolved over a period of time. She also records the shift from traditional to modern system of the madrasa education for girls.

The session started with Hem establishing what a madrasa is, then went on to to delve further into the issues of gender. She discussed how the institution of madrasa not only focuses on subjects like other schools, but also offers an orientation to the culture and religion of Islam. Madrasa, she said, provides a holistic understanding of religion and culture, which would enable the students to be well acquainted with their own religion and culture.

Borker said that madrasa teaches woman students what it is to be a muslim woman in the Indian society and the appropriate ways to act. She made it very clear that this practice should not be seen as rigid, rather as an intellectual move.

The session also saw Borker exploring certain practices that she does not approve of. One such is the routine set for young girls, who are required to wake up quite early in the morning to revise their Quran lessons and offer prayers.

To conclude, the session emphasized the contribution of madrasa in establishing the personality and image of islamic woman. The takeaway was that any islamic family who are hesitant to send their daughters to co education schools can rely on madrasa as it provides education as well as acquaints students with Islamic culture.

About The Author: Aditi Dua is a Masters student in English with Communication Studies who has a knack for aesthetics and poetry. Apart from being a literature enthusiast, she highly celebrates challenging ideologies and provide disputing ideas of death. Always available for a conversation over good coffee. She currently writes for TheSeer

Trends and Technologies Shaping our Tomorrows

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer TeamLeave a comment

Ian MacDonald, a British science-fiction novelist who won BSFA award for his book River of Gods which is set in mid 21st century India, was talking about Trends and technologies shaping our tomorrow.

Ian’s book themes include nanotechnology, post-cyberpunk settings, and the impact of rapid social and technological change on non-Western societies, and the topic of the session could not be apter.

When asked by the moderator Yudhanjaya Wijeratne is manipulation of the general public through social media dystopia coming true, he replied by saying “yes it is”, and went on to mention that how scary it was that seventy-five per cent of people in the UK were using Facebook to consume news. He also suggested some measures to contain the negative effects of social media. He said that shutting down Facebook or any other social media giant was not a solution but they need to accommodate changes to minimize the negative effects of the social media platforms.

When the moderator asked about his thoughts on urbanization, he said whenever there is development there are bound to be adverse effects along with the opportunities but there need to be proper planning and execution and people responsible need to be held accountable. He mentioned how cars were one of the worst effect drivers of urbanization.

While talking about the development he suggested that authorities should involve local communities in the process and also mentioned how in Afghanistan a local community built their own WiFi network.

The discussion then went to artificial intelligence and automation and how it is going to affect the jobs. He also mentioned that unlike other inventions it is going to affect both the white-collar as well as blue-collar jobs.

The 6th String of Vilayat Khan

November 10, 2019November 14, 2019 TheSeer Team

As the second day of the 8th edition of the Bangalore Literature Festival dawned, exactly at 10.45, the visitors sitting by the Tughlaq stage were treated to the melodious sitar tones as the renowned author and journalist Namita Devidayal took over the stage to talk about her book – The Sixth String of Vilayat Khan. She was accompanied by Nandita Bose, well-known for her works like- If Walls Could Weep, Dewed, etc.

Namita opened the session with a brief reading of an account from her book where she paints a picture of the life of Ustad Vilayat Khan- the iconic sitarist better known as the trendsetting sitarist. She read out the opening account of her book which revolves around a music concert in Delhi in 1952 where Ustad Vilayat Khan happened to rub shoulders with Pandit Ravi Shankar. She quoted that Ustad Hafiz Ali, who was also present in the audience had exclaimed “Maar Daala” (means “he killed”) , rightly explaining what a fine instrumentalist Ustad Vilayat Khan was.

Namita further discussed how the project came to her. It basically started with Vilayat Khan’s younger son, Hidayat who approached her to take up this work. It was also pointed out how elaborately people knew about Pandit Ravi Shankar but the least about this iconic sitarist, Vilayat Khan.

Namita told the audience that she considered Khan as a complete rock star! Ustad Vilayat Khan was of the view that subtlety in music was of prime importance. Thus, she was completely smitten and took up writing about this man. Nandita added that throughout the book Vilayat Khan “is being looked at with so much love”.

Namita’s decision to write this book was also triggered by the painful life of Vilayat Khan. “Every tear of pain in my life, I have turned into a note.”, Vilayat Khan had said. Khan who liked sticking to learning with singers rather than sitar players tried to bring in the nuances of human voice to his sitar tunes, provided Namita. The most notable fact was that Khan transformed the conventional sitar to the modern day 6 strings sitar.

On being asked by Nandita to draw a comparison between Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Vilayat Khan who were contemporaries as well as frenemies, Namita said, “It is gruesome to compare artists”. However, she did point out that while Pandit Ravi Shankar liked to experiment internationally with his music, Ustad Vilayat Khan experimented and created contemporary sound without fusion.

The session concluded with another round of reading of an account by Namita from her book, with sitar tunes at the backdrop which lyrically summarised the book and expressed how Ustad Vilayat Khan was true to his certainties and always wanted to stick to what he believed in.

About the Author: Upasana Mahanta is an MA in English with Communication Studies student from CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) – Bengaluru, who firmly believes that there is nothing more exhilarating and liberating as poetry. She finds solace in writing poems and travel blogs and has amongst her laurels a 1st Prize in the English category of the All India Poetess Conference, Meghalaya Chapter’s Seventh Poetry Competition cum North East Poetry Festival. She currently writes for TheSeer.