“It’s a tiny revolution. Then again, ‘revolution’ might be too big a word. But there is a churn and a gradual change of mind,” shared an author-filmmaker friend of this columnist who is often on panels at poetry and prose reading sessions held across the city. Our discussion crisscrossed all the recent and the not-so-recent happenings of these kinds that have blended, rather seamlessly, into the cultural itinerary of the city.

We liked what we heard. After all, in the past, while tracking the goings-on in the city for mid-day, we couldn’t help but notice a surge in these small-group gatherings, where poetry and prose across different styles and structures is discussed, debated and shared with the audience. It has certainly added a vibrant new fabric to the city. In fact, it’s seeped in such that one was pleasantly surprised to see a variant of such an event at an inter-school fest about a month ago. It was refreshing, and reassuring to note that the next generation is also thinking on similar lines. The most important take away from that competition was that the written word in some form or the other had found resonance, amid dark cloud–warnings predicted by naysayers about the loss of literary avenues and forums.