On the last day of the festival, we found ourselves pondering over the big, small and quaint questions posed to panelists. Like this one: It’s the rare discussion on Hindu-Muslim relations that does not raise passions. And so, at the end of a morning session on ‘Being the Other’, a man got up to, quite predictably, ask: “For me, Sadia Dehlvi (who spoke about the Sufi roots of Islam) is the true Muslim. But what do you say about the 70,000 people who turned up to attend the funeral of Tiger Memon, an accused in the Mumbai serial blasts?”
A session titled ‘The Histories of Geographies’ saw journalist and author Hindol Sengupta, and urban theorist Sanjeev Sanyal in conversation about the intertwining of history and geography of India. A lady in the audience asked Sanyal why women are always missing from history books. He said it like it is: “Women are cut out not because there’s less evidence of the staggering achievements they have had. But because history is decided by those who write it.”
Author Christopher Sykes’s electrifying session about his times with the Rolling Stones as their photographer during their tour of America elicited many questions. A long-haired gentleman asked him how he juggled egos in the band. “A rock and roll tour is wild; it gets stressful and is political with people trying to out each other. I did not have any affiliation; I had a job and I wanted to move freely,” replied Sykes simply.
A session on engagement with the North-east had three Assamese writers on the panel. A girl from Sikkim asked them to describe the discrimination that happens within the states, between tribes and communities. Dhrubo Jyoti Borah replied that the conflict cost the state dearly. “We are not losing people, we are also losing identities and languages. It is tragic,” he said.
The garrulous Suhel Seth was found discussing ‘manels’ and ‘mansplaining’. But the irony of a man explaining how men explain things to a woman in a condescending or patronising manner met with a swift end. Fellow panelist and journalist Bee Rowlatt, looked Seth squarely in the eye and asked: “Why are you even here?”
Co-panelist Antara Ganguli, activist and journalist Ruchira Gupta and even a girl from the audience took energetic digs at the man, who some felt was guilty of populating an uncomfortably large number of sessions at the festival.
One audience member asked him if he was comfortable being a part of the panel when he had been a vocal supporter of #NotAllMen in the aftermath of the Bangalore NYE mass molestations. When he said there was no misogyny in West Bengal, Ganguli reminded him that the state has a bad record of female infanticide. Rowlatt grilled him about the views he spouted on TV panels.
And what did Mr Seth do? Shield himself with that worn-out statement: My words are being taken out of context.
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