The inaugural session of the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) began with iconic poet Gulzar paying an ode to the patchwork of languages that make the quilt called ‘India’. As the event kicked off, the digital session did feel bereft of the sights and sounds we have become used to in the physical format. 

The sanitised phone screen cannot replace the crowded familiarity of Hyderabad Public School or Vidyaranya School grounds, but Gulzar’s poetry and elocution almost make up for the missing elements. 

Even the poet lamented the change of medium by saying how his previous visits to the city were incomplete without a trip to Charminar or Laad Bazaar and eating a plateful of the venerated biryani. However, as is the nature of poets, he managed to bring a flicker of hope amid these seemingly bleak times. Stating that the digital format can be used to achieve what we could not do in the physical one, he said: “Over the years, I have tried to work out one literature festival that will have poets, writers and creative artists from all corners of the country. I want every poet here to listen to her counterparts in every language this vast land has to offer. The idea never bore fruit till now, but I think it is possible to organise this virtually.” 

The inaugural session was followed by a one-to-one discussion between the poet and T Vijay Kumar, who is one among the festival’s directors. It centred around Gulzar’s latest book, ‘A Poem A Day’. In this ambitious book, the poet has collected and translated the poems of regional poets from Arunachal Pradesh to Tamil Nadu.

The collection has 365 contemporary poems translated from 34 languages. Talking about the rich language diversity in the country, the lyricist said: “It is wrong to call local languages in India regional languages. They are, in fact, all national languages which are spoken in different regions.” 

The session was punctuated by poets reading their poems in vernacular languages, followed by their English and Hindustani translations. The Hindustani translations were done and read out by Gulzar. From Telangana, Telugu poet Afsar Mohammed recited a poem.

Answering to a question on why he prefers to call the language Hindustani and not Hindi,  the film director replied, “Hindi is spoken differently in different parts of India. The same holds true for other languages, too. The Marathi you hear in the remote parts of Maharashtra is different from the one in Mumbai.” 

?The festival directors — Ajay Gandhi, Amita Desai and Kinnera Murthy — spoke about the difficulties they faced in shifting the event online. However, they expressed their happiness at achieving the feat of putting all the elements of the physical event online. The sessions are available on YouTube and one can find the schedule at www.hydlitfest.org.

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