Apparently so!
The idea of some quiet solitude among swaying palms and silver sands or informed discussions amidst green hills and tumbling rivulets seem to be taking root effortlessly in today’s writing India.
Till recently visions of a peaceful hideaway, away from the hurry burry of everyday life where you could write at will were just that –mere visions. Today they appear a possibility. An actual reality and no not a virtual impossibility!
So if you are looking for some meaningful interaction with like-minded people either head for the hills or the beaches. While Mussoorie has just finished hosting its International Writers’ Festival with Stephen Alter in attendance and had been expecting a ‘sea of writers to come cascading’,
Kovalam is going to town with more writers than you can count on your fingers. Then there is the Sangam Residency with Arshia Sattar no less offering you a free few months stay in lovely Pondicherry to finish the book that’s churning ‘inside’ your head.
Mussoorie has a history of hosting similar meets e.g the Ruskin Bond Festschrift that was in honor of Roald Dahl and Ruskin Bond and had Bond playing host. So if you’ve missed this year’s deadlines do look out for the 2009 offering. It’s sure to be spectacular!
But if you are the kind that needs no special interaction but just some peace and quiet then there are places like Raheem residency in Alleppy Kerala which offers writers special attention and special rates. Goa too it appears is on the look out for aspiring writers while Delhi has its own quiet spot offering among tranquil surroundings!
You could also take off on your own in a group to wherever you like as did some members of an online writing group recently. Something quite unheard of till now!
Workshops, courses, discussions, discourses, debates, readings, critiquing and networking all necessary ingredients that go into the making of a writer are usually on tap at almost all the retreats in the west. Now it seems in India too.
Particularly useful for the isolated freelancer these retreats appear to be geared to help a would-be writer on her way or an experienced-tired- one with a much required break!
So if you are now at that stage in your writing career where you might like to mingle with similar minds or would want to check out new styles and techniques making waves in the writing world or maybe just some peace and quiet to do your own thing these homes-away-from-homes may just be the right thing for you.
Interspersed with yoga, animated interchanges and much tranquility these retreats and residencies appear to have everything that might be needed to nudge the much harried freelance writer to greater heights!
So time and money permitting-
Go for it!
- Sreelata Menon
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