Ups and downs of Jaipur Literary Festival

29 January, 2013

To say that the Jaipur Literary Festival has been eventful would be an understatement, as right from some thought-evoking speeches to some unforgettable controversies, the festival has been no less than an engaging novel. The last but not the least was Ashish Nandy's comment that not only invited condemnations but led to outrage across various sections of the society.

The well known academician said, “The fact is that most of the corrupt come from the OBC, the Scheduled castes and now increasingly STs, and as long as it was the case, the Indian Republic would survive.” He retracted his words later, saying that he was misquoted and misunderstood.

In another war of words, author K.R Indira and writer-diplomat Pavan Verma locked horns over the classical sexual text of India, Kamasutra. While the former believes that the text views women as objects, the latter objected saying that Kamasutra is all about catering to the women's needs.

On Sunday, the people attending watched four eminent journalists such as Anjan Sundaram, Jason Burke, Lucy Morgan Edwards and Edward Girardet talking to Madhu Trehan about war zone reporting and what the job entails. They talked about the books that have resulted after decades of war zone reporting.

Twitter, meanwhile, was going crazy with the Jaipur Literary Festival taking various turns and twists. William Dalrymple's tweeted, “Timothy Garton Ash #JLF "If literary festivals have to make sure that no one’s sentiments are hurt we might as well all shut up and go home.”

Rahul Bose, taking Nandy's side said, “Ashis Nandy's comments may sound bewildering out of context, but prosecuting him is ridiculous at best, draconian at worst.” Taslima Nasreen, on the other hand, tweeted about her disappointment with the whole festival, “Never invited. I think It's for the agreeable, manageable, uncontroversial, unquestionable elite writers #jlf.”