Men should open their minds to strong and creative women

The concluding session was with CLS Chairperson Dr Sumita Misra in conversation with celebrated bestselling author, poet, activist and teacher of writing who joined in from Houston, USA, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

 

Best known for her work translated into twenty-nine languages many of which have been turned into films and her last novel was a retelling of the Ramayana from Sita's perspective, "The Forest of Enchantments". 

Men should open their mind to strong and creative women who handle their lives much better, she said thanking her readers.

She remembered her time in 70s when she arrived in the USA and would go to work in a mall wearing sarees, since not many Indians were not there in the state of Ohio, and this made me proud of being an Indian woman.

I started writing to analyse myself with the immigrants' stories published as "Arranged Marriage" that captured the travails and trauma of diaspora having been uprooted from their cultures, and that had been the subject of my studies, she said.

Women have shared and transmitted the centuries of our culture through stories and narratives.

As a writer writing on mythologies and i treat my subject with open mind and try to research afresh so that i can look at these subjects more effectively.  

What is important to me is to make writing graphically to depict that particular character would have experienced at that moment. 

Even my understanding of being-like Sita, self-effacing and tolerant was unpalatable and therefore, my representation had to be different not for those traditional reasons but being strong and how she faced the challenges. 

Punjabi Film writer, director, with famous movies like Jatt James Bond(2014) , Farar (2015), Babukaat (2016), Rabb Da Radio (2017), Saab Bahadur (2017), Ikk Sandhu Hunda Si (2020). Jass Grewal shared his journey with Ravee Pandher.

 

Down to earth, and deep thinker, Jass Grewal shared he believe in Vedanta and writings of Paramhans Yogananda, and a great believer in simplicity, said that he is working on a horror movie „Kaun aa Yaar" and „Bajre da Sitta"

 

Ashish Vidyarthi creates magic at Literati

The national award-winning actor, writer, podcaster, motivational speaker, and corporate trainer, Ashish Vidyarthi in conversation with Suparna Saraswati Puri, unfolded his concept of life providing an entirely newer perspective on life, its purpose, and the magic one can create in other's lives.

He talked about the fragility of life that pandemic has brought to the fore that has also need to be understood as an extreme privilege that one should celebrate and liberate oneself at every step of the way.

Sharing his journey as an actor and now as a coach, mentor and motivational speaker, what he called as a good 'SEO' word, Ashish said that every moment of one's life is all about enjoying it fully.

"I love to be an igniter", he remarked.

"I love to engage people in real conversation during corporate coaching sessions on one to one basis, to ignite liberating thoughts and the inner potential of the people to open up their clenched fists and be themselves."

Whatever you are doing in life, do it for yourself first, only then you as a delightful liberated individual person would be able to make an impact on the lives of others, he advised. 

India should grow by Day: Gurcharan Das

The first day of the digital edition of Literati 2020 organised by Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) in association with HAREDA and Ireland as the country partner was kicked off on two digital platforms of Facebook and YouTube.

Dr Sumita Misra, IAS, CLS Chairperson in her opening remarks said that the digital platform has made Literati truly international with authors from across the globe participating making it a brilliant cross-cultural literary exchange.

Earlier the Ambassador of Ireland to India Mr Brendan Ward in his video remarks said that Ireland was proud to be a part of CLS Literati  especially because of the association his country shares with Punjab where the hundred year old stories of Irish rebellion have been fantasied.

Gurcharan Das, the prolific writer in conversation with Manraj Grewal, fondly remembered his beautiful memories of the city where he stayed in his earlier years, shared his journey of writing and the current foray into autobiographical work, 'Moksha' which, according to him, is the most joyous experience of reliving the life again by remembering some of the best moments of his life.

Taking the cue from the question from Manraj Grewal regarding his idea of India, as he explained in his book on 'India Grows at Night' , he said that there is a dire need for India now to grow by day, which requires extensive reformation on the part of the State and the institutional framework of executive, bureaucracy and judiciary.

India is still coming up but fortunately, the growth is bottoms up unlike China's upward down, which is a good sign for the country to evolve more

The major problem with India, he reiterated, was corruption that also made him write "Difficulty of Being Good" which talked about moral and ethical issues in our days to days life, which, he said, emanates from the perennial conflict between 'kama', the desire, and 'dharma'.

These two conflicting aspects of the human psyche is so natural, but one need to understand that 'kama' is all about one's own duties and responsibilities, while 'dharma' teaches you to think about others.   

Problem was corruption in India and so I went to Mahabharta and that gave me the idea for "Difficulty of Being Good" which provided the basis for moral and ethical issues.

Talking about his upcoming work 'Moksha' Gurcharan Das said that he was learning and rediscovering himself, by relieving the moments from his own life and reflections from his own personal experiences, besides learning more about ego and how one can rise above it.

He also referred to the growing social polarization in the society which according to him, emerges from another significant aspect of language, i.e. of the people who know English and who do not.

Sharing tips for the writers, Gurcharan Das advised budding writers to make writing a habit and a discipline and keep writing every day, and continue to live life lightly, not as a feather, but as a bird.