What to Expect When You’re Litfesting
The Jaipur Literature Festival 2015 in three acts
Act One: Twilight Zone
Even though his presence was uncertain till the last moment, if there was one person who set the mood at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), it was the 82-year-old Nobel laureate VS Naipaul. After an emotional reunion with his one-time friend-turned-foe, writer Paul Theroux, on the opening day, his session on the penultimate day of the festival saw the biggest turnout ever at the festival at nearly 5,000 people. The frail writer, who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease, was in conversation with British writer Farrukh Dhondy.
“I don’t like to talk about sunsets,” Naipaul began. “It can be used against me to infer that I am in the sunset of my life. Unhappy metaphor,” he said. What he did talk about instead was his career — how writing was as “hard for me as it is for most people in the audience” — and the criticism he has faced for his three controversial books on India — An Area of Darkness (1964), India: A Wounded Civilisation (1977) and India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990). “I came to India first because of curiosity about my ancestral land. I didn’t know how to move in India, but eventually, I had to find my way,” he said, before breaking down. His wife Nadira, who accompanied him on stage, filled in about how Naipaul’s mother, who retained only one Hindi word in her vocabulary, told him, “Beta, leave India to the Indians” when he wrote The Area of Darkness.
Act Two: The Fandom
The book signing kiosks at the JLF saw fans of all stripes staking them out and it made for delightful eavesdropping opportunities. After a session on historical novels featuring South African writer Damon Galgut and Booker 2013 winner Eleanor Catton, and moderated by Pakistani author Kamila Shamsie, the few stragglers who turned up for the signing were greatly confused about the identity of the authors.
Catton was greeted by a pile of books written by Sarah Waters, who was supposed to be a part of the panel, but had to withdraw at the last moment because of a stomach infection. After her initial hesitation, the young author from New Zealand was sporting enough to oblige. At another session, Suhel Seth and a senior commissioning editor of a publishing house were accosted with signing requests. While Seth happily rose to the occasion, the bewildered editor beat a hasty retreat. The best, though, came in the serpentine queue to get books signed by Naipaul. A trio of teenagers waiting with books by former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam debated over Naipaul’s credentials.
“Never heard of him,” declared one. “Should we get a book (by him) from the store, just in case?” asked another. “Don’t bother. If he were famous like Kalamsaab or Devdutt Pattnaik, we would have heard of him,” quipped the leader of the trio.
Act Three: Quotes You Note
“Books are the love of my life, but Bollywood is my ‘half girlfriend’.” — Chetan Bhagat, on whether he prefers writing books to film scripts.
“Here’s my email address…It’s for autographs, photographs and answers.” — APJ Abdul Kalam, to the crowd at his session.
“The term South Asia was invented in the state department of Washington DC, so I am the professor of a region that does not exist, except in the minds of UN officials and SAARC bureaucrats.” — Sheldon Pollock, on being asked why the Murty Classical Library of India was not called the Murty Classical Library of South Asia.
Paromita Chakrabarti is Senior Associate Editor at the The Indian... Read More
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