Jaipur Literary Festival - 2013

An event that we wait for every year... Here is a snapshot from the Jaipur Literary Festival that I attended this year.

India: An Unbound Nation Inspite of the Gods: Ruchir Sharma and Edward Luce in conversation with Gurcharan Das. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Das' India Unbound, so this talk was one of my personal favourite.

Corner of a Distant Playing Field: Rahul Dravid in conversation with Rajdeep Sardesai. Dravid is definitely one of the few cricketers who have let fame get on to their heads. He's quite a level-headed, wise and articulate guy.  

Aon Gaon Chalein: Neelesh Mishra, journalist and host of the radio show, Yadoon Ka Idiot box talking about the many hidden stories that one can find in the villages of India. If one wants to.

The Global Soul and the Search for Home: Pico Iyer, Abraham Verghese, Laleh Khadivi, Akash Kapur and Saadat Kadri in conversation with Aminatta Forna. Indeed a very interesting conversation. When asked, "Growing up in different countries  moving constantly from one country to another, do you feel homeless sometimes?", Laleh said something along lines of: " I don't feel homeless; it's just that my definition of Home is not the same as yours. For me, my home is where i can do what i want to do and be with people who are close to me."

My Father, Our Fraternity: Book my Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, released by Bina Kak. Although, Sarod is his instrument, the audience was spell-bound when he sang he few classical notes. Although, I am not an avid Sarod fan, for the few moments that the  Ustad explained and sung a few notes, I was totally mesmerized. 

Ayaan and Amaan Ali Khan payed a tribute to Ravindranath Tagore and played a rendition of  Ekla Chalo Be - some of the things that I love about the Jaipur Literary Fest.

I was impressed not just with their music but also with the respect and grace with which they performed. Respect that one sees ever so often in classical art performances; the way they treat their Guru (their father in this case) instruments, and the audience was so admirable. 

Junoon: In the Company of Poets: Jeet Thayil, Sheniz Janmohammed, Fahmida Riaz. Toronto-based Sheniz read some of her beautiful poems. Loved it when she read 'My People Killing My People'.

I got this video from youtube of her reading this one at another venue.

Winning the prestigious DSC award for his book Narcopolis, definitely made Jeet Thayil one of the most  sought-after author this year.   Loved the poems from his book. 'These Errors are Correct'. Later had a opportunity to meet him and get my books autographed. I only wished that he was not gheraoed by controversy the way he was - getting an autograph past the long queue, fans, photographers, protesters and cops was nothing short of an achievement.