By Rashmi Chopra
In mid-2017, Sanjeev decided to host a literature festival in our adopted city of Dehradun. He hoped to sustain 5 editions. Each year, after the event, he would say that the next one looked difficult. Each year, almost magically, it would happen again. And this year, we are preparing for our 10th edition. That’s VoW!
From Day 1, the festival was about voluntary work by everyone who wished to contribute towards building a cultural platform in Dehradun. Over the span of 10 years, some friends left but most stayed on and formed strong bonds of kinship and trust. VoW today is a family bound together by passion and perseverance, permitting each one to find their strengths while contributing to making VoW better with each passing year.
I remember a train ride from Delhi to Kapurthala in 2017 when we were constantly on the phone with Kishoreji of Takewing in Chennai. He was sending us options for naming the festival. After much to and fro of ideas, “Valley of Words” was born. Along with VoW, Iti Kriti, Iti Lekh, Iti Bhoj and Iti Smriti also took shape. Prince named our annual magazine VoWels. All these are still going strong. As also our partnerships with ITC SRA who send us wonderful musicians each year, Bajaj School of Learning for the Deaf who inspire us in sign language, Satish Sharma of Garhwal Post who continues to be a source of encouragement, and of course the gentle but professional Hemant Kochar of Madhuban who never lost faith in us.
VoW survived Covid by going online and its podcasts were named VoW Connect by Shaurya. Post-pandemic, VoW expanded and went pan-India. New bonds were formed with CIC in Chennai, Daly College in Indore, SAU in New Delhi, Max City in Mumbai, The Print and The Millennium Post. Young Indians started Iti Natya, Shalini Rao began Iti Nritya, and we added celebrations of the International Mother Language Day & the Children’s Literature Vertical in Him Jyoti School.
Tania Saili Bakshi joined us in 2021 and has since become the focal point of VoW. Her smile and dedication have strengthened the VoW Secretariat. Bikramji took on the odious task of handling the endless audits of VoW with Harshit’s team and Rohan Talwar was given no option but to join as our legal advisor. And ah! There is also Sawhneyji — quiet, unfazed and resourceful.
There is one other huge pillar of strength in VoW which is very dear to me — our team of young volunteers — college students who lend us their energy, enthusiasm, laughter and technical expertise. How I love to see them evolve and conduct the year-long programmes of VoW culminating in a professional, well-tuned team that takes on the smooth conduct of the flagship event without batting an eye. They remain a constant source of joy for me. Two of our volunteers are now interns with us — Sachin Chauhan who handles the Hindi Sahitya Vertical and Shalini Butola who handles the Festival Director’s Office. Yauvanika formally joined us last year with her passion for the printed word and the building of institutional memory.
Our Board of Governors remain our best guides and VoW has benefitted immensely from their experience and expertise.
The Logistics Team forms the backbone of VoW. What began as a humongous effort by a team of five friends is today run very efficiently by Shalini Dhanda and her team of volunteers. Their attention to detail has to be seen to be believed. We have learned to go into Silent Mode when Shalini lifts her bejewelled hand.
We continue to miss those who had to leave us for their personal reasons and we continue to wish them well in whatever they have chosen to do. And we continue to cherish those who have travelled with us and helped VoW grow into an entity larger than all of us and yet formed by a union of all of us with our unique skill sets.
As usual, I am told that this may be our last edition. As usual, I hope there might be one more — for over and above the virtues of passion and perseverance, VoW has taught me the value of patience. And finally, God’s will, as shown to us through the invaluable financial support through ONGC, REC, Gujarat Ambuja Exports, Gail, Coal India, Trifed, LSC, Urbana, Cello, Govt of Uttarakhand, PFC and Greenpanel.
Thank you for believing in us!
