Travel across half the globe and it seems like you’ve come home. Toronto turned into an appropriate setting for a South Asian festival as writers, academics, performing artists and enthusiasts came together for a three-day programme packed with debates and discussions, lively exchanges, a variety of readings, music and dance performances, making the university setting in the heart of the city echo with South Asian themes and sounds between September 30 and October 2.

The 2011 Festival of South Asian Literature and the Arts, shortened to FSALA 2011, was organised by the Toronto South Asian Review and the Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Toronto, with support from a number of other groups as well as the corporate sector.

Described as “primarily a Canadian arts festival,” the purpose of FSALA 2011 is stated in the programme brochure as “to present to the public, the works of writers, musicians, and other artists. The panels and lectures will discuss vital topics on Canadian and South Asian arts. FSALA is a forum for the public to meet the artists from across the country and for the artists to meet each other.” Although the three days were packed, the programme served this purpose well as it provided ample opportunity for presentation as well as interaction.

The programme began on Friday afternoon with a panel discussion entitled “Whither South Asian drama in Canada?” with playwrights, academics and theatre persons. It was a treat to hear about the dedicated work being done by small theatre groups, many of them working in Punjabi, bringing up social issues through the vibrant medium of the stage. This was followed by a delightful talk by Mahesh Dattani, the Indian playwright known for his English-language plays who is now being recognised as a film-maker with a difference.

The formal welcome was a simple and austere event. The former Governor General of Canada, Adrienne Clarkson, opened the programme with a speech which was more literary than the stiff opening speeches doled out in our part of the world. She quoted the Quran on ethnic diversity as a God given characteristic of humankind and noted that the venue of the programme used to be a chapel previously and was now ringing with South Asian poetry and music. Writers Kwai Li and Rabindra Maharaj read out from their work.

Kwai Li is the author of a well-received collection of short stories set in Calcutta’s Chinatown, and her account of the Chinese community’s fascinating background and their subsequent persecution by the Indian police after the India-China war during the 1960s was especially interesting. The music programme was in tune with the Faiz centennial and with his soulful rendering of Faiz ghazals, vocalist Nadeem Shah left the audience wishing for more. This was followed by a tribute to Tagore by Ananya Mukherjee’s lilting recitation.

Two parallel sessions on the second day increased the numbers of sessions but divided the audience. The first group of readings by Canada-based authors and the panel discussion on the Canadian literary identity in the context of the official policy of multiculturalism, I had to give a miss, since I was part of the very lively discussion on “Non-English Languages: What Are We Missing?” The title provided speakers ample room for highlighting the issues which they regarded as important. In my turn I spoke from the context of Pakistan, the “non-English” literature which fails to capture the attention of a global market or media hype, but is rich in the flavour of “felt life” from the heart of the country. Ajmer Rode, a well-known Punjabi poet, emphasised the diversity of languages and Baidar Bakht, who has translated several volumes of poetry from Urdu, talked about the difficulties of translation by taking a line of Ghalib and illustrating his thesis by translating it in at least eight different ways.

Harish Narang said that if we cannot have good translations, let us have bad translations for the time being, but the most provocative turned out to be Dalit poet Neerav Patel’s mention of Ram. With active participation from the audience (which included Girish Karnad), the discussion took up Ram’s example to question if the divine and the demonic could co-exist in one figure. Even while touching sensitive issues of faith, the debate remained very civilised, another trait of character now lost to us.

Readings included Punjabi, Gujrati, Hindi and Tamil writings while Urdu was represented by Canada-based poet Nuzhat Siddiqui whose “Pipal say Maple Tak” beautifully captured the immigrant’s shift of loyalties through the images of two trees. In another session, I read my short story while Meena Alexander and Neerav Patel read their poems. Alexander’s poems describing Ghalib’s imaginary meeting with her grandmother were an intellectual treat. A whole session was devoted to a younger generation of writers and their concerns.

These included Padma Vishwanathan, Anand Mahadevan, Ameen Merchant and co-chaired by Shaista John. The Indo-Caribbean literature, almost entirely new for me, combined readings with panel discussion and was an excellent opportunity to learn about this rich and diverse group of writers. A new set of books was also launched.

Girish Karnad could easily be termed the lead star of the entire festival. The Kannada language playwright is one of the major figures in contemporary Indian literature and a formidable presence. He read from his work in progress, an autobiographical piece about the marriage of his parents, and one could not fail to be touched by the fortitude and moral courage  in the face of the social and personal disturbances the marriage created.

Karnad was also interviewed on the stage along with Mahesh Dattani and discussed not only examples from his work, but modern Indian theatre. A dance performance inspired by the Indian courtesan repertoire by the inDANCE company enthralled the audience in the jam-packed hall. While applauding the performance, I could not help wondering why Pakistan has such low visibility on the international cultural scene. No wonder the world recognises Pakistan only through stereotypes.

The writer is a fiction writer and critic