As the Hyderabad Literary Fest concluded at Taramati Baradari on Sunday, all that organiser G. Surya Prakash Rao wanted to do was “unwind.” While G.S.P., as he is fondly called, unwinds at home, his partner T. Vijay Kumar had to drag himself to the Osmania University where he teaches English the next day.

But like all things, there were some regrets despite the fest’s success in its third edition. For instance, big names like Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Girish Karnad and Jhumpa Lahiri could not be roped in because of their busy schedule (which some pronounced as a failure of the fest).

G.S.P., who is the editor of the online magazine Muse India, defends. “Writer Mushirul Hasan got stuck in China. Pakistani writer Dr Nukhbah Langah got entangled in visa formalities. Linguistic expert Prof. Ganesh N. Devy intimated his unavailability just a night before his session. We can try, and have tried, to get the best on board but not everything is in our hands. Also, our focus is to get new writers every time.”

Kumar was more forthcoming when asked why the audience turn out was low. “We are not as big as the Jaipur Fest. We have just started. We did not have the money or the corporate backing to grab eyeballs. Yes, we could not afford celebrity writers. In fact, most of the help came not in form of cash, but in kind. While many writers came on their own, some were sponsored by their publishers, and others by our sponsors. For cash, we had to really scrape the bottom.”

The two also accept a centrally located venue instead of Maulana Azad National University would have got more footfall. But G.S.P. reasons, “We needed a venue that can have auditoriums, lecture halls and guest houses. State tourism opened Taramati Baradari for our writers. Where else is such a venue available in the city?” Despite the “misses”, they achieved what they envisioned.

“We want Hyderabad to recognise the fest as its own, not just ours. Hyderabad stands for multi culturalism and multi lingualism and so did our fest. We are happy with the outcome,” said Kumar

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> News>  LifeStyle> Books/Art / DC, by Barkha Kumari / January 22nd, 2013