Double Post Sunday: Post- 2 : Ngugi in Hyderabad

Though I possess four titles by him I haven’t read anything by Ngugi wa Thiong’O until last Sunday. I have a good idea how African writers can touch you with their vivid imagery and beautiful language after reading Chinua Achebe. Achebe’s writing had given me ideas about visiting Nigeria and other African countries to see for myself those lands and those people that these writers have brought alive in the pages of their wonderful books.

Sometime last week Kurmanath of Businessline had tweeted about Ngugi wa Thiong’ O’s visit to Hyderabad. I had read in the papers about Ngugi’s events in Delhi and also Kolkata but I never knew that he was coming to Hyderabad on Sunday. He would be in Hyderabad to launch a Telugu translation of his ‘Dreams in the Time of War’ that I had a copy of! I decided I would go to the event and get the book signed by Thiong’O. It is not every day that a writer who is on the Nobel shortlist comes to Hyderabad. In fact I realized I had another title by him- Petals of Blood- that I had found somewhere. I looked for it in my various bookshelves and found the book.

It was a wonderful evening last Sunday at the NTR Auditorium in Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University in Nampally where Ngugi launched the Telugu translation of ‘Dreams in the Time of War’ and also read out a few passages from it. It was an unforgettable evening for a couple of hundred people who filled up the hall and also spilled outside. However, it became chaotic after the reading since there was a clamour to take selfies with him and also get his signature on books. Everyone crowded around him and people had to be shooed off so he could get some breathing space. Someone decided it would be better if Ngugi signed the books outside. So the queue I was in broke off and began anew at a spot outside the auditorium.

I waited patiently while the others stood in line. One person made Ngugi sign on a thesis. A youngster standing in line before me noticed that I had two books in hand. He offered to get Ngugi’s signature on one of the books and took ‘Petals of Blood’ from me. Somehow I got his signature on the book in my hand. Afters sometime the youngster returned ‘Petals of Blood’ to me and said he got Ngugi to sign twice! I looked inside and found two pages on which Ngugi had signed!

Now after the event I checked my blog once more and found that I had found copies of ‘Devil on the Cross,’ Ngugi’s most famous novel perhaps, and also ‘Secret Lives’ a collection of short stories. I have never felt so dumb before failing to take these books along to get them signed by Ngugi. No wonder I work for the government.