Bhutan literature festival 'Mountain Echoes' kicks off today

JAIPUR: The third edition of Mountain Echoes, the Bhutan Festival of Literature, Art and Culture starting on Sunday at Thimpu, Bhutan, is all set to host some of the renowned personalities from literature, cinema, music, art, food, media and photography.
The festival organised by Jaipur-based Siyahi, will kick off on Sunday with a welcome address by Queen Mother of Bhutan, HM Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck, Indian ambassador Pavan K Varma and festival director Namita Gokhale, followed by an inspiring invocation of words and music, 'Gaata Rahe Mera Dil' by Sonam Dorji and Ali Sethi.
Few of the stellar names bringing all these different fields together include Vikram Seth, Gulzar, Ali Sethi, Patrick French, Dayanita Singh, William Dalrymple, Sharmila Tagore, Wendell Rodricks and Amitabh Bhattacharya.
The days to come will see a variety of fascinating and eclectic sessions on subjects ranging from linguistic traditions, spirituality, travel, Bollywood, folklore, music and lyrics.
Some of the promising sessions to watch out for at the Tarayana Center include 'The Rivered Earth' with Vikram Seth and Ali Sethi, 'Once Upon A Hill' with writer duo, Kalpana Swaminathan and Ishrat Syed, 'Transcreations: Poetry Dialogues' with Gulzar, Pavan Varma and Sukrita Paul and 'Tales from Far and Near' with Tshering Cigay Dorji, Karma Tenzin 'Yongba' and Kishwar Desai.
For those out to explore other aspects of art and culture, there are sessions such as, 'Moda Goa: History and Style' with Wendell Rodricks and Pramod Kumar KG, 'Exploring Cinema: Fifty Years in Films' with Sharmila Tagore and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri, 'The Music Room: From the Classical to the Popular' with Ugyen Pande, Amitabh Bhattacharya and Rekha Bhardwaj.
The other venue hosting some of the sessions is Taj Tashi, Thimpu. Here, the audiences can catch Gulzar talking about the metaphor of travel in his poetry in the session, 'Musafir Hoon Yaraon', Dayanita Singh and Aveek Sen discussing the genre of 'Photo Fiction', Vikram Seth, William Dalrymple and Patrick French in conversation with Nidhi Razdan in 'Rolling Clouds: Dreaming Mountains' or learn some fun recipes as Sarla Razdan and Kunzang Choden talking to Mita Kapur in 'Hill Kitchens'.
While all these engaging sessions are on at these two venues, a third spot - the Nehru Wangchuck Center will be screening some unique and interesting films such as 'Bryan Adams: Bare Bones', 'Rocking the Hills', 'Sound Check' and 'A Composer's Dream and Living Stories'.