Mysore/Mysuru: The session ‘Paraspara’ (one-on-one) between two old writer friends Jayanth Kaikini and Vivek Shanbhag at the Mysuru Literature Festival yesterday showcased a lively conversation and immersed the audience in humour and entertainment.

The session delved into interesting topics such as reading and readers, language and writing, poetry and storytelling, the origins of characters, emotions, and life experiences. They highlighted the enthusiasm and significance of literature in Mysuru and emphasised that writing is a creative response to emotional sensitivity, which finds ample opportunities for expression beyond language barriers in our country.

On language as a powerful and diverse communication medium, Jayanth Kaikini said: “Vivek Shanbhag and I, both being native speakers of Konkani, spoke in Konkani at Gokarna, our hometown. However, we spoke in Marathi with colleagues in Mumbai, English and Hindi with my coworkers, and Kannada with everyone else. But I write everything in Kannada. Konkani itself is a language with description and writing capability, but everything can be described in Kannada. Therefore, the importance of Konkani  is overshadowed.

“A person can speak more than two languages and life is understood through language. While working in Mumbai, I spoke in English at home and Konkani in the office, in the train with friends in Hindi and Marathi,” Kaikini said.

Even news headlines become stories

Jayanth Kaikini described himself as a spontaneous writer, while acknowledging that the surroundings, circumstances and experiences remain latent in his writings and gradually manifest over time. According to him, even news headlines become stories, just as Kum. Veerabhadrappa had said.

Shanbhag said, he began writing poetry at a young age. “Poetry meant nothing to me. However, to write poetry, one needs to have the inclination. I first studied spirituality, then started reading literature and developed an interest in it. Similarly, starting with short stories, I gravitated towards novel writing,” he added.

“I went from small stories to novels and I got immersed in it. After writing novels, writing short stories became easier for me. In novels, one can delve deeper and write while in short stories, there is more room for brevity,” he explained.

Vivek Shanbhag mentioned that the poet’s mind is essential for the medium of poetry, and although he had initially written several poems, he expressed his thoughts more effectively through prose, which offers depth and expansiveness.

They explained in detail the impact of concise words in enhancing the influence of stories and how various forms of writing provide more opportunities for these words compared to short stories. They also discussed the possibility that some of the recently written short stories and novels may gain more popularity in the future, depending on the context.

Kaikini captivated the audience by reading his intriguing poem, ‘Vichitrasenana Vaikhari’ and Shanbhag fascinated the audience with a few lines from his novel ‘Ghachar Ghochar,’ which metaphorically reflect the existence of evil forces.