{"id":3884,"date":"2024-12-31T15:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T10:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecord.in\/?p=3884"},"modified":"2025-01-02T16:17:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T10:47:05","slug":"a-labour-of-love-organising-foothill-notes-in-siliguri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecord.in\/?p=3884","title":{"rendered":"A Labour of Love: Organising Foothill Notes in Siliguri"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The year is coming to an end, presenting an occasion to reflect on something extraordinary that happened in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like last year, I found myself in the core team of organisers of the Foothill Notes 3, the annual literary meet of Siliguri which has made quite a name for itself by now. Well, calling it the \u201ccore team\u201d makes it sound like there were other, peripheral, teams too. But that was not the case. We were just one skeletal bunch of seven odd people\u2014disparate, like cheese and chalk, but united by the love for books and writing. You can make that eight, to also include the husband of the coordinator who steadfastly refused to be seen as part of us, but did the most work in the background; he\u2019s allergic to limelight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, never mind the size, we did manage to accomplish a huge feat in the form of Foothill Notes 3 held at Salbari\u2019s Caf\u00e9 the Twins over two days from December 7. Important thing to note here that the feat was huge<\/em>, not the event. True to its character, Foothill Notes 3 was a small, intimate, frills-free exercise that saw the coming together of some of the most powerful thoughts and ideas in very humble settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For me, it was a great delight to be part of the launch of the second volume of Colours of Kanchenjunga by Sharda Chhetri published by Bee Books. I have known Shardadi ever since my early days in journalism. She has been a pioneering woman journalist for this region. An educator for a long time, she has made her literary foray with the translations of Nepali short stories. Her second volume comes after a huge success of the first volume, both published by Bee Books.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nSharda Chhetri\u2019s Book Launch: Second volume of Colours of Kanchenjunga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
If hers was a book launch, For Nagaland\u2019s Sahitya Akademi Award-winning author, Easterine Kire, it was the \u201cunveiling\u201d of her latest book. She was one of the guests of honour at the meet and her session was scheduled for the next day. As we got to know upon her arrival that she had not even seen her latest book Freerain<\/em> published by Penguin. Copies of her book were procured by Caf\u00e9 the Twins, and we decided to have a small ceremony. It gives us joy to say that it was at Foothills, that Kire saw the physical copy of the book for the first time. Jokingly, she told the gathering that it felt like someone who had given birth to, but hadn\u2019t been able to see the baby.<\/p>\n\n\n
The focus of the post-lunch sessions, however, was children\u2019s literature. In a panel moderated by Preeti Thapa, authors Anurima Chanda and Kabita Lama spoke at length on the topic, \u201cDecolonising Literature Through Regional Narratives.\u201d This was followed by a children\u2019s play adapted from Shantiban<\/em>, a novella based on Nepali bird folktales written by the noted author Sangmu Lepcha. The play was directed by Sujata Guha who discovered Shantiban soon after moving to Salbari from Kolkata last year and decided to turn it into a play. No, she is not into theatre or anything. By training she is a scientist who studied microbiology in the US before moving to India, where she studied Ayurveda. It is her love for children and interest in Nepali language and culture that brought her close to Lekha Rai, the proprietor of Caf\u00e9 the Twins (I am the \u201cmutual friend\u201d). Rai has been successfully running Kathaghar, an initiative of monthly story-telling camps for kids. Guha adapted the play from Denuka Rai\u2019s English translation. Her play was then translated back into Nepali by Smriti Pradhan, the co-founder of Chhimeki, an NGO working on social health. And Chhimeki are co-organisers of Foothills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Day two saw poetry take centre stage in the first half, the section helmed superbly by the young and enterprising poet Loden Lama. Robin Singh Ngangom, the noted poet and translator from Manipur, held an exclusive workshop for a handful of aspiring poets, an experience they won\u2019t forget in a hurry. This was followed by a session on Haiku by Ibohal Kshetrimayum, also a poet from Manipur, who shared with us his unsurpassable love for Basho. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Open mic generated a lot of excitement with local poets and authors baring their souls through their poems and songs. A surprise entry by the education entrepreneur Robi Subba sent ripples through the rather festive air. He had the audience transfixed with the renditions from his upcoming book of poems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my session that took place in the evening, I had authors Preeti Brahmin and Suraj Gurung and the award-winning filmmaker Vivek Rai sharing their interesting journeys in the session, \u201cStorytelling in the hills: Exploring Local Narratives and Identities.\u201d Three speakers from absolutely diverse backgrounds in one panel made it a melange that defines Foothills in some ways.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nSession with Preeti Brahmin, Suraj Gurung and the award-winning filmmaker Vivek Rai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\u201cOf Skies Rivers and Earth: Easterine Kire in conversation with Priyanka Chatterjee\u201d<\/em> was the last and the centrepiece of this edition of Foothill Notes. Kire is the noted Indian poet and author from Nagaland, who recently won the Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel Spirit Nights<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
At the centre of it is Lekha Rai, the proprietor of Caf\u00e9 the Twins. Oh boy, does she wear many hats!\u00a0 A former educator, she is not only a successful entrepreneur, but has also made a name for herself as a storyteller for children, having professionally trained herself at Kathalaya International Academy of Storytelling, Bangalore. She started her book caf\u00e9 five years ago, named after her twins, of course, in the trendy suburbs of Salbari. Since its inception, the space has served as a meeting point for ideas and people. The caf\u00e9 has hosted numerous events such as book launches, writers\u2019 conversations, open mics, and writing workshops for children. Its annual Literary Queens programme felicitates women writers from the world of Indian Nepali literature.<\/p>\n\n\n
Foothills happened under the mentorship of <\/strong>Pankaj Thapa, who was earlier the force behind Gangtok\u2019s literary meet, Converse. A retired academician and graphic artist, his connection with the literary world has been through the innumerable books by noted authors, especially from the Northeast, that he has illustrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thapa was joined by Satyadeep Chhetri, his colleague at a government college in Gangtok. Chhetri, again, wears innumerable metaphorical hats even though he is always seen in his trademark beret. Chhetri is the author of the quite popular Gorkhaland Diaries<\/em> and Sikkim: from Autocracy to Half-Democracy<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three of them began Foothill Notes in 2022, when the world was coming back to normal after the pandemic. In 2023, I discovered Caf\u00e9 the Twins\u2014a friend of mine had taken me there to attend an event organised by the Chhimeki. It is an NGO with a vision to promote social health among societies where individuals, families and communities live in interdependence and thrive in relationship with each other and nature. In no time, without even realising, I was friends with Lekha and the Chhimeki founders, the husband-wife duo\u2014Abhay and Smriti Pradhan. Joining forces for Foothill Notes seemed like the most logical thing to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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