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At a Book Launch

8/4/2007 at 1:25 PM

Saturday night was at a book launch by a small publishing firm called Unisun Publications. There were, in fact, four books launched.

I was thrilled at the prospect of hobnobbing with Bangalore's resident literary celebrities, namely, Shashi Deshpande and Girish Karnad.

I was with two of my college seniors, and all three of us had atrociously broken the strict khadi rule, it appears. Also the dangling earring rule, the up-turned nose rule and the dressed up rule--as rightly pointed out by one of the seniors. I was saved, thankfully, by the jhola bag I was carrying, that made me look appropriately ethnic.

Before the ceremony began, a senior professor from college, who is closely associated with Unisun, came over to us, and in her typically deep and articulate voice, she boomed at us: "Thank you." For coming, we assumed. And then she said, "Shashi [Deshpande, with whom she is on first-name basis, clearly] asked me where all the young people are. I was stuck. And then I saw you three at the back, so I said yes there are about half a dozen. Come on, I'll introduce you to her."

What? We get to meet Shashi Deshpande. O man o man o man.

Like most important moments, this one fell flat. Shashi seemed either uninterested or shy. Our professor went on at length introducing us. And we squirmed. It was as if -we- had asked her to introduce us to Ms Deshpande. Woe.

*

As for the launch, it was okay. Girish Karnad was nice and witty. There was a weird guy at the back who kept cheering everyone as if he was at some lame-ass talent show. I wanted to tell him to shave his beard. Not because I have anything against unshaved men--they are often more attractive than neatly shaved men. But I had to find faults with him.

*

Once more, I found the poetry deplorable. (There were some 'dramatic' readings.) I'm not saying that the poets couldn't play with words, or that they had nothing new to say; they tended to be witty and somewhat in control of their words. But where was the beautiful extended metaphor? The layers I was meant to crawl through? The brilliant alliteration? Where was the poem I could read over and over again?

Gah.

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