A humming word

The Hyderabad Literature  Festival culminated the city's culture and heritage and mixed it with the brewing issues (like ecology) and gifted us a festival of art, dance, literature... With its guest nation as Australia and focus language as Malayalam, the HLF chose Vidyaranya High School at Saifabad as their venue. After missing the first two days, I relished the third day, like the Kesari chai in the Kulhad. Since there were several nukkads, I chose my corner of poetry and attended sessions by the renowned Kala Ramesh and a discussion on Ecopoetics by Urvashi Bahuguna and Anand Vishwanadha, two versatile poets who focused on nature.  Apart from the sessions, what I really liked was the display of art by differently abled people too. The foot artist stole my attention and I gaped as he painted with his toes. I took a picture with him, although I was embarrassed to do so. And, bought a beautiful painting by him.  While the chaos of the art and books stormed th...

Ever wondered what Kashmir looked like before the militia, the government, the terrorists and the plague of fear took over? Kalakriti Art Gallery, host to the art exhibition: Makers and Meanings, has displayed three tiny room full of photographs, clicked by R.C. Mehta. Mr. Mehta ran the first photo studio of Kashmir and he clicked animated portraits of the commoners and celebrities, alike--Pandit Nehru campaigning in the house boats to shy women and sunkissed soldiers, you will find the breath of Kashmir captured in these portraits. Also, the camera which was used was displayed too. So, go ahead, photo bugs! And, for the poets in us, walk through the bazaars where they sold bread, the farms where women toiled and campaigns in House Boats. What was impressive was that the farmers were women. This was 1940s. Can you imagine? These photo rooms, as I call it, is a time travel. You can see the Dal Lake, the Jhelum, the Shalimar Bagh of the 40s and be awestruck. As I passed by, going ...

Lakhs of people hoarding Parade Grounds, navigating the terrible diversion and walking for a kilometre, for flying kites and tasting the delicacies should give you a hint that people still gorge on the manjas and the threads and festivities. I remember as a child, hopping on to the terrace and seeing the terrace filled with kites of various sizes, shapes and colours and gorging on the sweetmeats that mother and grandmother used to prepare. A stereo was set up in our apartments as we cut each other's kites and shouted on top of our voices to express our victory. We'd ensure we take the winning kite home. Stories of children or young adults falling off from terraces would fill the pages of the newspaper, the next day. The Parade Grounds in Secunderabad brought back these memories with their fourth edition of Kites and Sweets Festival. The entire ground looked like an amalgamation of different terraces. Light Kites, Fighter Kites, Lantern Kites adorned the skies and men, wom...

Naya Qila is a hidden gem of Hyderabad and HydTrails Walks gathered a bunch of us to explore the splendour, the engineering and the gore behind these silent stone walls. Located beside Golconda, this historical place marks the conquest of Aurangazeb. Saurabh, our leader for the day, took us through the marvels--The Tombs, The Trees and the stories behind it, Janana (ladies mosque) of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. But the highlight was reaching the Majnu Burj, where the cannon used for the war with Aurangazeb was used and watching the picturesque sunset that marked it as a trail worth the effort. Our group was a wonderful mix of students, young parents, enthusiastic photographers and eager historians and authors. Thank you, Hyderabad Trails for this!