Global perspectives with an Indian Flavour at the Jaipur Literary Festival

The Jaipur Literary Festival has truly risen to become one of the most exciting literary events in India and in some ways anywhere in the world. At the very least it has appropriated to itself a very distinct and unique position in the world of literary discourse.

The festival organizers have succeeded in bringing together some of the best minds from the world of literature but also succeeded in packing a lot of variety in its content, in the form of discussions about theatre, film, novels, stories, science, religion and philosophy.  This year the list of authors and celebrities included Annie Proulx, Ben Okri, Kiran Nagarkar, Lionel Shriver, Michael Ondaatje, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Dawkins, Tom Stoppard, Steven Pinker, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, Aruna Roy, Girish Karnad and Asghar Wajahat among others.

Festival experience varies across the world as the event takes in the flavour of the local people and culture where they are hosted, whether it’s the festival at Hay on Wye, Edinburgh, Berlin or Jaipur. However the Jaipur festival is substantially different to all its peers in featuring a lot more writing from non-western authors owing to its Indian domicile. But the most remarkable feat of the Festival is its free admission. Given that Jaipur is a populous, bustling Indian city, it makes it all the more impressive that the organizers should be able to keep the doors open to all. The free admission aspect gives the festival what some call the ‘Kumbh Mela’ feel making it very distinctly Indian. Creditable and incredible as this approach is, it gets a mixed response from the attending public. Some visitors especially from outside India, find the experience a bit daunting especially on the weekend when the crowds make access and movement really challenging. This year when Oprah was at the venue, many hundreds if not thousands were in long queues outside hoping to get in at some point in the day. So even though the complete democratization of knowledge and access to all is a great and worthy cause, logistics need to be slightly better managed. The improvements in management from last year were substantial, so the organizers are definitely moving in the right direction in terms of cleanliness, hygiene and crowd management. Still if the popularity of the festival increases, the organizers may need to either move venues or change some policies regarding attendance.

However, the grand success of the festival should prompt another question, why aren’t their many more of these events in the country? One major literary event of this sort aside of the book fairs is hardly sufficient for a country of 1.2 Billion people spread over vast distances.  One hopes that more of such events will begin to get the right kind of patronage and support from sponsors and readers. All said the future of literary discourse in the country is bright and strong. One can only hope that we get to see many more of these events in the country and broaden further the discourse in the public sphere on wider and more interesting topics and themes. All in, a grand success and a promising platform to make space for in your calendar every year. 

God delusion @ Jaipur Literary Festival

The title of the inimitable Richard Dawkins’ book took a whole new meaning at the Jaipur Literary Festival on 24^th of January at the debate on ‘Has man replaced God?’

It was interesting to see so many of the panellists expressing very atheistic points of view. With Dawkins the supporting cast of Javed Akhtar, Suhel Seth, Aruna Roy, Qaisra Shahraz, Ashok Vajpai, a certain Mr. Salim Engineer and Swami Agnivesh, the panellists seemed a bit of a random assortment rather than a carefully conceived group. The debate wasn’t in the traditional format of opposing points of view with balanced opponents at least in number, if not in intellect. Of the panel, 5 spoke as atheists while 3 as people of faith. In fact most panellists took liberties with the topic changing it from what it said on the tin to a debate for and against Faith.

Leaving aside the actual arguments themselves, what struck me most is the aggressive and rampant atheism of the likes of Javed Akhtar and Suhel Seth.  While Javed in his famous 2009 speech has previously espoused his non-theistic beliefs, it was still a step too far to hear the writer of songs like ‘ Ishwar allah tere jahaan mein nafrat kyoon hai’ so radically dismissing God. At one point Javed used Dawkin’s arguments and seemed to state them as his own to much applause, a point which Dawkins noted.  He may well have been taken aback at someone sitting right next to him in a debate, plagiarising from him!

On the resounding support from the audience to various remarks supporting atheism and against God, Dawkins pointed out that if there is so much support for atheism, why did the audience continue to keep believing in God once they walked away from such sessions. His ignorance of the Indian psyche of saying one thing and doing another was quite obvious. For someone who has devoted his life to Evolutionary biology and lives by his word on Atheism, and someone who is used to audiences and debaters that are slightly more honest about their beliefs, it would clearly have been a new and strange experience. The corruption and hypocrisy of thinking, which anyone in India is used to as a matter of everyday existence, is quite jarring to anyone who has not been used to this context.  The self defeating sycophancy displayed by some of the panellists especially one’s on the side of atheism, which they neither seemed to fully understand or appreciate is part of the problem. As an atheist myself, heartening as it is to see such strong support, I found the profound lack of honesty in the audience and some speakers dis-appointing.  A debate on a topic that I have been looking forward to for a few years, was reduced to lip service and bombastic arguments from everyone except Richard, whose views are already well known.

The depth of a debate on such a topic should include an understanding of the non mono-theistic religious traditions in India. The evolution of religious and social philosophy in our country especially in the majority Hindu population has only obliquely been influenced by monotheistic religions like Islam and Christianity. The western atheistic movement which has largely been in response to the three major monotheistic religions has much less material and discussion on Hinduism, communism etc. A discussion on this topic is therefore extremely interesting with significant relevance to the development of thought in a rapidly growing India. Alas, like so many other things in India, hypocrisy and double speak sabotaged the debate, denying the attendees a chance to get a deeper and truer understanding of the issues. In sum, a great festival concept with some very relevant speakers ended with a display of the Indian sycophancy and shallow morals which seem to plague our most famous and prodigious thinkers and writers. It is better to follow than mislead. One waits for the day when Indian audiences truly understand the meaning of corruption, which they seemed to be fighting against for the most of 2011. The blatant deceit and double standards are definite roadblocks on India’s path. Not least when they come in the garb of superficial tributes to the most popular trends without an experiential and felt belief in what is being said. Popular culture is perhaps the same everywhere, but it needs to be limited access in debates on real issues and deep understanding that affects development of thought and direction.