Jaipur Literary Festival 2011: Some Notes
21st Jan 2011 to 25th Jan 2011
A big round of applause to Sanjoy , Nameeta & William , the hosts of Diggi , the staff , the various teams , the celeb writers , artists, media and not the least to the dedicated reading populous who make such events a Festival to Enjoy. Well done!!
The Evocative Inauguration
Blackberry boys ad was the morning curtain raiser on the Vodafone Front Lawns startling Sanjoy on the dais, the dignitaries in front and the hundreds gathered to listen. It died in few seconds and the tableaux unfroze.
Faith Singh quoted from Kabir’s doha
Dr.Karan Singh spoke on the necessity of translations and recitations or readings which truly capture the mind of the writer and impact the imagination of the reader for example on reading T.S. Elliot’s “Wastelands” it had made no sense till he had heard the recording . Karan Sigh then recited “Who” a poem by Shri Aurobindo and with such effortless flow that an audience of hundreds were held within the strands of silence. Here are the verses reproduced which I picked up from the net:
Dr.Karan Singh spoke on the necessity of translations and recitations or readings which truly capture the mind of the writer and impact the imagination of the reader for example on reading T.S. Elliot’s “Wastelands” it had made no sense till he had heard the recording . Karan Sigh then recited “Who” a poem by Shri Aurobindo and with such effortless flow that an audience of hundreds were held within the strands of silence. Here are the verses reproduced which I picked up from the net:
WHO – Shri Aurobindo
In the blue of the sky, in the green of the forest,
Whose is the hand that has painted the glow?
When the winds were asleep in the womb of the ether,
Who was it roused them and bade them to blow?
Whose is the hand that has painted the glow?
When the winds were asleep in the womb of the ether,
Who was it roused them and bade them to blow?
He is lost in the heart, in the cavern of Nature,
He is found in the brain where He builds up the thought:
In the pattern and bloom of the flowers He is woven,
In the luminous net of the stars He is caught.
He is found in the brain where He builds up the thought:
In the pattern and bloom of the flowers He is woven,
In the luminous net of the stars He is caught.
In the strength of a man, in the beauty of woman,
In the laugh of a boy, in the blush of a girl;
The hand that sent Jupiter spinning through heaven,
Spends all its cunning to fashion a curl.
In the laugh of a boy, in the blush of a girl;
The hand that sent Jupiter spinning through heaven,
Spends all its cunning to fashion a curl.
There are His works and His veils and His shadows;
But where is He then? by what name is He known?
Is He Brahma or Vishnu? a man or a woman?
Bodies or bodiless? twin or alone?
But where is He then? by what name is He known?
Is He Brahma or Vishnu? a man or a woman?
Bodies or bodiless? twin or alone?
We have love for a boy who is dark and resplendent,
A woman is lord of us, naked and fierce.
We have seen Him a-muse on the snow of the mountains,
We have watched Him at work in the heart of the spheres.
A woman is lord of us, naked and fierce.
We have seen Him a-muse on the snow of the mountains,
We have watched Him at work in the heart of the spheres.
We will tell the whole world of His ways and His cunning;
He has rapture of torture and passion and pain;
He delights in our sorrow and drives us to weeping,
Then lures with His joy and His beauty again.
He has rapture of torture and passion and pain;
He delights in our sorrow and drives us to weeping,
Then lures with His joy and His beauty again.
All music is only the sound of His laughter,
All beauty the smile of His passionate bliss;
Our lives are His heart-beats, our rapture the bridal
Of Radha andKrishna , our love is their kiss.
All beauty the smile of His passionate bliss;
Our lives are His heart-beats, our rapture the bridal
Of Radha and
He is strength that is loud in the blare of the trumpets,
And He rides in the car and He strikes in the spears;
He slays without stint and is full of compassion;
He wars for the world and its ultimate years.
And He rides in the car and He strikes in the spears;
He slays without stint and is full of compassion;
He wars for the world and its ultimate years.
In the sweep of the worlds, in the surge of the ages,
Ineffable, mighty, majestic and pure,
Beyond the last pinnacle seized by the thinker
He is throned in His seats that for ever endure.
Ineffable, mighty, majestic and pure,
Beyond the last pinnacle seized by the thinker
He is throned in His seats that for ever endure.
The Master of man and his infinite Lover,
He is close to our hearts, had we vision to see;
We are blind with our pride and the pomp of our passions,
We are bound in our thoughts where we hold ourselves free.
He is close to our hearts, had we vision to see;
We are blind with our pride and the pomp of our passions,
We are bound in our thoughts where we hold ourselves free.
It is He in the sun who is ageless and deathless,
And into the midnight His shadow is thrown;
When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,
He was seated within it immense and alone.
And into the midnight His shadow is thrown;
When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,
He was seated within it immense and alone.
Sheldon Pollock, an indologist who has taken on the leadership of Murty Classical Library delivered the Keynote address. Explaining the tradition of Literary Festivals right from the 12 century at Kalyana North Karnataka Pollock pointed out that classical languages were dying out “a litocide or eroside ?” Classical literature draws out the different ways to be human said Pollock and asked “who appreciates the beauty of a woman her father or her lover ?” He closed his talk asking “who will we love to taste, the sweetness of poetry or the elixir of immortality”.
Orhan Pamuk the failed architect painter and hugely popular story teller is a natural teacher. With articulation and carefully chosen words Pamuk described his book “My name is Red”, with the joy of colour put on an empty page with textures from Ottoman, Persian and Mughal art , the context of Turkish classical literature and the undertones of the Sufi culture , a heavy burden to embrace modernity, religion, and nationalism.
Orhan Pamuk the failed architect painter and hugely popular story teller is a natural teacher. With articulation and carefully chosen words Pamuk described his book “My name is Red”, with the joy of colour put on an empty page with textures from Ottoman, Persian and Mughal art , the context of Turkish classical literature and the undertones of the Sufi culture , a heavy burden to embrace modernity, religion, and nationalism.
Pamuk said “Past lives in the imagination of the present”. The Museum Of Innocence
“The human heart is the same everywhere but human life is different every where due to culture history etc. Yet the mind can enjoy different realities at the same time.” Kemal the obsessive lover in the book was a modern day Romeo with sex at the beginning and then goes on to being the historical pining Romeo. Kemal is a collector bringing in objects to narrate a story a memory of Fusan . A museum houses a collection, a collection with a story Gathering is without purpose just acquiring.
Pamuk described himself as a writer of stories of objects, a sentimental craftsmen of objects using words just as some are writers of emotions. Possibly says Pamuk as I am a failed painter. Orhan Pamuk admits that he adds stories to objects as opposed to a writer of an object story.
”Cancer is tired of having cancer, the shame and secrecy. With pills I buy a year.” Katherine Russell survivor for 17 years shared her moments with Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee , author of Emperor of Maladies and Dr Kavery Nambisan author “ The story that must not be told”. Dr Kavery is sensitive, delicate and articulate having spent a good deal of her time inIndia
”Cancer is tired of having cancer, the shame and secrecy. With pills I buy a year.” Katherine Russell survivor for 17 years shared her moments with Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee , author of Emperor of Maladies and Dr Kavery Nambisan author “ The story that must not be told”. Dr Kavery is sensitive, delicate and articulate having spent a good deal of her time in
Dr Siddhartha is optimistic having interviewed hundred of case histories. “The medicine treats the disease, the patient has to effect the cure,” says Dr Mukherjee.
A compassionate yet provoking discussion, stressing the need for accurate information to be made available to the public.
Navtej Sarna : Zafarnamah
Visvajit Singh: Kissa Shah Mohammad Sufi poet who records the 1st Sikh War
Zafarnamah are the exquisite Persian verses which form the letter Guru Gobind Singh wrote in 1705 to Aurangazeb deploring the treachery of his generals on keeping their word given on oath on the Koran, Aurangazeb’s intolerance to other faiths and resorts him to go back to the brotherhood of men.
In 1704 the city of Anandpur had to be vacated, and the Guru himself had to escape from Chamkaur Sahib towards Machhiwara jungle. Even at Machhiwara he was surrounded by enemy forces from all sides, in spite of the word given for safe conduct. In the jungle Guru Ji met two Pathan brothers Nabi Khanand Ghani Khan who are dressed in blue. He was escorted by them who referred to him as Uch-
Ka-Pir (a holy man from Uch). Guru ji writes “when all is said, when all is tried, justice is not given , it is right to pick up the sword , pick up the fight.”
After the Aurangazeb’s death a war of succession broke out between his sons. The third son, Mohammad Azam declared himself the Emperor. The second son Muazzam later Emperor Bahadur Shah set out from Peshawar to claim the throne. The Guru Govind’s follower Bhai Nand Lal who had earlier served in the Muazzam 's court, brought him a letter written by Muazzam. Muazzam had sought Guru's help in securing the throne, and had promised to pursue a policy of religious tolerance towards the non-Muslims. The Guru sent a band of his followers under the command of Bhai Dharam Singh, to help Muazzam. Muazzam's forces defeated Azam Shah's forces and Muazzam ascended the throne as Bahadur Shah. He invited Guru Gobind Singh for a meeting and the Guru was received with honour.
Vishvajit Singh read his translation in Hindi of Kissa Shah Mohammad, which praises the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and records the sorrowful annexation of Punjab by the British. A tragic tale of how battles were won but victory was of the enemy due to the deceit and treachery of the Sikh generals. This is how the Koh I noor came to the Sikhs “After the assassination of Nader Shah in 1747, the stone came into the hands of Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan. In 1830, Shah Shuja, the deposed ruler of Afghanistan, managed to flee with the Kohinoor diamond. He then came to Lahore where it was given to the Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh; in return for this Maharaja Ranjit Singh won back the Afghan throne for Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk. Later on the British through the annexation of Sikh Kingdom
A pan view of a turning point in Indian History and how the Sikh & Marathas stood up against invaders to keep them out. A tragic tale of how battles were won but victory was of the enemy due to the deceit and treachery of one’s own people. Fascinating and surely a must read to get a connection of how these events shaped the course of our country and the continuing play of politics over human interest .So relevant!
Mao: The Unknown Story by the husband and wife team of writer Jung Chang and historian Jon Halliday,
Biography of Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong(1893–1976) and depicts Mao as being responsible for more deaths in peace time than Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin.
Jung Chang & Jon Halliday had the audience in mesmerist silence listening to stories of Mao evil actions. “Mao was not a mad man , he was an evil man”. What Mao said
and did and what the propaganda machinery painted of him are two different aspects.
Contrary to popular beliefs Mao had a small role to play in the Long March and in fact the people on the March requested Stalin to get him to Russia China Russia China
Mao on Women
Mao Zedong, famously declared that "women hold up half the sky". In fact the women knew that the statement meant backbreaking labour to keep the propaganda going.
His true legacy 70 million deaths just between 1958 & 1962 40 mil people died. The Great famine was a creation of Mao, he used the food to buy nuclear hard ware from East Europe , he used it for building arsenal, for atomic power and missile technology. "Educate the peasant to eat less", or "half of China
Mao hated the peasants and was not pro peasants. During Mao urban rural divide was 25:1. He waged a war on peasants. In 1962 Zhou Enlai and members ambushed Mao and stopped the policy of bleeding the food out from the country for the Mao projects. Contrary to popular belief the 1945-49 civil war was not an uprising of the peasants but a war between the governing party and the communist party.
Mao hated the peasants and was not pro peasants. During Mao urban rural divide was 25:1. He waged a war on peasants. In 1962 Zhou Enlai and members ambushed Mao and stopped the policy of bleeding the food out from the country for the Mao projects. Contrary to popular belief the 1945-49 civil war was not an uprising of the peasants but a war between the governing party and the communist party.
When asked about the iconic inspiration of Mao by many factions in India Jung suggested that it was ironic that Mao waged war on the peasants and in the civil war peasants did not support communism.
A little know detail, Mao was a voracious reader especially Chinese classics.
Pallavi Aiyar, Jung and Halliday with their discussion created a widescreen visual of narratives in RDX Dolby sound that Mao was bad not mad.
Pallavi Aiyar, Jung and Halliday with their discussion created a widescreen visual of narratives in RDX Dolby sound that Mao was bad not mad.
Junot Diaz and Sonia Faleiro discussed what it means to be a Dominican immigrant and grow up in the poorest of poor neighbourhoods of New Jersy in the 70's. Pulitzer prize winner and Professor at MIT Junot is an engaging bundle of hard reality with the vulnerable softness of a person who has grown up knowing all his lessons from observing, interacting and loving his people. If Orhan Pamuk is a teller of stories using objects Junot is a story maker using feelings as narratives. Richly laced with profanity which were used as simply as commas and exclamations, Junot shared his writing process with candour and irreverence.
”US is not interested in communities, only in individuals. It selects a winner. Am I that one?”
” Marginalisation of people of colour “. Jumot says “myAmerica is a black America
”Do not write to seek approval, only to have a conversation. Writing for approval is stifling. Have less approval more conversation with one’s self.”
” Relate with others see the self in them, then there's no approval or sanction required.”
On dictatorship ” dictatorship produces silence, obliterates history. Better to live without history than recollect a history of dictator deeds like disappearances, murder, etc. Dictatorship erodes the national character replaces it with silence.
”The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao” won him the Pulitzer. In February 2010, Diaz contributed a highly negative critical assessment of the presidency of Barack Obama to The New Yorker writing in his essay "One Year: Storyteller-in-Chief": Hence the title of this session with Faleiro.
”US is not interested in communities, only in individuals. It selects a winner. Am I that one?”
” Marginalisation of people of colour “. Jumot says “my
”Do not write to seek approval, only to have a conversation. Writing for approval is stifling. Have less approval more conversation with one’s self.”
” Relate with others see the self in them, then there's no approval or sanction required.”
On dictatorship ” dictatorship produces silence, obliterates history. Better to live without history than recollect a history of dictator deeds like disappearances, murder, etc. Dictatorship erodes the national character replaces it with silence.
”The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao” won him the Pulitzer. In February 2010, Diaz contributed a highly negative critical assessment of the presidency of Barack Obama to The New Yorker writing in his essay "One Year: Storyteller-in-Chief": Hence the title of this session with Faleiro.
Its Saturday and the morning is already swollen with the breath of hundreds of visitors. There is a scramble for seats, nasty altercations but all subside when the Stars get on stage. Over to Day 2 of JLF 2011, the literary
We have a fascinating story of Jamali a Sufi poet in the court of Sikander Lodi who lies buried in a tomb next to Kamali his homosexual lover. Jamali Kamali by Karen Chase is her verse narrative of the story handed down in the oral tradition but never penned. Quite another take on memory was from National Geographic Photographer Annie Griffith. She observed that in dealing with people across different lands language is never an obstacle, sometimes interpreter’s straight jacket the conversations. In 2008, Griffiths
Ben Macintyre talked about the book “Operation Mincemeat” a critical episode in the resolution of WW11 for the Allies. Having grown up in the shadow of Cold War,James Bond or Micheal Caine in Ipcress File what a treat to have Mr Macintyre narrate the story “of the man who never was“ with a lovely lilt holding all the strands of the plot with nonchalance . What a scheme, so absurd and naive but just the simple plot that is often a bigger con than a complex movement.
The coincidence of reputed forensic specialist in the tiny Spanish coastal town who is suspicious of the cause of death but the authorities do so want to believe otherwise, the assistance of a svelte young Brit secretary in the War office and the attention to detail in making the deception seem true.
So enthused were the audience that the book was sold out in minutes. I shall have to get my copy.
I first read Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni in The Unknown Errors of our Lives and then Sister of my heart, Arranged Marriage and of course Palace of Illusions California India
This was a panel session with writers who have moved out of their native lands. Some had travelled across seas ,others a short distance. “What is the influence of your native voice in your writing” asked the moderator Chandrahas Chaudhury of Ian Jack, Junot Diaz, Kamila Shamsie, Manjushree Thapa, and Marina Lewycka. Some responses:
“It’s a silent voice”
“Imaginary homelands a world we sometimes expunge”
“Moving between worlds easily is like travel in club class; it’s budget travel when the transfer is disruptive”
“How adept can I be at maintaining separate identities – flow between childhood to adulthood”
“Society likes purity”
“Often the new world is like an imaginary world outside our own milieu”
“Writing of settlement, who sees best thro the lens the angles”.
Junot Diaz said ” writing about representation is not approbation”
A listener commented,” with great divides of thinking and beliefs in one’s own home between generations, it’s as if each of us inhabits an imaginary homeland”.
It was important to save your seat and so we heard Kiran Desai gush, giggle and gurgle in conversation with Jai Arjun Singh who was simply marvellous as he tried to get Ms Desai to talk about her work, the influence of her mother and her take on the aftermath to the “Inheritance of loss”.
At last we had the awaited exchange on “ Out of West” with Orhan Pamuk,Kiran Desai, Leila Aboulela,Chimamanda Adichi , Nam
Here were successful writers not of Western root but writing and garnering audiences and acclaim in the Western world. Apparently Pamuk had suggested the topic but it seemed a tug of wits between the moderator who felt that there was no special limitation if one was not from West and the panellists sharing different sensibilities. Chimamanda was vocal and clear not only with the difficulty of one writing in one’s own language other than English and getting published but finding representation. Pamuk explained,
” The human voice is not of a particular nationality ; it’s a sentiment ,an expression of humanity”. Mr Pamuk takes great care to get the right word and explain the context a true pedagogue and it was instructing to listen to him and look with sharper insight
at the word visuals.
It was weak wintry Sunday morning and the dry chill over Jaipur kept the traffic in check. Was Jaipur lazy on this Sunday. No! The roads had been cleared for the Jaipur Marathon. And the Front lawns of Diggi were fast filling up with listeners who had known Ruskin Bond for over half a century. How can I forget the monthly tussle at home for the “Imprint” magazine where Mr Bond was regularly featured. Ah! The weekend promises to be delightful especially after some fine gazal singing by Ali Sethi the previous night. Later on in the Festival I chatted a few minutes with Sethi and I think he said he had an Ustadji for his practice but was greatly encouraged by the feedback of Farida Khanum. I think it was what I heard with deafening noise of drums. It would be lovely to listen to Ali sing.
Back to Sunday and the front lawns, and the anticipation of seeing Ruskin Bond in person. At 78 Ruskin Bond was sharp, eyes twinkling and looked well. The topic was “Boys will be boys” and it was only Ruskin Bond who had an air of mischief about him. Ravi Singh was so persuasive and soon we had some poignant reading from the author after a particularly naughty narration of youthful passions!
Ruskin Bond said “sit quietly and write. Write for yourself.” Dressed how I had known the hill station gentry in a blue check cardigan, slicked back thinning hair and thick glasses , Ruskin Bond shared why he was none too fond of the tiger. He narrated an incident of high drama in his boyhood when he was trapped by a tiger. The listeners were petrified as they imagined the peril to the stranded boy clambering on to the rooftop. Deadpan Ruskin Bond concluded, now that’s why I don’t like tigers and I made up the whole story this instant. None of it is true.
A live demo of how the stories come flowing out of his fingers to delight young and adult.
I had to hold my place on the front lawns but I was not going to miss the session of energetic and utterly mesmerising interaction with Gcina Mlophe from Durban South Africa . Gcina is remarkable with her body her words. There is a fluidity that is hypnotic the generous laughter and pouring out of warmth. Everyone was enchanted and then Gcina spoke about the traditions and culture of people across the world. Visiting a native Indian settlement in Canada Gcina was received by the elder who burned
some herbs to let the ancestors know of the new daughter in the tribe. Gcina said that Zulus too had a similar practice of burning herbs to reach one’s ancestors and seek their blessings on their new brethren. Lovely customs of culture wishing peace and acceptance for all whom we meet. Gcina had a lovely shake she called “bum jive” and danced and sand “sometimes when it rains”.
The atmosphere was so open and the audience reached out to one another and I met some interesting people. Thank you Gcina.
Rushing back from Gcina through jamlocked crowds just in time to catch the debate on the Crisis of American Lit. There was Jay MacInerney and I definitely recommend his “Bright Lights , Big City ” to connect to the 70’s of New York
Naipul said “ the novel is dead “, as he himself is declining. The decine of the novel more perceived by each generation that fact. A good novel follows the reader and grows with the reader. Richard Ford the respected American novelist so no decline. Anchoring the session was Martin Amis who suggested that writing for an audience can stifle. Write for yourself.
After lunch it was readings from J M Coetzee. Patrick French made a small introduction. Mr Coetzee had a podium, stood up against it and read all that he had to say. He chose to read a short story “The old woman and the Cats” set in Spain
Do read the story for its pointed observations
” We are not born with faces. A face Has to be coaxed out of us. Animals don’t have faces; they don’t have individuality so no face.
“Animals have soul but no character.”
Invisibility is not the capacity of the object; it’s the perception of the observer”.
Mr Coetzee fascinated while Junot Diaz attracted.
Hopefully on Monday the crowds thins out and many weekend visitors from Delhi
Let me share my friend Mr Hasan ‘s verse . Mr Hasan is my JLF friend for three years and he and his wife are generous , hospitable and friendly.
24th & 25th Jan 2011
Listening to Ruskin Bond on Sunday I remember Prof P Lal of Writers Workshop who “provided alternative publishing making names known and well known” since 1958, Names like Ruskin Bond, Vikram Seth, Anita Desai, Sashi Despande and many more. Manohar Malgonkar has written about Prof Lal in his book “ Dropping Names “ and I have been trying to get a copy since a year.
Chimamanda Adichi is popular and the Front lawns are packed. She is young confident and success sits comfortably on her slim torso. She is quick to inform Dr Jasbir Jain, that “ Half a Yellow Sun “ is not her story. Since she has such a feeling voice in her book many readers do offer her sympathy even after she informs them that the material is based on her father’s story and the experience of his generation in Biafra . She pointed out the difference between righteousness and right and the cruelty of a “hunger that remembers “adding that greed creates such hunger.
One is forced to be aware that almost all famines that destroyed large numbers have all been engineered by human act. During the British Raj, India experienced some of the worst famines ever recorded, including the Great Famine of 1876–78, in which 6.1 million to 10.3 million people died and the Indian famine of 1899–1900, in which 1.25 to 10 million people died or the Bengal Famine of 1943-44 where 4 mill persons died. Recent research, including work by Mike Davis and Amartya Sen, attribute most of the effects of these famines to British policy in India China to fund Mao projects or the Biafra famine which killed 1 million people. Power and greed create food shortages not so much climate and nature.
Anthony Sattin transported us to a Nile cruise in the winter of 1848 with Florence Nightingale, Gustave Flaubert. In conversation with Sattin , William Dalrymple proved to be a delightful accessory to the narration of this story of two personalities so outwardly unlike yet by strange coincidence were in the same places without a real contact. Running beneath the text of the book is the landscape of Pharaoh’s Egypt Luxor with the same practice as the mourning for the dead 3000 years back held in Luxor Sind .
Some works that were mentioned in what influences an author were :
Toni Morrison, Tolstoy ,Doestoevesky, Wastelands, Middlemarch. May be read all of Austin & George Elliot, having read Hardy & Dickens last year. The trouble is the ones who knew these characters like old friends are not around and so memory dims and fades out. A time when one spoke alluding to characters & quotes from books and it was understood. Now a book is critiqued, publicized and sold. I say Ayan Mani and you ask who. I have to say Serious Men. Or “Harish middle class ways “doesn’t recall Suitable Boy.
Moshin Hamid Reluctant Fundamentalist is a very clever narration. Set in unreal frames the plot is chilling and how. Chandrahas Choudhry was an excellent facilitator and we all got an interesting insight to contemporary writing styles. Moshin shared his take on writing as a long slog. Here people characters are cheap but the book itself is a work of art that is not a capital investment.
Whether writers who spoke subscribed to attending creative writing courses or not their discussions were replete with form format narrative idiom that is surely from such courses, so even if the course doesn’t set your writing on fire there is sure some good stuff to bandy when one is sharing success!!
I cant stop marvelling on the writer Coetzee. In a panel discussion as well he was constantly scribbling, eyes to paper and when addressed by the moderator to share his views, he read what he had written. If Ruskin Bond is all extempore and intuitive, Coetzee measures each word to convey a hundred and a sense of 20 written pages.
Coetzee is so private while his spirituality and sexuality is so out in the open. Pamuk too is sternly private but shares his privacy in his writing with a sentimental streak.
One writer said” a colon is a forward pause, with conversation we address the ear and while writing we share our voice and eye”.
Nilanjana Roy was a sensitive moderator who gave free reins to Martin Amis and Jay Mc.Inerney to go back & forth on their take on Writing the 1980’s. Martin Amis expressed his dismay and sensibility at the way sex and pornography have crept into writing divorcing it from feeling and thinking. He called it not just abusive but a form of
extreme violence against women, children. Literary friendships too seemed out now .A writer is dependent on himself, private alone and there comes a moment when you look in the mirror and know that you can not beat mortality. Your youth is over, life keeps going.
“A moment also in our 20’s when you have so much wisdom it’s inaccessible when one is older.” How true it is for all of us!!
The chat with Manu Joseph and Shehan Karunatilaka with Somnath Batabyal was ne of the best sessions. Manu is a well known journo and apart from the success of his book, he has carried the Radia tapes in open magazine. More on Manu later. It was Shehan and Somnath who added the sparkle to the session. Karunatilaka is charming because of the lovely lilt of Srilankan voice that runs through whatever language they speak. My excitement whenever I go to the Island is to hear the voices speak, eat mango stein in August and drive around in the rural parts which are so beautiful in the innocence of morning sunlight. The book is the story of a great cricketer Pradeep Mathews who never fulfilled his potential.
Manu Joseph choice of the scientific world for his novel was as a result of his journalistic interactions with scientists. Today Philosophy is the preserve of scientists as they strive to unlock the expanding universe. Yet there is an arrogance that commerce and industry cannot project. Power yes, arrogance no. Manu says political correctness is often cowardice and no writer can afford to antagonise women.
On the Front lawns we have two great sessions in store, Tarun Tejpal and Vikram Seth. Tarun Tejpal said no one understood politics like Gandhiji. Describing his struggle to keep Thehalka going, Tejpal deplored the pursuit of purity which was judgemental while striving for pure was good.
This is what I think Tejpal meant. In pursuit of purity one becomes intolerant and bigoted and tries to enforce the idea on everyone. Individual freedom is trampled on, creative instincts pushed aside and a conformity of thinking encouraged. Pure is absolute and an individual ideal which each evolves for oneself. Also in accepting the idea of Pure all is included and compassion is expressed. The difference between Pure and Purity is like being watchful and watching. Everyone will have their own opinion on this!!
It helped that Tejpal and Manu had worked together and shared an ease of professional camaraderie. Tarun Tejpal said he would not have carried the RAdia tapes unless he heard them and quizzed Manu “did you hear them”? “I heard them “said Manu Joseph.
Vikram Seth returns to JLF after 2 years when he had promised a sequel to Suitable Boy. But first he took pains to tell all that his glass was coke and nothing else!! Somnath Batabyal was the best moderator with his engaging manner, his affinity with the author and above all his air of modesty. Vikram Seth is working on the sequel and hopefully before my eyes get misted with cataract or hard copies still printed out.
Of course Jaipur without some store visits will disappoint. There are beautiful bangles at Sarogi Mansion Spice Court for wholesome food. Fortune Hotel Select gave excellent service. Barwari Kothi is enchanting with peacocks, stone lions and letters from royalty addressed “Dear Rabbit”. Very quaint and nice for a short break.
The Festival was a cauldron of ideas and expression of art and artiness, the spontaneous and contrived. The canopy on the front lawn was a welcome addition but maybe a presence of fire & safety equipment with smokers and cooking and narrow entrances. The washrooms are a blot however one is forgiving. The venues excellent. Can we take out the charpoys in Baithak which occupy space but seat so few? Plain gaddis or rush mats are better. And some management of the school children whom its so lovely to see but a little less push for those who aren’t so young?
Of course the organisation Directors and Producers spare no effort to make it memorable. Till next year to all my Festival friends. Keep well and safe.
Suraksha
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