Jaipur Literature Festival : A Sneak Peek

They say, Love is in the air. Well, I don’t know about that, but here past week, in our beloved pink city, ‘Words, latest fashion trends and etiquettes were truly in air’.

And that is what defines, yet another edition of  a literary extravaganza, an avid reader’s Mecca…commonly known as Jaipur Literary Fest (JLF).

The stage was set at Diggi Palace, a serene palace cum resort, in the heart of pink city, to play host to some of the most esteemed and coveted literati’s of the world. Voracious readers and aspiring writers from all over the world have flown in to meet their favourite authors. The audience was a cocktail of political leaders, actors, blue blood people and of course the ‘commoners’.

 

From the chat show queen (Oprah Winfrey) to the celebrity British evolutionary biologist (Richard Dwakins), from the veteran (Gulzar) to the consummate lyricist (Javed Akhtar), from the man who made Indians read (Chetan Bhagat) to the man whose words are often misinterpreted (Shashi Tharoor), the JLF had them all.

The five day fest witnessed more than hundred sessions, which included conversations with authors, debates and new book releases. People flocked in like herd, to hear Oprah in conversation with Barkha Dutt, they were mesmerized by poetry of Gulzar, Chakradhar, Prasoon and Sibbal, they were astound and amused at the witty remarks of Suhel Seth and appreciated the debate on ‘Salman Rushdie’s, ban form the festival’.

Besides the literary event, the venue played host to many peculiarities of the human nature. If you think that literary fests are filled with people who have long silver flocks, are grey bearded, wore glaring spectacles and have khadi as their attire…then probably my friend you haven’t been here.

Welcome, to the new age of literati’s. The writers here don’t ‘pen down their thoughts’, well they actually dictate it to their ‘ipad’, they don’t recite their creations from piece of paper; instead they do it from their expensive smart phones. The readers here don’t wear khadi, rather they are impeccably dressed in their linen suits with their Jimmy Choo shoes staring right into observers eyes. Women here are often spotted with Gucci shades and Louis Vuitton handbags, which goes in sync with their designer dresses.

Yes you got it right, beside being a literary event it is also a ‘Fashion Fiesta’. If you have no idea about the latest trends in fashion, just be here and you’ll know, what’s ‘in vogue’. It’s a sin to take out your Nokia (until it’s a ‘Lumia’) here because everybody (from teenagers to the octogenarians) are flaunting their Blackberries and iPhones.

Here, modesty and suaveness, are in the air. Everyone seems to be over-polite and generous. Its seems like a hideous crime, if you have unintentionally disturbed someone or occupied his/her place. Words like excuse me, please, thank you, sorry, I hope you don’t mind, may I, etc. are used profoundly and almost every sentence either begin or end with them. It’s a complete show-off, of elegance and sophistication, in the name of courtesy.

Seriously, it is the beauty and aura of this place, that compels us to be a socialite.

But there are still some flaws. Smoking and liquor is permitted openly at such a place, in the name of ‘boosting the tourism’. Adolescents who come here to feast their minds with good thoughts, can easily be spotted in the corners trying their ‘first smoke’ in order to look chic.

People who are accompanied by their entourage, are the ones who often disturbs the spectators, because they believe that they are privileged and should be treated according to their will.

 Protest by members of Muslim community, at the venue, against Salman Rushdie was very disheartening. It’s a paradox, that in a fest which celebrates ‘freedom of expression’; people of a certain community, disgrace a renowned figure publicly and even condemn his visit to the venue.                        

Well amid all the ruckus over Rushdie’s visit, JLF was once again successful in putting up a spectacular, splendid and an awe-inspiring show.

As the organisers claim (and I too believe), it is certainly, “The best literature festival on Earth”.

Need & Desire

Anything and everything in life revolves around the two prime foci, i.e., “Need and Desire”.

It is said that necessity is the mother of invention and if it is, then unequivocally, want and desires are like cruel and cunning step moms.

Every homo sapient has a different code of conduct and thus what appears to be ‘wants’ for some may actually be the ‘need’ of others. That’s the beauty of life and that’s the reason why in spite of being so much diversified in culture and thoughts yet we all are compatible.

There is a very subtle difference between ‘Need’ and ‘Desire’. ‘Need’ are those without which it’s really hard to live a decent life, say bare minimum necessities. On the other hand ‘Desires’ are like, what perks are to salary, they are not necessary but than, nobody regret to enjoy the extra pleasures in life.

All the riots, anguish, agony, pain and suffering that the world and its habitats are experiencing today are a repercussion, of the action of humans trying to convert there personal ‘desires’ into global ‘needs’.

What world ‘Needs’ today is peace…but the way Uncle Sam (US) is acting towards it, suits his own best interest that is to establish itself as the superpower, which is what they ‘Desire’.

 Back here in India, big names are fighting against corruption, civilians are joining them because that is there ‘Need’ (they are the people who often are the major victim to this venomous corrupt system)…but a Yog Guru taking the center stage, telling the people vociferously over and over again that ‘he is with them’, is a clear show of his ‘Desire’, i.e., to grab the eyeballs and be in  Limelight.

Humans have an insatiable appetite. We all ‘Desire’  lots of things in life but when we introspect than we realize the fact, that very few things are actually ‘Needed’ to live a peaceful, happy and contended life.

Remember : “Choose wisely…Live well”               

Into Limelight via Controversy

“I’ll strip on national television, if India wins the world cup”, those were the obscene words from a juvenile aspiring model Poonam Pandey, when she was asked about her support for Indian cricket team. Naturally, the words grabbed many eyeballs, people were ambivalent about their opinions but certainly Poonam made sure that she got all the shutterbugs to push her career and even managed to signed some big modeling assignments.

This is how it works. Want to seek attention, just kindle the emotions of masses by your nitwitted remarks or raunchy comments and there you are, ‘in the headlines’, the next time you blink. From Bollywood to Hollywood, from Cricket to Golf, from Obama to Osama, everyone is doing the same but in their own chic.

For instance, you write a book but you are not a celebrated author and still want to sell a million copies worldwide. What will you do to promote it? Well, the easiest way is to elicit the people by driving your book into controversy. Either names it after some not so loved political figure (like Jaswant Singh named his book “Jinnah”) or lambast about some worthy and respected public figure (like Joseph Lelyveld did by calling Gandhi a homosexual in his book “Great Soul”). No doubt, the people will be furious at you or might even want to abduct and kill you but no matter what your business is done, million copies sold!!

We are living in an era of tech savvy generation. A generation where every 4 out of 5 are on Facebook. A generation which is slavish under peer pressure. Everyone wants to be recognized. And hence people try to indulge themselves into preposterous activities, to stand out of the crowd. Media act as a catalyst. They try to boost their TRP’s by showing them over and over again.

In a country like India, where literacy rate is only 74%, illiterate people often believe what they are shown and thus this increases the social responsibility of media manifolds. Media, instead of blandishing such publicity stunts, should try to curb them at the root level. Media should criticize these cheap publicity stunts because they have a profound impact on the adolescent minds of the country and can even lead them towards a bleak future.

We must understand that we are social animals and our actions do have an effect on our surrounding environment. We must not indulge ourselves into knave tactics to be in the limelight rather we must focus to gain prowess and excellence in our respective field, ethically.

Remember : “Success through controversies is only ephemeral”          

Why Indians unite only for Cricket ???

Everyone in Indian sub continent is gripped by a peculiar type of fever......The World Cup Fever.

From conversations on a road side stall to conversations in boardrooms of India Inc.....everyone is talking about cricket or rather everyone is 'living cricket'.

All 1.21 billion Indians unanimously pray for India to win this world cup and that is what I dislike.

I know after reading this many of you speculate or even question whether I am really 'Indian'.....well my friend trust me I am as Indian as anybody in India, what I dislike is the way in which we show that we are united.

Consider this, we are living in a nation whose 60% population is below poverty line....a nation who is far below in health care services and primary education facilities than its international counterparts.....a nation which is gradually turning into a viscous cobwebs of scams......a nation where business honchos spend millions of dollars on buying tickets to watch India-Pak semi but, they frown when Warren Buffet try to convince them to give a part of their wealth towards philanthropy.

The way we are supporting our team for the cup is magnificent, we are praying, singing jingles, fasting, doing whatever we could.....all that only for cricket.

 
We are doing all this because if we will win than we will be recognized as the best cricketing nation, that's good to think about our country.....but don't we want ourselves to be recognized as the least corrupt nation....or as the country with highest literacy rate....or as a nation which 'thinks globally and act locally'.     

What I mean to say is that  there are many more serious issues that our country is dealing with...always blaming the government for the misfortunes of the citizens of the country will never ease our miseries.....so I believe we must pay real heed to the stigmas that prevail in our society and try to improve the conditions of our people by "acting unitedly", as we are doing for the game called 'cricket'......

Remember : "United we stand, Divided we fall"