Khushwant Singh Lit fest from Oct 14

The annual Khushwant Singh Literary Festival will be held in Kasauli from October 14 with the guest list including the likes of Salman Khurshid, Omar Abdullah, Mani Shankar Aiyar, Abhinav Bindra and Shyam Benegal among others.
The festival with the theme "Breaking Barriers" will be inaugurated by Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh who would also throw open the 'Khushwant Singh Trail', a walk from the 6,000-ft high Kasauli bazaar right down to the plains of Kalka town, a distance of nine km that Singh used to traverse regularly on foot.
The trail, which is a tribute to him, has been spruced up and made into a nature walk, with signboards of trees and birds that one encounters while trekking the path, the organisers said.

Governor of Punjab Vijender Pal Singh Badnore will be the chief guest at the closing ceremony on October 16.
Started in 2012, when the iconic writer was still alive, the festival is the only such eventnamed after an individual and also the only literary festival held in Himachal Pradesh, said H Kishi Singh, a spokesperson of the organisers.
Singh did much of his writing in Kasauli and many of his passions, such as his love of nature, Urdu poetry, concern for the education of the girl child, pride in the Indian soldier, his irreverence and humour, were nurtured in the environs of its hills.

Others personalities on the guest list include Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Kanhaiya Kumar, Pavan Varma and Steven Alter.