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Journalism of Courage
On the fourth day of the Jaipur Literature Festival 2023 Sunday, classical flutist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia while reminiscing his earlier days as a flute player shared, “Once when I was playing, I did not know that George Harrison, one of the Beatles, was standing in front of the doors and listening. The next day, he came with his guitar… and we both played the instruments… Since then, he used to come every year until his death. I saw his love for Indian music and Indian instruments.”
‘I still can’t believe it,” said Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia on his interaction with George Harrison.
Chaurasia shared the stage with celebrated author Sathya Saran, discussing Saran’s latest work Breath of Gold which covers Chaurasia’s journey through his time as a wrestler as well as within the Indian film industry.
“My father liked music, but during those times, nobody was interested in the arts too much. And by virtue of being born in UP where wrestling was the biggest sport, I had to agree to do most of the things my parents asked me to do. But I knew my heart wasn’t happy with it,” Chaurasia said as he recalled his father’s disagreements with his artistic engagements as he wanted him to become a wrestler.
“I used to lie to my father to avoid his scolding as my mother, who used to protect me from it, passed away when I was five years old… I did not like studying at all, I was only interested in understanding the musical notes. So I used to hide my interest in playing the flute from him,” the 84-year-old laughed while sharing.
Saran’s book on the Indian music director captures people’s love for him and his music.
Saran, talking about the reasons for writing the book, linked her thoughts back to the keynote address of the festival, delivered by Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah on January 19. She said, “I write to resist forgetting… our great people.” Describing how she became interested in engaging with Chaurasia’s life, Saran said: “I was amazed to see him once at an event where he was listening to Pt Birju Maharaj sing and tell stories with a childlike wonder. That’s where the journey began.”
The Front Lawn, one of the five venues at the festival, was jam-packed with people during Chaurasia’s session.
The festival, however, got attendees from not only the fields of arts and literature but also from other disciplines and professions.
One of the attendees at the festival, a specialist in anesthesia and intensive care, Dr Bill Crozier from Australia, described it as an escape from his “demanding” job. He said, “I was coming to Ladakh and one of my friends suggested that I should come here… I am loving it. Some of the talks have been wonderful so far and I am learning a lot about India too.”
Crozier, who attended Katherine Rundell’s conversation with Nandini Nair on John Donne – held on the first day of the festival (January 19) — said: “I knew about John Donne earlier, and now I am very enthusiastic to go read about him because I heard her talk.”
Avantika, a resident of Dehradun and an employee in the IT industry, flew all the way to Jaipur on January 19. Talking about her interests in the arts, she said: “Art has nothing to do with the industry you’re from. It connects us all.”
“I have also worked at Infosys for four-five years… I wanted to listen to Sudha Murty, so I am here,” she said while talking about her engagement with Murty’s writings.
On January 20, the author was in conversation with Mandira Nayar about her first publishing experience at the age of 29. Murty, during the session, said: “I connect with people because I tell the truth. I don’t act.”
Attendees from around the world have come together for the festival this time, to recreate experiences and share stories, after the fest underwent changes in its format and schedule, in the past three years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sanjoy K Roy, the managing director of Teamwork Arts, an organisation that produces more than 25 highly-acclaimed arts and literature festivals including the Jaipur Literature Festival, told the Indian Express, “Post-Covid, the opening up has brought people back with much more energy, and the memory of what Jaipur Literature Festival used to be. So they have come with a very positive sense of being in terms of what to expect.”
In 2022, the festival was held virtually between March 5 and 9, and on-ground between the 10th and 14th of the month. The festival launched its digital series in 2020, the year when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world and countries imposed restrictions on large-scale gatherings and events.
“This year, we didn’t think we would quite get to the size we are, we were still assuming that [because of] Covid, we would have far fewer international guests, and so on and so forth. But as you can see, people have come… and it’s very exciting to see people from Pune, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Meerut, and Varanasi coming all the way out to Jaipur to be part of the festival,” he said.
Sharing his views on the festival being streamed online, producer Roy cited one of the sessions held on Saturday at the JLF which began by highlighting, “Whatever happens digitally, you still can’t capture this energy exchange between writer and the audience, and two people… that will always be special in real life.”
“But for those millions of people who cannot come here, they have no other way to access it but through digital. And that’s something we will continue,” he added. The festival can be watched online after registering on the fest’s official website https://online.jaipurliteraturefestival.org/login.
The festival Sunday also involved sessions with authors Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Daisy Rockwell, Rita Kothari, former R&AW chief AS Dulat, Dalit activist Suraj Yengde, Padma Bhushan awardee and former Labour politician Meghnad Desai, among others.
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