Crowd throngs food stalls more than book stalls
Turkey's ambassador to India for cultural exchange with Meghalaya as three-day Shillong Literary Festival concludes
Shillong, Nov 20: The young crowd in the city was more attracted towards food stalls than book stalls during the three-day Shillong Literary Festival which was concluded at Ward’s Lake here on Wednesday.
The literary sessions at the main venue during the day had limited attendance.
Besides the food, the crowd also gathered to listen to live music in the evening.
The 4th edition brought authors like Vikram Seth, Shobha De, Jerry Pinto and Turkey’s Ambassador to India Fırat Sunel, who is also a novelist.
The local authors also shared their experience in various sessions but the release of books was minimal.
On the concluding day, Turkey’s Ambassador announced the need for cultural exchange between Meghalaya and Turkey.
Arts and Culture Minister Paul Lyngdoh highlighted the potential of the state in terms of air quality and climate.
Tourism official CVD Diengdoh also spoke.
Khasi-Garo languages
Though there is a demand to get Centre’s recognition for Khasi-Garo languages, not much discussion took place in this regard.
However, the organisers are happy as Shobha De termed the festival as ‘prettiest’.
Surreal Symphony of Nature
The book signing area witnessed the launch of ‘Surreal Symphony of Nature’ authored by senior journalist Subroto Bhattacharjee.
Shillong based journalist Rajib Chowdhury and writer from Assam Madhu Raghavendra jointly released the first book of Subroto.
The 86-year-old author, who is currently residing in Kolkata, could not attend the event.
The book, dealing with various aspects of Meghalaya and the North East, is available at the National Book Stall, Khyndailad. The readers can order the book online from the publisher notionpress.com.
Clean Ward’s Lake
The visitors appreciated the timely maintenance of cleanliness in and around Ward’s Lake.
Many garbage bins were put up at Ward’s Lake which made easy for the visitors to deposit the wastes thereby preventing littering.
Women of a self help group were active throughout the event to clear the garbage bins promptly.This was different from the Cherry Blossom Festival held at Bhoirymbong, Ri Bhoi.
