First proof

Its not Henry Louis Gates Jr or Andrew Lycett they are missing at the fifth Jaipur Literary Festival. The distinguished gentlemen should take no offence where none is intended. But Jaipur is certainly poorer for not being able to resurrect,and host,André Breton. What the government has managed to do to a handful of writers with its newfound visa regulations or the absurdity thus called is surreal of course,in the laymans sense of the term standing in for whatever defies plain logic,rising from deep within the dark,unfathomable recesses of our bureaucratic unconscious.

Gates Jrs visa was rejected apparently because his application didnt include his birth certificate or college diploma. And applications submitted before the stipulation was made last week were not grandfathered in. Lycett made the mistake of visiting India in November; he is not welcome before cooling off for a while. Good men and women of letters,it seems,cannot claim benefit of clergy for strictly literary reasons. Take poet Suheir Hammad the Palestinian-American was naive enough to apply for her visa in London,and awaits her passport sent to New York for verification. So Louis de Bernieres knows how lucky he is,after his passports merry little trip to a Brighton jewellers safe from the Indian high commission in London. Between the sacred aspiration and the profane experience falls no shadow; this is the beautiful evening etherised upon a table.

National security and intellectual or growth aspirations are not mutually exclusive. Lesson from Jaipur: we must reconsider the new strictures immediately,before academic-,corporate- and policy-types,to say nothing of tourists,have second thoughts about visiting an India flaunting short-sighted and misdirected restrictions. It is true that most other countries too have made,or are making,their visa regimes stricter. But as we upgrade our visa regime,there should be zero tolerance for ridiculous requirements.