Jaipur Literature Festival: Day 1

Spicezee Bureau

Jaipur: It was a bright day in Jaipur when the fifth DSC Jaipur Literature Festival was inaugurated in grand style at the magnificent Diggi Palace. ‘This year’s festival is a true blockbuster, with over 200 speakers and performers including winners of the Nobel Prize Booker and Pulitzer awards.’ remarked Sanjoy Roy, Festival Producer, Teamwork Films.

‘It is a great pleasure to sponsor an event which so inspires and invigorates you,’ said Surina Narula, Festival Director, DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2010.

The Durbar Hall was packed with dignitaries and literature lovers who arrived to a fanfare of drumming and singing by Rajasthani musicians.


The audience had the pleasure of hearing a fascinating reading about some of the greatest Indian poets by the celebrated poet Arvind Krishna Merhotra. A festival rapt audience, who alternated between rapt attention and raucous laughter as Merhotra read from poetry both sacred and profane, saying that ‘God is within, God is within and moreover, there is God to spare.’ He read from his translations of Kabir’s poetry which he did 40 years ago. He also read from Arun Kolatkar writings and called him the greatest Indian Poet.


“Besides showcasing the best of Indian-language and English writing from India, this year the festival will be importing a Nobel laureate, a winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, two Booker winners and five winners of the Pulitzer prize for literature, as well as leading writers from the world of history, biography, literary criticism, and travel, in addition to the stars of the world of fiction and the novel” William Dalrymple, Festival Director, observed about the festival.

Festival Highlights:

Coming of Age readings by Esther Freud, Ali Sethi, Jaspreet Singh

Three authors with different cultural backgrounds and childhood memories led a contemplative discussion about how childhood stories have influenced their writings. Sadia Shepherd introduced the morning event by stating that they would explore how ‘the stories you grow up with as children shape us as authors.’ Each read a short extract from a book of their own that they felt reflected the heading ‘coming of age’ Jaspreet Singh defined childhood as, ‘one of the most ignored areas’ He employed the child’s perspective in his story ‘17 Tomatoes’ to add a sense of lightness to his somewhat heavy subject-the location of Kashmir, this method had been previously explored by Italo Calvino who Jaspreet Singh said he was most influenced by. In contrast Esther Freud used her childhood memories to make sense and decipher her childhood as an adult.

As Ali Sethi said, ‘a child’s perspective can renew the world for an adult.’ The coming of age process was also defined negatively as Ali Sethi said, you ‘realize the world is more horrible and dangerous that you could have imagined’. From the often very emotive readings from their respective books it became clear that the juxtaposition of a child narrator read by an adult author was what made this such a fascinating talk.

Jane Austen In Jaipur by Claire Tomalin, introduced by Nilanjan S Roy

Prolific biographer Claire Tomalin gave a compelling, insightful and highly sentimental lecture on the life and work of Jane Austen. The talk begins with a series of surprises from the life of a women she labels a “genius” and “a feminist before the word existed.” We learn of the 17 year gap between the completion and publishing of Pride and Prejudice and of her upbringing in an all boys school. It is evident from the sense of reverence in Claire’s tone that she views Jane Austen not only as a writer of great intelligence and perception but of exceptional wit and individuality, stating that Austen in comparison to her contemporaries is “wittier, sharper, more concise and nails it more often”. It is clear that Claire’s approach towards Austen is motivated by affection and admiration; this is particularly notable when the discussion turns to the inspiration drawn from her struggles. As if speaking of an old friend she explains “love didn’t happen very often for Jane Austen”. This lack of affection is viewed in direct relation to the themes of feminine strength and protectiveness which feature in many of her novels.
Literature of the gods– Roberto Calasso & Devdutt Pattanaik, in conversation with Ananya Vajpeyi

In one of the first discussions, the two guests were prominent in their separate ideas about the manifestation of Gods in literature and in contemporary culture as a whole. However, they rarely engaged with one another in debate, leaving Vajpeyi to attempt to instigate an argument that, although present beneath the ideas, was never realized. In response to the question of the identity of Gods,

Calasso focused on the human condition stating that there was a distinct difference between those who recognize the “numan” (the divine) and those who don’t, and stated that ‘the Gods might get bored of us, and retire to another place’. When directed with the same question, Pattanaik was more methodical in his answer, stating that the specific identity of the Gods is strongly subjective to individual cultures, going on to state that the Gods were ‘an idea…a notion of perfection’. Vajpeyi then asked the two about the internet, and its relation to the issue of the Gods. Calasso responded that the mind was ‘the God before the Gods’, and that the internet, as the vast collection of human minds, along with the modern improvements in worldwide literacy was an enormous revolution, but prospectively ‘a dangerous one’. Pattaniak stated that both the internet and the Gods are accesses to infinity, but ones which humans must experience individually.

Exile and the kingdom – Shrabani Basu and Navtej Sarna


Susan Rudolph, “political scientist by profession, humanist by preference”, mediated a narrative conversation between author/diplomat Navtej Sarna and author/journalist Shrabani Basu, each representing a different and unique voice on the subject of the relationship between India and the Raj.

Randolph began with a difficult question—“what is the difference between history and a historical novel?” History, she explained, is a mere recount of recorded events already taken place and sufficiently archived. A historical novel, however, fills in gaps in documentation with imagination. With this query, she introduced the two writers, Shrabani Basu and Navtej Sarna.

Describing the former as history and the latter as historical novel, each of the authors began with a short reading of excerpts from their books, Navtej Sarna’s being poignant and Shrabani Basu’s, humorous. While Sarna’s book The Exile is based on the life of Maharaja Duleep Singh’s relationship with Queen Victoria and its aftermath, Basu’s Victoria and Abdul narrates the story of Queen Victoria’s relationship with the commoner Abdul.

What followed the readings was a freewheeling question and answer session on the authors’ views on their protagonists, their relationships, their deaths—the differences and similarities. Basu’s Karim was a commoner, hated by the Queen’s household both for his race and class. A servant, but a good looking, extravagantly dressed servant—a gift for her golden jubilee who comes to mean much more to the Queen. Sarna’s Duleep on the other hand was a rich, well-read, English-speaking, prince, but similar to Karim in his attractiveness for being Indian, “exotic” and extravagant in his own way.

Both authors showed a rare insight into their characters, who they were as people, their feelings, and the aftermath of their lives’ actions on their families and loved ones. Basu for instance portrayed a more passionate, romantic side of the otherwise stoic Victoria. Sarna’s challenge was especially great, having culled much of his views on the basis of just a few letters and scant records.

Book Launch ; Love Jaipur,Fiona Caufield, Rajasthan

Festival Director, William Dalrymple introduced the first in a series of DSC Jaipur Literature Festival lunchtime book launches, commending author Fiona Caulfield on her ‘wonderful guide book’ Love Jaipur. The guide is designed for the discerning ‘luxury vagabond’ who wants authenticity in style. Princess Diya Kumari was present to officially open the book to mark its launch.

Visible Cities: Geoff Dyer, Amit Chaudhuri moderated by Amitava Kumar

In a fascinating discussion, Geoff Dyer and Amit Chaudhuri read from their books on cities and discussed the idiosyncrasies and charms of cities all over the world. Dyer, whose book is set in set in Venice and Varanasi read an amusing extract about bartering with monkeys in Varanasi, attempting to trade bananas in order to get a monkey to ‘leave the sunglasses and start evolving.’ He said that although the Varanasi section of the book was written in the first person, it was ‘still fictional, as the guy in it goes completely nuts and I sit here before you a model of clarity and sanity…’ Kumar described Dyer’s book as ‘part novelistic, part travel memoir’, and Dyer observed that he had done that deliberately in order to give the book ‘aesthetic unity and some sort of power without relying on the conventions of a novel.’ Amit Chaudhuri read from his highly moving and atmospheric book about Calcutta, which relayed acute and poignant observations about his uncle and aunt. Kumar praised ‘the attentiveness of the novelist to those small details in life, and the way they are able to paint scenes’. Dyer said that writing about iconic cities was challenging but ‘nobody ever has the last word on anything’ so one should not be intimidated in the attempt. He accepted that his view in Varanasi was that of a tourist and ‘incredibly ignorant’but that there was a certain viability to the ignorant outsider coming in and still being able to say something about a place, as evidenced by DH Lawrence, who wrote primarily about ‘the state of his soul’ so that any place served as good a mirror as any other for the author’s interiority.

Dyer said that unlike him, Chaudhuri was ‘absolutely qualified to write about Calcutta,’ and Chaudhuri responded that his challenge had been to ‘write about ordinariness, the commonplace,’ the things he himself remembered most about the city, whereas Calcutta was usually written about with a ‘mythology of extraordianriness.’ Both authors also observed that often in books, the city itself is as much a protagonist as the characters themselves, and Chaudhuri observed that ‘some literary temperaments are more drawn to setting and description, others to character and psychology.’

Adaptations in Films

Michael Frayn and Esther Freud, moderated by Rahul Bose

Both Frayne and Freud talked of the challenges of adapting novels to screen, with Freud comparing the process to ‘trying to get a giraffe into a babygro.’ She said when she first adapted one of her own novels, she realised she had cut too much because ‘everyone else had their own opinion, and she was used to being in the novelist’s ‘luxurious position of not being told what to do.’ Frayn talked of the unforeseen challenges in adaptation, such as having to rewrite an ‘upbeat ending’ for American audiences. Both Freud and Frayn talked of examples of faithful adaptations of novel to stage, such as The English Patient and Dangerous Liaisons, whereby the ‘brilliant use of language’ transcends the medium itself. They discussed the way novels could be turned both into huge commercial blockbusters, as well as more classical representations, such as Merchant Ivory’s productions, in which close collaboration between the adaptation and film-making processes was key. Bose observed that the process of adaptation could be ‘a divorced experienced’ between novelist, buyer and film-maker, with some novelists philosophical and happy to move on, whereas others wanted to retain elements of control.

Neglected Poems


The book contains the poems of the Oscar winning lyricist and poet Gulzar, and their English translations by well-known writer and diplomat Pavan Verma. The venue, Durbar Hall, was jam-packed and the eminent poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar was a part of the audience.

Pavan Verma lauded the rich imagery of Gulzar's poetry, and also expressed his admiration for the "smell of the soil" that Gulzar's poems retain. He said that there was nothing derivative in Gulzar's poetry, and that he, Gulzar, had lived all his poems.

The audience demanded an encore for quite a few poems. Gulzar's easy-going manner and frankness endeared him to the audience. Everyone listened with rapt attention and when the event ended, had quite a long queue of eager fans waiting for an autograph.

Book launch: Kaifi and I

Shaukat Kaifi's memoirs which is called Raat ki rehguzar in Urdu also happens to be a book launch event is a recollection of memories where Shabana Azmi and her mother Kaifi sahiba share, the loving memories of a bygone age which is also shabana's childhood memories. Besides this, the book Kaifi and I is also about a woman who is a strong individual and a woman who has stood up for herself and her beliefs. The memoir cherishes the relationship between Kaifi and her husband Shaukat Azmi who was a part of the Progressive writers association at the time. The book covers very many events where the important events of their lives have been highlighted. How the two met at Hyderabad in a progressive writers onference in 1947 and the sparks flew is also an episode worth reckoning for. The book is also about the less existent feudal era which was prevalent at the time and the commune life, the cinema life, the aesthetics of the time. All these aspects have been encorporated as a way of life as Javed Akhtar rightly puts it. A woman's memoirs which speak a lot about loving her husband but at the sametime going very much beyond that. The book surely is multi layered and is penetrating.

Tughlaq

The final show of the evening saw two extraordinary gentlemen take the stage- Girish Karnad and Om Puri for a reading of the classic play Tughluq. Written in 1964 and translated into several Indian languages, this play brims with "searing honesty." As Karnad puts it, it is about the mad king who ruled Delhi for 25 years- Mohmmad bin Tughlaq. He is believed to have done extraordinary things that came under the scanner. And it is also said that if this play was released today, it would be banned everywhere.

The first scene saw Om Puri and Karnad play the roles of the King and Shaikh Imamuddin. Imamuddin was known for his courage and integrity and here he confronts Tughluq's ruling design. The next scene saw real life husband wife, Nandita and Om Puri play parts of the stepmother and king. Om Puri's brilliance kept the audience still and it was only at the climax that movement was visible. They are afterall some of the most respected heroes in real life too. All in all it was the perfect ending to the first day of the festival.

The DSC Jaipur Literature Festival, which is free and accessible to all, has a global reputation as the leading and most exciting literature festival in Asia, as well as the biggest free literature festival in the world. Thousands of people from all over India and the world are expected to gather over the next five days to mingle with writers, film-makers, artists, Ambassadors and royalty of great renown, brought together by a love of literature and its capacity to inspire and entertain.