Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Oct 23: Arhan Bagati, who heads Kashmir’s Yumberzal Applied Research Institute (KYARI), said that they will hold camps in Kashmir to help passionate youngsters to pursue different forms of art as a career. He has made the conduct of the Kumaon Literary Festival (KLF) possible in Kashmir.
Bagati, a Kashmiri Pandit by birth, is the Awareness and Impact Ambassador of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) and has been spearheading the growth of the Paralympic Movement in India since 2014.
He spoke to Excelsior last week on the sidelines of Literacy festival held here.
Q: What is the driving force behind this event?
Arhan Bagati (AB): The main aim of the Kumaon Literary Festival (KLF) is to promote Kashmir; promote its art, culture, heritage, history of this beautiful place, and present Kashmir in a positive light. People belonging to different art forms reached here to present their work, talk about this place which has been a part of their work, and promote Kashmir through their artistic work.
Q: Is it going to have any impact?
AB: Such events do have an impact especially when eminent scholars and artists reach here and talk about their work; it indeed sends out a positive message which in turn has a positive impact as a whole. The youth have participated in the KLF and that is a big positive in all this.
Q: Do you see it as a good start?
AB: This is just the start of our activities and we are aiming to do much more; we have recently worked with a film company that was intending to go to Himachal Pradesh for the shooting of the movie, but we persuaded them to come to Kashmir and do it here. We want to do everything that positively promotes Kashmir. We are sure that this attempt of bringing the Kumaon Literary Festival here will turn out to be a good start.
Q: How do you see literature in Kashmir?
AB: Kashmir is one of the most culturally diverse places; very heavy in literature. If you go to any place, you will find a huge amount of literature and that is what needs to be explored fully. The natural pull factor of this place has been its cultural heritage; the more it is promoted, the more positive picture will come out of Kashmir. That is what will reach not only the different parts of the country but across the globe.
Q: Tell us something about KYARI.
AB: My organization, Kashmir’s Yumberzal Applied Research Institute (KYARI), is a developmental research organization and we are doing developmental research in J&K under which we identify the problems district-wise and then with the help of expert researchers, we provide the solutions to the NGOs and the Government for the implementation of the same for the betterment of the people J&K. Eventually, my goal is to make KYARI self-sustainable, making it an organization that can implement the recommendations we are giving.
Q: What is KYARI looking to do next?
AB: The events like KLF are aimed at inspiring youth and after this, we can hold more such festivals, hold camps; bring in authors individually to train and inspire youth. Kashmir has great potential which needs to be harnessed. KYARI at a small scale and hopefully at a large scale is hoping to expose the young authors to experts in their fields. Several youngsters participated in the event who eventually want to become authors, write their stories and this is how they will be exposed to the field and get learning. We will host camps and similarly if other organizations, too, will bring in experts in fields to Kashmir, the same will be of great help to the passionate youngsters of Kashmir who want to pursue different forms of art as a career.
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