The Tata Steel Jharkhand Literary Meet that made a comeback in Ranchi with its fourth edition after a gap of two years concluded on Sunday. “It’s the first physical literary and cultural event held after we were hit by the (Covid-induced) pandemic,” said Sarvesh Kumar, chief of communications of Tata Steel that organised the two-day meet in association with a vernacular daily.
“You feel like discussing many things when you meet a friend after a long gap. Similarly, we too returned with a mixed package,” said Malavika Banerjee, director of the meet, explaining that they organised sessions also on music, sports and cinema, besides literature.
Like its previous editions, this edition of the meet also provided enough space for local poets who made their presence felt. While some of them read their self-composed poems on the occasion, two special sessions were organised for discussing two collections of poems — Jangal Pahar Ke Paath by Mahadev Toppo and Pathalgadi by Anuj Lugun.
Two literary sessions were devoted to a new novel by Kunal Basu and a book on Buddhism by Jairam Ramesh and in another session, Mitra Phukan, Arunava Sinha and Poonam Saxena discussed The Greatest Stories of India with Malavika Banerjee.
Another notable feature of the meet was Nayaker Bhumikay, a first ever session in Bengali, where Suman Ghosh, Sayandeb Choudhury and Chandril Bhattacharya discussed the heroes of the Bengali cinema such as Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee.
While Barun Chandra, Mohan Agashe and Suman Ghosh highlighted legacies of Satyajit Ray in his centenary year during a discussion, Agashe and Balaji Vittal discussed cinematic villains in another session.
There was also a session featuring former cricketer Kirti Azad and there were cultural programmes on both days.
While Sonam Kalra presented a musical performance, Shaam e Sufiana, on Saturday, the meet concluded with a dance performance by Mallika Sarabhai and Revant Sarabhai on Sunday evening.
People who were not literary enthusiasts also visited the venue and found something interesting. “I dropped in just out of curiosity but immensely liked the stand-up comedy by Abhijit Ganguly on Saturday,” said Anamika Singh, a college student, who was there on Sunday evening too to witness Mallika Sarabhai perform.
