Sharmila Tagore inaugrates Taj literature festival

Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore today inaugurated the second Taj literature festival in which a number of authors and poets will participate.
In a discussion, Sharmila spoke with Aruna Chakravarti, author of the historical novel, Jorasanko, the ancestral house of the Tagore family.
Sharmila told the audience about the state of women in the Tagore household, particularly their lifestyle.
One of the crucial points brought out in the novel was the "dharma" of a wife in a situation where she found herself placed between traditional values and the new modernised lifestyle. The veteran actress read out a portion of the novel.

Sharmila began by narrating to the school children present at the inaugural ceremony, how as a school girl she had copied out a poem of Tagore's and claimed it to be her own work. She was later punished by her teacher and her mother for not knowing Tagore's poems.
Earlier, noted journalist MJ Akbar delivered the keynote address on poll predictions for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The chief organiser of the three-day-festival, Harvijay Singh Bahia, said the festival would have panel discussions, sessions on the new breed of authors and their pet themes of sex, money, gender and power; a session on mystical tales, another on honor killing, a session on the literature of activism, a session on cricket and Sachin Tendulkar.

The festival would have a number of book launches and a session on the late actor Shammi Kapoor.