Good.To.Go.: A Festival of Conversations, Comfort, and Connection
On August 23rd and 24th, the Bangalore International Centre became the setting for something both bold and deeply humane—Good.To.Go., India’s first Death Literacy Festival, co-organised by Pallium India and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, with support from Microland Foundation and Ajit Isaac Foundation. Across two days, the festival opened up conversations around death, dying, grief, and care—subjects we often shy away from, but which touch every one of our lives. Through panel discussions, workshops, performances, and immersive experiences, participants were invited to reflect, share, and discover ways of approaching the end of life with dignity, empathy, and awareness.
Highlights included thought-provoking sessions like “What does dying in India look like, and what needs to change?” and practical workshops on living wills and advance medical directives, reminding us that planning ahead is an act of care for ourselves and our loved ones.
Pic: Panel discussion on ‘What does dying in India look like, and what needs to change.’
At the same time, experiential spaces created profound moments of connection:
- At the Wind Telephone, visitors could “speak” to those they had lost, finding comfort in words left unsaid.
- The Memory Tree stood tall with handwritten messages, fluttering with love for those no longer with us.
- The Grief Circle, facilitated by Sonali Gupta, held a safe, compassionate space to share and release collective grief.
- Specialized sessions included Dealing with the Loss of Pets with Chinthana Gopinath, and a tender, age-appropriate workshop for children navigating grief, conducted by Joanna Pinto.
- The Oral History Association of India facilitated moving conversations between family members, recording their stories and reflections as living archives of love, memory, and connection.
The festival also created spaces of engagement beyond conversations—book corners by Champaca and Funky Rainbow curated literature on life, death, and healing, while performances, including an opening musical by Bindhumalini, bridged sorrow and hope with the language of art. The play titled “Parting with Words” wove poetry and literature into reflections on grief, bringing this edition of the festival to a closure.
Good.To.Go. was more than a festival; it was an invitation to rethink how we approach death and, in doing so, how we live. For many, it offered a sense of relief, clarity, and community in the knowledge that these conversations are not just necessary—they are transformative.
Pic: Bindhumalini had the audience rapt with her soulful renditions of the mystic poets.
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