In Pictures: The Jaipur litfest

Since I've already written a short summary about the literature festival, I thought it wise to do a photo-feature of the event. And as it is, the blog is very...umm...texty so I think a photo-feature will provide the much needed balance. Enjoy!

Sonia Falerio in conversation with Vikram Seth.

An amusing and lively start to the proceedings. Seth joked about how unfair mum Leila was when she threw him off the bestseller list with her debut novel. As he sipped red wine, Seth also recounted how neighbours were perplexed when told that Seth would spend most of his time just writing! His friends called him a "gregarious hermit" and, as he sipped his red wine, Seth recounted how his parents were a bit worried when he wanted to quit studying at Stanford and become a full-time writer ("Son, why don't you first finish studying and then think about writing?"). However, next day, the local press wasn't amused about his wine-drinking traits!

William Dalrymple, Siddharth Varadarajan, Malise Ruthven and Basharat Peer discuss the fundamentals of fundamentalism.

A profound and engaging session which opened with Dalrymple introducing the panelists and Ruthven making the opening remarks. Peer talked about how women in the Kashmir valley live under the fear of the Dukhtaran-E-Millat - a radical Islamic organisation - known to deface women who are clad in western clothes. During the post session Q&A, Varadarajan said that the phrase "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" holds no meaning.

Chetan Bhagat in conversation with Jai Arjun Singh and Namita Gokhale

Sometimes, an author's popularity can be judged just by the number of people who are in attendance to hear him/her speak. I reached the venue half-an-hour before Chetan's session was scheduled to start and was surprised to find half the seats filled up. Within the next 15 minutes, I saw people jostling for space and squatting on the floor. No doubt, Chetan got a rousing reception as he arrived, and went on to speak on a range of issues - being panned by critics, how 'literary' he actually is, the audience he caters to, the 'real' India which is often neglected by the media and his growth as. But the real fun started during the Q&A session, when school kids - clearly in awe of Chetan - stuttered while asking him questions. Even better were his replies. The lady sitting next to me exclaimed  "Touche!" or "Soooo Cute!" after his smart one-liners. The session was anything but literary and proved to be a great hit. In the end, it took us 15 minutes to get out of the hall as crowds gheraoed Chetan for autographs and photographs. His reaction? "Well, if such huge crowds have turned up to see me, you can very well imagine what'll happen when Mr. Bachchan arrives!"

William Dalrymple in conversation with Vikas Swarup

Firstly, whoever called this a 'session' had got it completely wrong. For, it seemed as if two long lost buddies were bantering around before an enthusiastic audience. Sample this: Willy to Vikas "If you, Navtej Sarna and a few others have started writing books, who's running India's External Affairs Ministry?". And this: (Vikas Swarup) "After the film was made, I never saw it for a long time. Suddenly, the media is scrambling for interviews and I don't have a clue. So I decided to see what the hell this movie is about!" Peppered with a generous dose of bollywood, Slumdog Millionaire and hilarious one-liners ("A diplomat will tell you to go to hell in such a manner that you actually look forward to the trip!" Vikas Swarup) the last session was a perfect way to wind up the first day. And lit up the evening which was filled with music, food and booze.

(L to R) Mohammed Hanif in conversation with Basharat Peer

Wit. That's the only word which comes to my mind when I think about this session because it was so full of it. It was also one of the few sessions where the author (in this case, Hanif) read out lengthy paragraphs from his book. That could be because Basharat's public speaking skills were pretty disappointing. But, Hanif more than made up for them as he read out passages from A Case of Exploding Mangoes (The "There is no god but Allah" one is a favourite) with the most deadpan of looks on his face. And it didn't stop here. In fact, his most quotable quote was reserved for the Q&A session. "You know, you guys should have invited Pervez Musharraf here. His autobiography is a good work of fiction!"

(L to R) Pico Iyer in conversation with Patrick French

I was very very apprehensive about attending this session. In fact, I had all but skipped it. I remember that, when I told my ex-boss about the subject of discussion, she exclaimed "Oh God!!". Clearly, not a very encouraging reaction. But, I am glad I did attend it for it was a riveting and engaging discussion about V.S. Naipaul - a man who's known for his literature yet, remains so reclusive. French read out passages from his book The World Is What It Is, Naipaul's authorised biography, leaving people bemused and curious about the Nobel laureate. Another reason why I attended the session was because I really enjoyed French's piece in Tehelka as he accompanied Nawaz Sharif on his return journey to Pakistan. 

(Lto R) Hari Kunzru in conversation with Jai Arjun Singh

By far, the most profound session of the festival.  Apparently, Hari is one of the most underrated writers of Indian origin (since I haven't read his books, I can't say for sure) and, as Jai informed us at the start of this session, My Revolutions is of very high quality but, surprisingly, didn't get due attention in India. Anyway, I started losing track of the rather 'heavy-duty' discussion soon after Hari mentioned that he was in the process of writing something which is set in the 16th century. And I'm pretty sure the audience was bored as this was perhaps the only session where the compere was looking for eager questioners!

(L to R) Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Shoma Chaudhary

A casual mention of Shashi Tharoor's session elicited an amusing response from somebody at the festival. "You know, words drip out of his mouth like oil off a baby's bottom!". And that's exactly what happened. Lucid, articulate and profound, Tharoor not only spoke about his latest book, but also about his vision for India. Be it relations with Pakistan and China or India's domestic concerns such as Naxal violence, education and poverty, Tharoor's eloquent argument held his audience in a trance. Quotable quotes? Yes, many, but his speech was so profound that I can only recall one about Pakistan. "In India, the State has the army whereas in Pakistan, the army has the State." However, the flip side of such a profound session was that the audience didn't get enough time to ask him questions. During the one hour session, Tharoor dominated proceedings for 45 minutes after which Shoma used her prerogative as moderator to ask a question. Hence, only 3 members of the audience could ask questions. 

With that, the photo feature comes to a close. Sadly, I couldn't attend the clash of civilizations debate the next day as I left for Delhi; exhausted - yet thrilled - from the experience.

P.S. A small anecdote. When the Kashmir session was about to begin, Patrick French realised that the hall was full and couldn't find a seat. I sacrificed my front row seat for his comfort in exchange for an interview ("It's a deal!" were his words). So if anyone out there has Mr French's email address/other contact details, please do let me know. :-)