The English Department of Kamala Nehru College held its annual Literary fest on 15th February, 2019 with events and competitions centred around the theme ‘Detection Through the Ages’. Students from various colleges and courses participated in many engaging events of the fest that brought together a community of people that shared a love of literature; indulging in a day filled with fun, excitement, mystery and detection.
Litluminous’19 commenced with its first event, a Paper Presentation on the theme, ‘Detection Through the Ages’. This event witnessed a vibrant and enthusiastic inter-college participation. While one student from Lady Shri Ram College presented a paper on ‘English Country Houses as a character in detective novels’, another student from Hansraj spoke about the parallels in the TV adaptation of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. Thereafter an interactive session also took place where the audience asked questions and the participants responded to it, initiating a stirring discussion among the students. The event showcased the different ways of looking at detective novels and opened avenues for the audience to reflect and hence broaden their own perspectives.
The first position for this event was bagged by Avani Solanki from Lady Shri Ram College. Her paper which captivated the judges was assessed and appraised as well researched. The second position was awarded to Aditi Kumar from Dyal Singh College whose paper was elaborate and touched upon some crucial points within the genre of detective fiction.
Students from KNC and other Delhi University colleges wove compelling narratives, in poetry and prose, during the second event – Weave-A-Tale, the creative writing competition which was also based on the theme of mystery and/or detective fiction. To incite the participants’ imagination, two visuals (scissors and bangles), as well as two audio prompts (sound of glass breaking and bells clanging, and the loud echo of an object hitting a smooth surface), were provided. A 50 minutes window of time yielded narratives mostly in prose, covering a melange of themes (such as suffocating relationships and explosive family dynamics) with mystery as the main underlying theme. Tamanya Dhupad from DCAC took home the first prize, followed by Deepika Gulati (English Honours) and Nakshatra Shah (Journalism Honours) from KNC.
The Panel Discussion was the third event of the day and was presided over by speakers Professor Christel Devadawson, Department of English, Delhi University, Maxwell Pereira, former Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police and Namita Paul, Department of English, Kamala Nehru College wherein they delineated the theme of the fest, ‘Detective through the Ages’ with insightful and thought-provoking narratives.
Professor Devadawson shed light upon detective fiction as a literary genre, mapping it out through history to “The Golden Age”. She bracketed the works of Anna Katherine Green, “the mother of detective fiction” who also invented the girl detective with that of Patricia Wentworth, who wrote in the classic whodunit style. From the nature of the game, shikaar to the changing narrative and historical truth, she led us into the Humdrum School through Agatha Christie.
Mr Pereira steered us into the discourse of detective nonfiction through his book, “The Tandoor Murder” which is a true account of how Sushil Sharma, a Congress MLA killed his wife, chopped the body into pieces and burnt it in a tandoor to dispose of the body. He foregrounded how these narratives are a sine qua non and must be known to the public.
Ms Namita Paul shed light upon spy thrillers and their vogue in 21st century Bollywood. She elucidated upon how movies like Ek Tha Tiger, Madras Cafe, Raazi and many such movies rise to popularity during times of political crisis, brushing upon how they model the warped nationalistic notion of jingoism in the audience. The symposium was followed by a Q&A session, ranging from ideas such as whether the quest of truth is compromised in detective fiction to how there’s a multiplicity of truth, contingent upon context.
A dimly lit common room found itself housing this marvel of Litluminous’19 in the midst of a Delhi University strike, hustle, bustle and various compounding tensions, (for organizers of the fest, the teacher’s union, politicians and the mafia alike, the latter owing to their precarious lifestyle) to name a few. The central idea, or whatever of it that could be deciphered from the mosaic of chameleon coloured instructions being given out, was that a team of three, upon having stepped into this eye of the storm, would have to, by sheer intellect and their cognitive prowess, endeavour to escape it. This escape would be profoundly or limply (depending on the gentry’s capability to interpret) aided by a strategically sequenced set of clues. The participants, subsequent to entering had to look for a clue sheet in the stack of playing cards which would show them the cards that they held in this quest. The next step was to find a map, an offer that you can’t resist, stashed among the many books, this would inevitably lead to the participants having to find the passcode for a phone that they had been very courteously provided. This passcode held the key to all navigational secrets, once opened, this Pandora’s box would unleash the challenge of having to find the key to the final problem. Which in an anti-climactic turn of events, was but a key to the other door of the common room which was in fact already open, despite a ceremonious lock being placed on it, the epitome of all unsatisfactory denouements. The common room in these few hours was not just the receptacle of clues and mysteries and all things detective, but it also shrined- for the lack of a better euphemism- a lot of stuff, that you are likely to find there even during non-mystery room days, this possibly unintentional move or planned mismanagement was a tour de force as it befuddled sense itself, making it more complicated for the unsuspecting participants to find clues, indisputably making them feel dumber than they already do on a regular basis owing to college (all English Hons. students can feel at liberty to agree now). This serene reality is evidenced by the fact that there were only three teams out of the myriad that traversed the mystery room which eventually solved the Sherlockian final problem, whether or not they had any external help is something I choose to remain silent on.
Kidding. They were all on their own in that solemn arena of mysteries. Just like they are in life.
The fact of the hour is that The Mystery room was incredibly well received and the cardinal point of attraction for all minds with a drive akin to that of a detective. Arushi from the first year went so far ahead as to say the mystery room was the “most thrilling thing” in her life at the moment, and that she regards her love for it higher than her love for Harry Styles and me. Kudos to Arushi. Ensconced in the environs of a delicately carved out themed space, this escape room was definitely something you would not have wanted to escape.
Another event that did not fail to captivate the students was In-Quiz-Ation: the Quiz competition. With questions ranging from the literary works of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie to that of popular culture and visual medium with the likes of detective shows including Hannibal and Dexter. The quiz competition was a chance for all the detective nerds to show off their knowledge, therefore it was a great success with participants and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
The day required a perfect end and that was surely provided for. ‘The Rumoured Project’, the band of Kamala Nehru College, performed for the closing ceremony and what an enthralling performance they gave! A perfect amalgamation of upbeat popular music with some soul rendering slow melodies was just the most magical ending to a day full of sniffing ‘leads’ to reach ‘resolutions’ and ‘Conclusions’.
White Noise 