Delhi Gymkhana, one of the oldest clubs in the country, is set to host its first literature festival with celebrated names like Naseeruddin Shah, Valmik Thapar, Sharmila Tagore, Taslima Nasrin, Vikas Swarup and Nandita Das scheduled to attend the event.
The three-day 'Literature and Ideas Festival' by Delhi Gymkhana Club (DGC) that begins from February 12 marks the first ever event at the over century-old sporting club to be thrown open to non-members with prior registration.
"The festival will offer something hot, something spicy and something bold," Urmila Gupta, Director, DGC Festival, said here today.
The literary event is set to be inaugurated by renowned scholar and Congress MP Karan Singh followed by a panel discussion on 'Role of Civil Society: Change from above or below' with panelists consisting Pavan Varma, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Suhel Seth and Dipankar Gupta.
The closing day will feature a debate on media and intolerance in which Salman Khurshid, Ashok Malik and other noted media personalties are likely to take part.
"I would like to call the opening and closing events as two bookends of a library shelf that encompass the other literary events during the three days," said Gupta, a former Indian Information Service officer who had headed the India International Film Festival and later served Doordarshan as its Deputy Director General.
The literary event will have readings from Ranjit Lal, a special session on 'Kashmir' between A S Dulat and Farooq Abdullah, a session on environment featuring Jairam Ramesh and Sunita Narain and another on women and society with Taslima Nasrin, Nadita Das, Vandana Shah who will be in conversation with feminist publisher Urvashi Butalia.
"One of the sessions to look out for is 'India at War' which will feature Capt Amarinder Singh and will talk about the wars in 1962, 65 and Kargil," Gupta said.
A couple of book launches have also been planned for the event, including 'Winged Fire' by Valmik Thapar that will be released by actor Sharmila Tagore.
Former Ambassadors Aftab Seth and Prabhu Dayal will discuss their 'Memoirs and Memories' at the festival. Pakistani poet Farhat Shahzad will talk about ghazal transcending languages, Gupta said.
"There are 3 programmes for children, including readings by Ranjit Lal, a workshop on writing 'how to plot a murder' and a workshop on Harry Potter," she said.
The programmes will be followed by cultural events every evening which include a 50 Piece Army Symphony Orchestra on the inaugural day, Valentine's Eve Tango and Salsa performances on February 13 and a theatrical reading ofauthor Vikram Seth's 'Beastly Tales' by Naseeruddin Shah's Motley theatre Group on February 14.
The festival director noted that spring was the time for
renewal and new beginning and the club decided to give an auspicious start to the Litfest on Basant Panchami, commencing with the inaugural sessionat5.30 pmon February 12.
The festival, Gupta said has been a build up of the regular book club meetings of its members.
"Most outsiders view us as a club primarily focused on sports and we do organise sports related events around the year. But we are equally keen on promoting cultural and literary activities," Lt General I J Singh (Retd), President, Delhi Gymkhana Club, said.
The festival, he said is the first of what is being planned as an annual event in the Club's cultural and events calendar.
The Delhi Gymkhana Club club, which celebrated its centenary year in 2013 has a distinguished membership list, including former prime ministers, senior government and defence officials, members of the judiciary, corporates, business houses and other eminent citizens.
