Highlights: Day 2 at Times LitFest Delhi

The second day at the Times LitFest was beaming with a glamorous line up of authors, politicians, athletes and musicians discussing a variety of topics. Spread across several halls and gardens of the India Habitat Centre, attendees were both spoiled for choice with the variety of events as well as torn in deciding between the overlapping sessions.
The day broke upon with a musical start with Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, and his sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash."Swar hai toh Ishwar hai - I'm grateful that I live in the world of sound," confessed the Ustad and the family spoke on their individual musical journeys.
The musical kickstart was followed by an interesting session with journalists and authors Bachi Karkaria and Avirook Sen, speaking about the media's role in handling criminal trials. While Karkaria spoke on how far media becomes instrumental in turning the accused into a hero based on its reporting, Avirook pointed out that readers usually want to read what validates their beliefs than the actual turn of events.
Things became steamier on the cool November morning when Arun Shourie, in a sharp critique of the current central government, said in his keynote address, "No Prime Minister's office has been weaker than the one in power today because of the insecurities of the people on top". However, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra provided with a complete different perspective later that night. At the book release of Yogi Adityanath: The Rise of a Saffron Socialist by senior TOI journalist Pravin Kumar, Patra spoke positively about the BJP saying, "Apart from the incredible story of Yogi Adityanath, BJP is also the platform that allowed a common tea seller to rise and become, one day, the Prime Minister of India."
When the air was buzzing with such electric debates about personalities we admire or abhor, Neelima Aadhar, author of The Secret Diary of Kasturba, made us see history afresh with her take on Kasturba Gandhi. The author showed us a fascinating picture of a strong-willed woman she discovered in her research: traditional yet willing to adapt. As evening dawned, actress and director Nandita Das discussed another historical author figure, Saadat Hasan Manto and his relevance today. "I felt Manto was a way to respond to today, to our own unrest because he was so ahead of his times. He was modern. It is as if he was responding to today's issues of identity, freedom of expression, displacement, personal angst and what an artist feels," she said in a freewheeling conversation about her forthcoming film on Manto.
Apart from history and politics, the LitFest witnessed other serious discussions as Manu Joseph talked about the need for writers to document reality in an age dominated by hypocrisy. The author launched his novel, Miss Laila, Armed and Dangerous at the festival, which is a powerful satire set in the current social picture of right-wing fanaticism.
The second day was pretty helpful for parents as Jaya Bhattacharji Rose, in the comfortable afternoon air, led a conversation with Shantanu Duttagupta and Arti Sonthalia on reading for children and young adults, discussing how to inculcate a reading habit in children of the digital age and the long term impact reading has on one's growth. Even author Devdutt Pattanaik, invoked a need for undiluted content for children in a separate talk. "Children enjoy violence. Period. And I have never seen anyone who is damaged because his mother told him the story of how lord Ganesha had his head cut off!", he said. Known for his works on mythology, Pattanaik spoke passionately about the importance of teaching myths to our children and how the content of such tales is still relevant and child appropriate. Meanwhile, in the Stein Auditorium, Natasha Badhwar and Lalita Iyer shared their astonishingly liberal opinions on where to draw a line when it comes to 'screen time' for their little ones or themselves and how much they themselves indulged in the online world as parents.
Write India Author Namita Gokhale's latest book is also for children. Titled Lost In Time: Ghatotkacha And The Game Of lllusions, the book was launched at Times Litfest and the author read out her favourite passage from the book.
Sports was not forgotten on the Habitat Center grounds. Shashi Tharoor, Rajdeep Sardesai along with Bishan Singh Bedi discussed the politics of cricket. They discussed how cricket and cricketers inspire the people more than politicians and how playing cricket against Pakistan more frequently will make it less of a political statement. On the same stage, Olympic Gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, was in conversation with Rajesh Kalra a little later, and they spoke on the conditions Olympians train under. Bindra gave humourous anecdotes before inspiring the crowd with his stories of how he overcame all obstacles and continued to be a shooter despite being diagnosed with epilepsy.
The Litfest atmosphere turned sombre as Parimal Bhattacharya, author of No Path in Darjeeling is Straight , and Rita Chowdhury, Assamese novelist, spoke on how the stories from obscure areas face alienation and marginalization, just like the inhabitants. Even yoga found a prime spot at the event as Swami Sukhabodhananda summed up the Gita in three words: Paristhiti, Manositithi and Atmastithi and Hasmukh Adhia explained the four-fold path of yoga in an uplifting spiritual talk conducted by Speaking Tree.
Coming back to the world of tech and media, later in the evening, Gurmehar Kaur, social media sensation and debut author, spoke on the perils of being pushed to the media at a young age and said, "What social media needs is better policing, stronger cyber laws and even platforms like Twitter and Facebook should get strict with users. Also, free speech is not a free pass for defamation, harassment and bullying."
As the night set in, Parikrama school of music, held a series of performances in the main ground, adding another form of vocal art to the series of talks.
Pankaj Bhadouria, a popular chef and cookbook writer, explained that Awadhi cuisine that she specializes in is also full of stories and anecdotes on what sets it apart from the other cuisine. "Each dish has a history and a story to go with it. That's what makes the cuisine so unique," she explained, her talk on food making everyone hungry on the cold winter night.
In the last event of the night, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan shared his opinion on several issues of current times. He spoke on elected autocrats, the impact of demonetization and even suggested a competition within the government to improve service delivery. "We need competition in government services.
With all big names, new books and thought-provoking conversation, attendees were quite overwhelmed. It was indeed a grand success.