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An exciting start in Frankfurt

Vaiju Naravane

Indian literature, writers in focus at the premier book event

Frankfurt: Bengali writer Mahashweta Devi, the Grande Dame of Indian literature at 80 years, kicked off the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday. She did so with a rousing speech about her dream for India, evoking the plight of the poor and the marginalised. She dwelt upon thorny subjects such as child labour and the treatment meted out to tribal people. "Sixty years after our hard-won Independence, the khadi sari is India just as much as the mini-skirt and the backless choli is. A bullock cart is India just as much as is the latest Toyota and Mercedes car," she said. "Illiteracy haunts us, yet the same India produces men and women at the forefront of medicine, science and technology."

Eternal paradox

Describing the eternal paradox that was India, Mahashweta Devi said: "India has learned to survive, to adapt, to keep the old with the modern, to walk hand in hand with the new millennium whistling a tune from the dawn of time. Culture is what will take us into the future yet keep us in close contact with our roots, our history, our tradition, our heritage."

Over 70 Indian authors have been invited to this, the 58th edition of the world's largest Book Fair. It has brought together 7,272 exhibitors, a record number, from more than 100 countries.

India is guest of honour with a packed programme of readings and debates. The cultural events will feature dance, drama, films and yoga demonstrations. Even the Left-leaning national daily Tageszeitung, recently in the news for creating a political storm between Germany and Poland through its irreverent reporting on Poland's new leaders, got into the mood, printing its masthead on Wednesday in Hindi.

There are many well-known names here. They include Amitav Ghosh, Amit Chaudhuri, Shashi Tharoor and Man Booker short-listed Kiran Desai, also the daughter of novelist Anita Desai. The international stars include Zadie Smith, Donna Leon, Ken Follett and German Nobel laureate Gunter Grass — fresh from a scandal over his late revelation that he served in the Nazis' feared Waffen SS force during the Second World War. Many of them will be holding forth in Frankfurt.

The Indian Pavilion was inaugurated by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh. Mr. Singh said: "In a world threatened with terror, misunderstanding and mistrust, books can, and should, do much to bring us nearer to each other by creating a neighbourhood of peace, understanding and mutual trust. I am convinced that if people were more vulnerable to books, politics and public policies would be more constructive, more enlightened, less violent and more humane."

Performances

Mr. Steinmeier opened a gala called Dhwani or Resonance of India. It included performances by artistes as varied as Aruna Sairam, Astad Deboo, the drummers of Manipur and a troupe of Manganiars from Rajasthan.

"The performances were wonderful. They showcased both the eternal India and the new dynamic society that is emerging," India's Ambassador to Germany Meera Shankar told The Hindu.

The German Foreign Minister said contact with India meant establishing contact with the world largest democracy. "Over a billion people in 28 States and seven union territories, a country in which more than 400 languages and dialects are spoken, over 20 of which are recognised as national languages. A country in which the Prime Minister is a Sikh, the President a Muslim and the largest political party is led by a woman with a Christian background. From our insight into the difficulties that India has to master as a state, we can draw strength and courage for the further construction of our united Europe," Mr. Steinmeier said.

Shashi Tharoor used the occasion to call on all nations to back South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon for the post of United Nations Secretary-General. "I entered the race in order to pursue my own devotion to the United Nations, and for the same reason I think it's important that we now extend support to Mr. Ban because the entire world has a stake in the success of the next Secretary-General," he said.

Ashok Vajpeyi, Hindi poet and former director of Bhopal's Bharat Bhavan, told The Hindu: "I am delighted to see so many Indian languages represented here. India is here in all her diversity and glory. Contemporary India is full of dreams and nightmares which is what literature is all about."

Growing audience

Kannada writer U.R. Ananthamurthy said the growing international audience for home-grown authors was coupled with a strong drive in India to look inward as a nation and safeguard its rich cultural diversity.

Fair director Juergen Boos said India just could not be ignored. Its dynamism and global rise meant that India had become a fixture on the world's cultural and economic agenda. "India is in the media's focus worldwide. Its economic development, the political debate in and about India and the unknown diversity of the culture of today's India have cast a spell over the whole world."

The expenses of the visiting authors is borne by the National Book Trust and the HRD Ministry. Sudeep Bannerjee, Secretary, HRD, said the NBT had spent an estimated Rs. 20 crore on the event.

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