Curtains on first digital Khushwant Singh Litfest

Gurnaaz Kaur

The three-day first digital Khushwant Singh Literary Festival concluded on Sunday with two famous writers Shobhaa De and Amitav Ghosh delving deep into the pathos and promises of the Covid times.

The runaway success of the first digital Litfest that harped on the theme ‘A new life’ in the context of the pandemic was manifested in an overwhelming response from viewers, who attended the sessions from across the globe.

The penultimate session on the last day on Sunday was themed ‘Lockdown De’s and Nites’. Shobhaa De, in a conversation with Parmesh Shahani, a member of the FICCI task force, shared how claustrophobic it has been to go through the lockdown times.

As she has chronicled it all in her book, ‘Lockdown Liaisons’, she said it was a cathartic as well as a therapeutic experience to write about people who had a horrendous experience during this period.

The former editor of Stardust, Society and Celebrity magazines, who has several bestsellers to her credit, touched elaborately on the kind of queer fear and anxiety that the Covid times have generated among the people.

The last session entitled, ‘An Uninhabitable Earth’, had Amitav Ghosh interacting with Sarah Jacob to underline that the pandemic struck the harshest in countries where the class divide had been far too pronounced. He said the pandemic had spelt disaster in society and it needed to be fought collectively, making sure that the divide between the rich and the poor is obliterated as early as possible.

Rahul Singh, celebrated writer and the brain behind the Litfest, said the festival would continue to reflect some of the concerns and passions of Khushwant Singh, who did much of his writing in the sylvan surroundings of Kasauli.

These included the preservation of the environment, education of the girl child and promoting the democratic values.

India launch of Zakaria’s book

Day 2 of the Litfest saw India launch of Indian-American journalist, political scientist and author Fareed Zakaria’s ‘Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World’. In conversation with journalist-anchor Sarah Jacob, author Fareed Zakaria highlighted some of the challenges that the world has faced due to the pandemic.