From December 14 to 16, I got to visit Bangalore, as part of the Bengaluru Habba Festival organised by the Artistes Foundation for Arts. Together with local writers Ng Yi-Sheng and Felix Cheong, our trip was sponsored by the Foundation and our National Arts Council. Meeting children from 9 to 14, we brought a slice of Singapore life with us, as we talked about Singapore writing and our love for books. It was heart warming to see budding writers eagerly listening to us, and being so enthusiastic in doing readings. For the younger children, I talked about creating dramatic characters like Amos Lee, the ranting toilet diarist. With the older children, I got a chance to introduce playwriting, and read my ten-minute plays written as part of my Tisch semester work. I also introduced micro fiction writing (a story under 100 words) as a writing exercise. In one school, one child created an endearing character of a hunchback with a secret passion for skate-boarding, yet another wrote about a boy who ate dog food in his morning rush for school. It's delightful that these children have what it takes to create memorable characters! Writing follows easily with characters like these.
We also did a public reading at Time Out Reliance book shop. It was a cosy gathering, put together by book lovers and friends of Jacaranda, to whom we must thank for helping us to connect with the Foundation's organisers. Felix provided an overview of writing in Singapore and Yi-Sheng proved his dramatic performance mettle. I spoke about sex and the sensitive dealing of it, in my new book The Diary of Amos Lee: Girls, Guts and Glory. Felix also read excerpts from his new book, Sudden in Youth, New & Selected Poems. Yi-Sheng read poems from his book Last Boy. But what I enjoyed most was something else he wrote, and his robust and playful recital of it, inspired by a declaration of a national symbol ;)
Apart from the 'officially sanctioned' duties, we had lots of time to see the city and countryside as well. Our rides to the schools took an average of one to two hours each way. The city is bustling, and noisy too! Lots of tooting from autos on the street (their taxis). People in Bangalore are really warm and helpful. Our driver got lost several times finding the schools. Asking for directions was a cinch, just stop the car and shout out of the window, the directions would fly back in response! It works everytime. What I enjoyed most though was a chance to tour a bazaar which brought the best of India's arts and crafts together. I was so intrigued with this traditional toy of treated elephant dung, baked as rounds of cakes. To play the game, you use a ball to topple the tiered rounds. So quirky! I regretted not buying it though. Looking at the picture now, I wonder what kind of reaction I'd have provoked from my children, knowing that they were banking on getting a Wii for Christmas.
When I got back to Singapore, it was a mad rush to get the house cleaned up and old stuff put away before Christmas. Though we don't celebrate it for its religious signifiance (we're not Christians), we have always got together with our extended family, for dinner and gift sharing. As I tidied up my working desk this afternoon, something nagged at me to use this one shot a friend from Bangalore emailed me. Here is my memory of Bangalore, warm, quirky, and a definite place with lots of soul. Although I spent only three days there, I loved it! I hope the children I met would remember the little red dot I spoke about, and find a chance to visit Singapore one day. Thank you, Priya, my guide and friend, for this wonderful keepsake of Bangalore.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}