The many fruits of Meghalaya's creative economy

Post-covid, Meghalaya decided to revive its economy by focusing on the creative arts. The result is a delightful medley of food, literature and music experiments

- SANDIP ROY

Cherry blossoms at Ward's Lake, Shillong, in November.

At a literary festival one expects to come back with the usual haul. Autographed books. Selfies with authors. A tote bag.

But as a writer I am embarrassed to admit I bought no books at the Shillong Literary Festival in November. My excuse was books are heavy, I was already carrying some and there was no room in my luggage. However I managed to find room for some very unliterary goodies—bottles of fruit wine carefully swaddled in T-shirts and socks.

I felt like a literary traitor. Every year I go to the Kolkata Book Fair, the world's largest non-trade book fair. And every year I make snide remarks about how the lines for the food stalls selling biryani and fish fries are longer and busier than the lines to get into the bookstores. Now I was one of those people.

But then I remembered what IAS officer and Meghalaya commissioner D. Vijay Kumar had said at the opening of the Shillong Literary Festival. He said post-covid, the state decided the way it wanted to revive its economy was to focus on the “creative economy.” The literary festival was part of it, as were the Chief Minister's Meghalaya Grassroots Music Program (CMMGMP), films, design and food. And fruit wine.

As I walked to the festival venue past Ward's Lake and cherry trees in pastel bloom, the food stalls were just setting up but smiling vendors already offered samples of fruit wine. “It’s barely 10 in the morning,” I protested feebly. “It’s just a sample,” John, a beaming young man replied as he offered a swig of dark sohiong or Meghalaya blackberry wine. It was surely wine o'clock somewhere.