Stabbed by a toothpick: lit fest parties and the slim pickings of authors’ lives
The Hindu
Writers are often socially inept creatures. Holding on to a glass of wine and a starter gives them something to do instead of awkwardly standing about
It’s the season for literature festivals (and thus lit fest parties). That means it’s also high season for small bites and small talk.
At a recent lit fest party, the Kolkata night still had a trace of chill. My shawl had emerged from its naphthalene hibernation. As I smiled, attempted witty banter and balanced my glass of wine, a waiter approached with a tray of hors d’oeuvres.
I skewered the grilled prawn delicately with a toothpick, popped it into my mouth and returned to my conversation. Then I realised I was stuck with the stick. I stood there, wine glass in one hand, stick in the other, hoping my carefully arranged shawl would not require any sudden adjusting.
Writers are often socially inept creatures used to being on their own. Holding on to a glass of wine and a starter gives them something to do instead of awkwardly hanging out on the fringes of a conversation. So we tend to eat more starters than necessary and are then stranded with tell-tale signs of our nervous gluttony. Those discarded sticks are the debris of fancy parties. They represent the slim pickings of our literary lives.
I saw an eminent poet looking around also fiddling with a stick. He caught my eye and shrugged knowingly. The more adept among us confidently hailed a passing waiter, picked up a chicken kebab with a new cocktail stick and jettisoned the old one in one smooth move. The poet pointed at the pizza counter. There was an unused corner with a few discarded toothpicks. He added his. I sidled over and added mine.
I realised my stick dilemma was not so petty when I found even the redoubtable Hilary Mantel had grappled with it. In the London Review of Books, she wrote about going to a book trade event at Buckingham Palace, an occasion graced by the Queen. Little kebabs were going around on trays. “It took some time to chew through one of them, and the guests were left with the little sticks in their hands. They tried to give them back to the flunkeys, but the flunkeys smiled and sadly shook their heads, and moved away.”
As she left the party, she looked back and at the base of every pillar was a forest of abandoned and gnawed sticks. That is exactly what the Queen would have seen too if she too had looked back. It was like gazing at the ratty prosaic underside of the pomp and splendour of monarchy — “the scaffolding of reality too nakedly displayed, the daylight let in on the magic.”
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.
The 16th edition of Bhoomi Habba was held on June 8, at the Visthar campus. The festival drew a vibrant crowd who came together to celebrate eco-consciousness through a variety of engaging activities, creative workshops, panel discussions, interactive exhibits and performances, all centered around this year’s theme: “Save Water, Save Lives.”