Wednesday, 23 August 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Literary Table (TLT) hosted another event with two Doon- based authors, Jaskiran Chopra and Shiv Kunal Verma. Shiv Kunal now lives in Kulu. TLT has been slowly spreading its wings, claimed the organisers. This was the sixth endeavour, they added. Aloka Dasgupta Niyogi was the host and moderator of the event.
TLT is a booklovers club, an initiative which runs under a public charitable trust Arogya Wellbeing Trust. They feature authors and promote their books through this platform. It is a brain child of Niyogi, though along with her there is a core member group which is her support team. They already have 40- odd members in their book club. It is a platform for authors, journalists, social entrepreneurs and above all booklovers of Doon. The authors share their various life experiences which triggered them to pen down their books.
The emcee of the event was Shalini Kataria and Sanjeev Srivastava. The front desk was handled by Priyakshi Rajguru and Jasleen Kaur.The session began with the welcome address by Aloka. And then she along with the emcees introduced the two authors. Aloka moderated the event and steered it forward while asking relevant questions to the authors at the Table. Then she also read out snippets from Jaskiran’s book, ‘The Autumn Raga’ and from Shiv Kunal’s ‘The Industani – Six Degrees of Separation.’
Jaskiran narrated what led her to pen down the book ‘Autumn Raga.’ She said, ‘In one sentence if I were to explain what I meant by Autumn Raga, I would say it is a song of my soul.’ She went on to say that something kept gathering in her heart. Her love for classical music, love for Dehradun, love for the mountain, love for her school, all this she collected very fondly in her memory and put them in her first novel Autumn Raga which was released by Ruskin Bond in Dehradun in 2011. Jaskiran said she had great memories of the launching event of her book.When Aloka asked whether the plot was based on a true story, she said it was not a true story but people and incidents which inspired her life were incorporated in her debut novel, ‘Autumn Raga.’ Then she talked about the book she had written on Ruskin Bond, ‘Film & Fiction – Ruskin Bond’s Romantic Imaginations.’ She also spoke about her memoir: ‘Memories of Another Day.’
Then the military historian author Shiv Kunal Verma spoke on his autobiography, ‘Industani – Six Degrees of Separation.’ He narrated various interesting incidents from his autobiography. He began with his childhood days in Dehradun. Then he went on to say that his years with Tiger Tops gave him a fantastic overview of the Himalayas and he was privileged to open up routes for trekkers in the Himalayas. Replying to Aloka’s question on his various life experiences, he said he feels privileged to experience the tumultuous period of 1980s which he penned down in his autobiography. Then he narrated the incident when he had wanted to make a film and had gone to JRD Tata for funding it. He reminisced that the gentleman had gladly given a sum of Rs 21 lakhs but said, ‘Make a film which will make India proud’. Then Aloka steered the session by asking various questions to which Kunal gave witty answers. When asked whether he had truly witnessed the Kargil War, he replied that out in the ground, they were just human beings, irrespective of their caste, creed or state. They were all fighting under one banner, which was ‘They are Indians.’ Kunal also took the audience through his books, ‘1962: The War That Wasn’t’ and ‘1965: A Western Sunrise.’
