Some one-liners, some thoughts: Jaipur Literature Festival

After my first experience at the Jaipur Literature Festival (2017 edition) a friend called and asked if it was about fun (read food), glamour (read wardrobe) or books (read buying, reading, knowing, listening to and interacting with authors).

It is about all of this and more, you need to savour the experience once, get a feel of the scale and fervour, and develop your own understanding of the festival. A friend says we are a nation of melas, and this is a wonderful one!

Not very easy to choose favourites in such scenario but if I had to pick two threads it would be the books on history and one liners.

It was story-telling at its finest and changed the way I understood history could be discussed. Suzannah Lipscomb talked of ‘The lovers who changed history’ and Giles Milton of ‘The spice trader who changed history’. The later, to quote William Dalrymple, “a master class in history”.

What I share (and discuss) below are one-liners that I came across and that stayed with me. The conversations, they were a part of, made the authors and books more real and alive. 

(Image from the JLF Facebook page)

Sunita Narain

“Neta to nikamme hain hi, hum bhi kuch kum nahin hain”

(“नेता तो निकम्मे हैं ही, हम भी कुछ कम नहीं हैं”)

“The sign of civilization is plastic”

“Environmentalists need to move beyond talking of pretty trees and tigers”

“If diversity in forest decreases, the diversity in our plate too falls, and vice-versa”

There was little, or rather nothing to disagree with her on these. The line on plastic took me to the days of survey in southern Mizoram, Tokalo Wildlife Sanctuary, along the Burma border. That was when, for a fortnight, I was away from plastic, possibly the longest I have been away from it. Somewhere in those amazing forests, possibly the day we were lost, I had realized that that we were way not only from people and villages but also from plastic.

What struck me though was her take on Chipko movement; a movement which she said has been wrongly reported and understood. The stand of the women, she insisted, was “we have the right to cut our trees” and not – as widely and wrongly discussed – “no one should cut trees”. The point she put forth was that trees should be planted, cut and used.

Manav Kaul and Swanand Kirkire

Manav Kaul

“Humare jiye me hum bahut limited jeete hain, aur apne likhne me hum bahut jyada jee sakte hain”

(“हुमारे जिए मे हम बहुत लिमिटेड जीते हैं, और अपने लिखने मे हम बहुत ज़्यादा जी सकते हैं”)

“Mere paas bahut khali samay hai, bahut dopaherein aur shaamein maine nitant akelepan me guzaari hain”

(“मेरे पास बहुत खाली समय है, बहुत दोपहेरें और शामें मैने नितांत अकेलेपन मे गुज़ारी हैं”)

“Bhasha agar mar rahi hai to use marne dijiye, aap ko agar maza aati hai to hi use padhiye aur likhiye”

(“भाषा अगर मर रही है तो उसे मरने दीजिए, आप को अगर मज़ा आती है तो ही उसे पढ़िए और लिखिए”)

Questions or what comes in guise of questions from audience many a time makes one hide ones face but this session appeared to be an exception. What is the ultimate for an artist? Ek theatre artist ya lekhak ke liye charam kya hai? (एक थियेटर आर्टिस्ट या लेखक के लिए चरम क्या है?) Swanand Kirkire reminded one of Guru Dutt when he said wants to go away when on a theatre set, with one light on. Manav Kaul quoted Gulzaar Saab, “main aise marna chahata hoon jaise pen se syahi khatam hoti hai”. (“मैं ऐसे मरना चाहता हूँ जैसे पेन से स्याही ख़तम होती है”)

Manav Kaul was refreshing. All one hears is “I am so busy” and most people saying this appear to have little idea of what they are up to.

Swanand Kirkire sang couple of lines of “tu kisi rail si guzarti hai” (“तू किसी रेल सी गुज़रती है”) and the next morning would enthral the audience with his singing.

(Image from the JLF Facebook page)

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

“American presidents are akin to the Roman emperors; good for history books but have little impact when they are around. It is the senate which matters. Obama, by the way, is all cosmetics.”

“We are facing an expert problem. A person cleaning a toilet, for example, is expert at his actions, but an economist advising banks and corporates rarely is. Economists have little idea of what they are up to and ‘cannot find a coconut on Coconut Island’.” Experts like Thomas Friedman and Paul Krugman have little idea of what is happening in the world.

Continuing on economists he added that “they seldom put their money” and “they can speak anything and get away”.

The Roman Bridge that stands to this day in Europe is one of the strongest structures ever built by humans. One of the reasons for its being so good is that the then emperor made the people constructing it sleep under the bridge, with their families, at night. Today, there is no accountability. On the other hand bonuses of bankers go up when banks are going down!

This point on accountability took me to the discussion I was a part of, few weeks ago, of the problem with NGOs; sheer lack of accountability.

Why we discuss American presidents so much, especially during recent months, has always been an enigma for me. We do not know our MLAs and MLCs but appear to have emotional connect with actions of the American president.

This ability of his to take names I realized was crucial, especially for a society like ours which prides in being politically correct. I too suffer from this, writing large wildlife NGOs rather than naming them; not that there are too many in our country.

Richard Flanagan

“Journalism is looking outward, novel is looking inward”

“Novel goes where journalism cannot, into the minds of men and women”

“Great novels are about fundamental truths and this is why we return to them again and again”

“There are no rules to love, but there are rules to love stories”

“As a writer one has no boundaries”

Look forward to reading his book. The few paragraphs he read made a connect with me that no other reading did during the 5 days. Also admired his body language.

Manu Joseph

(Attended multiple sessions featuring him and club them here)

“The reason Donald Trump exists is the same as why Rakhi Sawant exists. We have them so that we can feel better about ourselves.”

“Only outsiders can notice some aspects of a place. I came from Chennai and was able to notice that street dogs in Mumbai were twice the size of those in Chennai or that Shiv Sena played particular song at 12 am” (William Dalrymple, in another session, talked on same line, “I do not now notice aspects of Delhi like I used to”)

“Scientists get away with a lot of bullshit”

On fiction

“When we write fiction we tone down reality. Why? Are we not ready for reality? For the starkness which exists?”

“Why are men so nice in our fiction?”

“Novel basically is a story and today there are few story-tellers” (Karan Mahajan also had a point on Trump, “Trump has that novelist’s attention to detail, that pettiness of a novelist”)

Activism

“All activism is born out of discomfort of the elite”

“Feminism in India is elitist” (Mrinal Pande was in the panel and she brought in her views on the topic, stating her experiences, and agreeing with him)

“Left activism is as bad (or as good) as right activism”

Manu Joseph brings out the need to question how we have been looking at things; is direct and fun.

His point on activism had a few people peeved. People saying he has no idea what he is talking or he is speaking without any sense. Why I wondered are they unable to see what is happening all around in the world is also because a system has not delivered on its promises and left people angry. If the right is neither open to questions or nor looking at the mirror so is the left! We have been talking within our proverbial choirs and unless we reach out to others there is only downhill to go!

I recalled an email seeking feedback on a gathering via email. Little wrong in doing so except that the gathering had taken place 14 months ago. While this group radically opposes Modi and Trump it also needs to wonder if this laxity is one of reasons people have turned to Modi and Trump!

(Image from the JLF Facebook page)

I was fortunate to listen to others including Gulzaar Saab and John Keay but those I will leave for another time.

I have tried to best present what I heard and understood then and apologize for any errors that would have crept in.