At cultural crossroads

As the cultural and literary fraternity stares at another year of unpredictability and hardships, it’s up to lay folk like us to support the efforts of those who’ve given us so much relief and mental nourishment even as they battled the odds to keep us engaged

As we enter the second year of this ‘new normal’, let’s face it – we technically cannot even call it ‘new’ anymore. The déjà vu is shockingly similar, as we are experiencing, while gingerly taking one step at a time into a challenging albeit familiar terrain.

We’ve been privy to the challenges that the F&B industry is plagued with, just as they were picking up the pieces after an embattled 2020. Their fight is far from over, and livelihoods and futures continue to be at stake in 2021. Another set of people staring at a grim year is various industries that come under the umbrella of culture, the arts and literature.

This broad spectrum of professions was already on the back foot and limping into adversity even after they were allowed to reopen from late 2020. With limited seating capacity in venues, reluctant sponsors (read: zero funding) and no new players to back them, it was pretty much left to founders, stakeholders and organisers to pull out every paisa from their pockets to ensure that annual affairs could at least manage virtual editions. Many ended up staging new plays and performances in their balconies and verandahs, using low-budget templates and creating spirited, inspiring alterations to set-in-stone formats, in order to ride these storms. And ride they did. Veterans and newbies readily took that leap of faith and ended up creating innovative new productions. Zoom sessions unwittingly became the new window to access the arts. Full-blown annual extravaganzas like Kala Ghoda Festival re-birthed as virtual affairs, complete with an online bazaar to ensure that the stalls that were an integral part of the annual spectacle also had a fair playing ground.

In the literary field, while the much loved brick-and-mortar bookstores like Kitab Khana, Trilogy, Title Waves and Leaping Windows had to shutter for the lockdown, many ensured that deliveries weren’t affected; and continued with book readings and even book releases during the lockdown. Kitab Khana had bounced back after an unfortunate fire, and had even reopened their doors for walk-ins until recently. Other notable affairs like TATA Literature Live! had also moved their canvas online, and had ensured that the show went on, thanks to the vision of late Anil Dharker and his wonderful team.

Both our museums ensured that while we missed the physical experience of soaking in the real deal, their robust virtual itineraries managed to keep us engaged. Art galleries were equally bullish, thinking out of the box with a heady mix of digital and real-time events. We had observed how both mediums had, in fact, just got back into their stride with new live exhibitions, only to have to close once again as rising cases and the new set of guidelines came into effect recently. For someone like me, it was refreshing to return to featuring live reportage and actual events in our section once again.

Personally, as someone who has been tracking events around town for The Guide section in this newspaper for over a decade, this past year has been a sort of revelation about how minds and platforms had and continue to reinvent themselves and their craft with oodles of resilience. I’m tempted to pin that on the inimitable never-give-up Bombay attitude that we are so proud of, pandemic or otherwise. Friends in other cities marvelled at this ‘X’ factor that our cultural community has displayed.

But by the looks of it, we’ll be staring at another long, harsh summer from the sidelines, watching and processing our work and lives from screens and tablets. For a form that is so heavily dependent on face-to-face interaction, this inevitability also means that our cultural and literary folk will need to adopt and adapt to tackle another set of challenges, and tame the crosswinds along the way. What they need from us is unconditional support by backing their efforts on the double, so they stay alive. After all, it is their relentless input and contribution that’s soothed our minds and offered us succour throughout these inexplicable times.  

mid-day’s Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city’s sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana

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