Thane may be known as the ‘City of Lakes’ but these days, as Atul Bhide notes, “it is known for its construction too.” A burgeoning city of 25 lakh people, including many young professionals, Thane has seen a spate of development in recent years. The latest addition to the satellite city is the Thane Literature Festival, set to run for two days, on November 1-2. The festival will be hosted by writers and artists like Devdutt Pattnaik, Bachi Karkaria, and Jerry Pinto, amongst others.Atul Bhide, the convenor of the festival and an active member of the Rotary Club of Thane Hills, is organising the festival along with the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA). Bhide, a semi-retired entrepreneur, has been a part of Thane’s literary life for over 16 years; he runs the ‘Wordsworth’ book club, which counts author Lata Gwalani amongst its members. Bhide notes that Thane has a budding literary culture, with many small book clubs and poetry events. Thane also boasts one of Mumbai’s oldest public libraries, the Mumbai Marathi Grantha Sangrahalaya (founded 1898), once frequented by Dr BR Ambedkar and Lokmanya Tilak. Closing the distance”Thanekars desperately need these kinds of activities; the sheer distance of travelling all the way to NCPA or to Bandra [for the Times LitFest] makes it difficult,” Bhide says. With many corporate employees in the city, he argues that alongside physical infrastructure, social infrastructure must grow. Quoting JRD Tata, he adds, “a civilised society is incomplete without arts and culture.”What’s on the pageThe festival will feature readings, interviews and panel discussions with visiting authors and artists, alongside Thane-focused activities. “We don’t claim to be reinventing the wheel,” Bhide says. “Our aim is simple: uncover a neglected side of Thane’s identity — as a city that reads.” Local poetry and book clubs will share their stories, and a 300-word short-story competition will invite Thanekars to write to a prompt. Book launches are planned for Devdutt Pattanaik’s Escape the Bakasura Trap: Let Contentment Fuel Your Growth (Juggernaut Books) and Namita Devidayal’s Tangerine (Westland). Programming will be in English, Hindi and Marathi, with a workshop on the ‘Art and Science of Translation’ led by yoga instructor Subha Pande and writer Vikrant Pande.For author Jerry Pinto, the festival shows how Thane has “grown out of its role as a satellite city of Mumbai and is now a city in its own right.” He first met Bhide via the book club and has watched the landscape change. “Thane’s reality needs to be documented in fiction and non-fiction, and I hope some young person will be inspired to write the Great Thanekar Novel,” he says.Lens on the suburbsChirodeep Chaudhuri, a photographer and long-time Thane resident who will be participating in the festival, also notes how Thane seems to have grown along with its sister city. “When I first moved here it used to be very quiet… but now it’s probably as busy as Andheri, which says a lot,” he remarks. “My first reaction [to the festival] was ‘OK, another festival in Bombay’… but then you realise that this is the next town, this is the next municipality… This is beyond the toll naka.” For Chaudhuri, the festival is a step in the right direction, “but an ecosystem also needs to develop along with it, such as having more bookstores in the city.”Bhide sees the moment as a chance to invert the South Bombay/Bandra arts pull. His hope: that corporate houses “look beyond their 2% CSR [spending] and support cultural activities in Thane… India does need toilets, dams, hospitals. That goes without saying. But support for arts and culture is equally important.”The festival, which is free, will be held at the Dr Kashinath Ghanekar Auditorium. Preregistration is required: [email protected]
