All eyes on Desai at Jaipur literature fest

On the sprawling lawns of Diggy Palace, a decrepit but charming old building of graceful proportions

On the sprawling lawns of Diggy Palace, a decrepit but charming old building of graceful proportions, some of the country’s finest authors have gathered for the Jaipur Literature Festival, being held for the third consecutive year.

Part of the larger Jaipur International Festival, which celebrates Rajasthan’s unique culture of heritage, arts and craft, the organisers have worked towards getting regional writers into the fray this year. “We want the festival to be representative of writings from everywhere in India, not just big towns and cities,” explains Jaipur Festival chairperson Faith Singh. So this year, Anupam Mishra, a Gandhian and author of Rajasthan ki Rajat Boonde, and the distinguished Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi will discuss their works in Hindi with the audience.

The author sessions began with Baby Haldar’s book, Aalo Aandhari.

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“It’s been a long journey for me,” explained Haldar to Urvashi Butalia of Zubaan Publishing while chatting about her humble origins as a domestic help in Gurgaon. Several women’s groups in Rajasthan came to hear Haldar’s story; she will now be travelling with them to villages to talk about her life.

But the star of the first day was undoubtedly, Booker Prize winner Kiran Desai, whose Inheritance of Loss touches on migrant and identity issues. “I think racism does happen to all Indians,” said Desai, at the same time professing ignorance about Shilpa Shetty’s tough time on the UK TV show Celebrity Big Brother.

On what it means to win the Booker, Desai said it was a bit overwhelming sometimes. “Of course, I’m grateful to have won the prize, but the darker side of winning the Booker is it becomes tougher to move on and get back to writing,” she said.

While Salman Rushdie posed willingly for pictures with fans, he refused to entertain questions on wife Padma Lakshmi. After being introduced to the audience by BBC journalist Mark Tully, William Dalrymple read out passages from his book The Last Mughal. The evening’s entertainment includes a poetry reading session with live music at Aamer Fort.

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In the next couple of days, authors Suketu Mehta, Amit Chaudhuri and Sheen Kaaf Nizam will hold their sessions.