Two-day Bengaluru Poetry Festival gets off to a colourful start

The two-day Bengaluru Poetry Festival began on a colourful note at Leela Palace in the city on Saturday. The festival, which attracts nothing less than 400 poets, musicians, lyricists and performers, is being held at such a massive scale after a spell of two years.

Day One opened with a spell-binding performance by dance troupes. Poets in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and English read their works, which were steeped in contemporary issues. They spoke, through poetry, about the many challenges that existed in society.

Actor and writer Deepti Naval, who launched the sixth edition of ‘Aata Galata’ festival, spoke at length about how delighted she was to return to a city that is always alive with writers, musicians and dancers.

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She said, “I have developed an interest in poetry and have brought out many collections. I took to writing poetry, thanks to motivation and encouragement from my mother.”

She said the form has given her the freedom and liberty to express her thoughts and opinions about a host of important issues.

Among the other interesting sessions was the poetry reading by young Tamil poet Meena Kandaswamy about the Nirbhaya case. The poem captured the nuances of the protest and described the horrific incident.

Writer Pratibha Nandakumar’s work Ava Mukha Aliadu Gogidu was released on the occasion. Bhuvana Hiremath and Raju Hegde recited their poems.

The atmosphere was electrifying, thanks to the musical performances and dance recitals that were woven into the day-long event.

Sunday will have more poetry readings, discussions and performances.