A report on Day-2 of Litearti21 organised by Chandigarh Literary Society

Chandigarh, December 12, 2021: On the second day of the Litearti21 organised by Chandigarh Literary Society, at the UT Guest House, celebrated Bollywood actor and National Award winner Divya Dutta delivered her keynote address.
She talked about her second book “The Stars in My Sky: Those Who Brightened My Film Journey”, published recently by Penguin Random House India.
In conversation with RJ Mehak, she shared her experiences with different Bollywood celebrities who contributed to her journey in cinema, and who get featured in her book.  
Humbly she attributed her success to all the stalwarts, directors, co-actors, who believed in her, and allowed her to be her natural best, she remarked.  There were learning moments that helped her realize her own inner potential, especially while working with brilliant directors like Shyam Benegal who made her choreograph her own dance sequence in a film, which was recorded with seven cameras without any cut.
The veteran of over 100 films and numerous web shows and short films, Divya Dutta shared some embarrassing and some challenging moments in the making of various films whether it was Veer-Zaara or Bhaag Milkha Bhag.
Literati21 opened with a one-minute silence to the recent tragedy that took the lives of senior officers including Chief of Defence Services Gen Bipin Rawat.
The session on the Battle of Longewala: Remembering our Heroes gave goose bumps as Hardeep Chandpuri son of late Brig Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri, related the stories of his father who not only lived life on his own term, but always walked the talk, that inculcated values of honesty, courage, and outright dedication to one’s duty.
Mrs Surinder Kaur wife of late Brig Chandpuri along with her other son Amardeep Singh Chandpuri and soninlaw Aditya joined the morning session along with numerous coursemates and army officers.
The author of the book, Gurjot Singh Kaler, shared his own long association with the family and that the lessons he picked up from Brig Chandpuri, who was imbued with a great sense of humour.
Col DS Cheema moderating the session mentioned the famous quote of Guru Gobind Singh, “Deh Shiva Varmohe eh, shubh karman se kab ho na taron”, and asked Kaler how come being in police he thought of writing about an army officer, to which Gurjot Kaler very aptly remarked, “A soldier is a soldier irrespective of the uniform one wears, and in any case the Punjab Police’s motto itself is based on Guru Gobind Singh’s Shabad.
Gurjot Kaler mentioned how Brig Chandpuri not only refused many political offers and even the offer from the Canadian Army to join their forces during his stint in Gaza as part of UN forces.
The best prayer and service to God is to serve his creation was the motto of Brig Chandpuri who believed in serving the needy, and downtrodden instead of going to Gurudwaras, said Hardeep.
The Poetic Rendezvous saw theatre personality Nisha Luthra treading softly on the poetic brilliance of expression with Prof Archana R. Singh, Jupinderjit Singh and Lily Swarn on the panel.
In the session on ‘Soldier2.0: Planning Ahead’, Col Sunil Prem, who setup his own IT company, in conversation with Col. Avinash Sharma, was critical of senior army officers looking for jobs in the corporate world should approach and talk to the owner or CEO of the business instead of being quizzed by the young breed of HR people who may not have the wherewithals to judge an officer’s worth and leadership abilities, which requires a big attitudingal change and advance preparation on the part of the retiring army officers, brought out in his book “Soldier 2.0”.
His advice to anyone seeking success in one’s career is to continue to learn and become more knowledgeable and useful to the organization one works for every day.
The post-lunch session on Rama’s Footsteps: A Journey of (His)Story  Neelesh Kulkarni in conversation with Niharika Bhuwania, retraced the trail of Rama’s fabled travels during his years in exile. Neelesh and Vikrant Pande travelled through all the places mentioned in Ramayana and in their quest discovered places least visited from Ayodhaya to Dandakaranya and Panchavati.
His favourite character in Ramayana is that of Jatayau, Neelesh said, because of his sheer dedication who protected Rama, Sita and Lakshman, but even followed Ravana and lost his life while battling with him.
The live session at UT guest house concluded with a lively session Pehchaan Punjab Di: Sur, Saaz te Sangeet, in which Ninder Ghugianvi, a prolific Panjabi writer brought out the nuances of Punjabiat with a legendary mother-daughter duo, Dolly Guleria and Sunaini Guleria Sharma.

Finally, Literati21 concluded with the online digital version in the evening. Inthe 15 sessions over 35 authors participated, including Jim Davidson fromColorado, and   Parinda Joshi from the USA,  Shubendra from UAE  and Kishwar Desai joined from London, UK.