FOR THE LOVE OF THE NEW INDIA!

THE 17TH EDITION OF THE JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL HAD TO OVERLOOK THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM…THE ARDENT REVIVAL OF THE SANATANA DHARMA. SOMEHOW THERE WAS A ‘HUSHING’ UP OF POLITICAL POLEMICS, AND A GREATER FOCUS ON NON INFLAMMATORY TOPICS AROUND CLIMATE CHANGE, DIGITAL COMMUNICATION (IS SOCIAL MEDIA ERODING SENSIBILITY)…AND INDIA’S STAKES IN THE GLOBAL VILLAGE..

SANGEETA WADDHWANI PRESENTS HIGHLIGHTS OF HER EXPERIENCE OVER THE CHARGED YET UNEASILY CALM FEST!

BABY CALM DOWN…

First things first. The Jaipur Literature Festival has calmed down. Maybe it has gone from boisterous, inflammatory teenager to sage, politically well-aligned, cautious adult.

Given the vigour and reinstalled ‘Ram Rajya’ (which touched a deep chord in the majority of our population and in me as well)…can we blame a literature Festival for riding on the right side of the powers-that-be? Especially with elections around the corner?

One recalls the furore that rose in earlier years when poet Jeet Thayil once dared to read a few lines from Rushdie’s Satanic Verses. Newspaper headlines screamed about the great possibility of a lathi charge on the largely student population in attendance. The same threats occurred when Rushdie…(barred from visiting India like MF Husain) was supposed to participate in a session via video conferencing.

The rumblings of a New India were well in place.

We have since forgotten movements like Award Wapsi, in 2015, where artists, writers, and filmmakers returned their national awards as a form of protest against the shrinking tolerance of religious diversity. Remember the medieval mob lynching of a certain Muslim man in Dadri, Noida, because he was allegedly storing beef at home?

“That was when people were not used to a saffronised India…but now we are fully saffronised,” says my former colleague Vishwaveer Singh, (HELLO! magazine).

SAFFRON OR NOT, INDIA GALLOPS!

As the PM of Papua New Guinea, James Marape affirms,, “We are victims of global powerplay… You (PM Modi) are the leader of Global South.”

To be fair, this PM and his ministers have shown that their actions do speak, beyond election promises. Think Nitin Gadkari setting Guiness World records in road infrastructure, Amitabh Kant rebranding and digitising India at breakneck speed, and our armed forces and space programs pushing into new frontiers, making us stand tall in the global arena. India also, for the first time, had the confidence to develop her own vaccine, during the Pandemic…

SECULAR IDEALS? ONCE UPON A TIME…

Harping about the eroding of secular ideals, now, has the feel of an antique scratchy record nobody cares to play. India is too busy looking out for the coolest new schemes, yojanas, superhighways – digital, phygital or otherwise… routes to Mars…because with our PM..anything is possible!

Who cares how dramatic his proselytizing is…we know that he defends India’s ‘native’ strengths in every gesture…and faith is definitely one of them!

SURE WE NEED OUR OWN MECCA!

I am proud to see us re-owning the sacrality of Ayodhya and growing a new consciousness of the beauty of Sanata Dharma. All I am saying is, let’s not forget humanitarian values that transcend religions… every citizen needs their roti, kapda and makan as well as a sense of feeling safe, protected by law and accepted. This January,, I have been listening to my SOBO non-Hindu friends who are atheist, protesting about being asked to put Ayodhya temple flags out on their windows…”Are we not allowed to be Muslim atheists?” they ask, rhetorically.

HINDUISM SEEPS INTO MASS CONSCIOUSNESS, UNAPOLOGETICALLY

But..but…but…heyyy…

Wasn’t it beautiful to see all our Khan superstars do their own Pran Pratishta poojas on January 22? Wasn’t it wonderful to see Parsee entrepreneur Jimmy Mistry stage a yagna at his Della hotel in Lonavla, invoking the blessings of Lord Rama and thanking India for allowing Parsees to escape religious persecution in Iran? Hinduism itself has acquired a breath of life and is “seeping over public consciousness like tea slowly seeping out of a teabag”…to borrow Booker Prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s metaphor.

This is not just among Hindus and within India, but worldover. As the American former Beverly Hills resident, now a spiritual voice nestled in the Himalayas, Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati puts it, “We are seeing so many people from different cultures and traditions, turn towards so many aspects of the Dharma, for truth, awareness, insight and inspiration.”

JAI SHREE RAM…JAI SHREE SITA MA!

At my arrival at the Jaipur airport, I was amused to note that Spice Jet had launched a direct flight between Jaipur and Ayodhya. I met happy passengers, just back from their pilgrimage to the Ram Lalla temple.

Instinctively I chatted with them and their joy and equanimity was infectious! My Western educated mind kept saying, “OK, we have reinstalled Lord Ram in his rightful birthplace of Ayodhya, but the more challenging task will be to restore his pristine morality, his self-sacrificing stance, in this morally ambiguous era. Isn’t that the bigger task at hand? Can a temple take us back to a society built on the pillars of ‘Praan Jaaye Par Vachchan Na Jaaye?”

A GENUINE REBOOTING OF YOUNG INDIA

The challenge we face is taking young India to the purity of an India that existed before greedy invaders destroyed our Vrindavanas, our temples, poisoned us, divided us, infected us with their class divisions and taught us that all things ‘native’ and ‘vernacular’ were of no use. This includes our languages, philosophies, devotional traditions, epics, polemics, art forms.

Wouldn’t THAT kind of Ram Rajya only happen in the classroom…? A far more potent silent revolution?

WOULD I SURVIVE THE KALIYUG AS A SELF SACRIFICING LORD RAM OR A SITA MA?

We need academicians passionate about contextualising OUR stories to the moral climate of our times. If ISKON Prabhujis can do that, in temples, why not in schools and colleges? Why not foster a culture where debates and questions are permitted, where cross connections between spiritual cultures are encouraged…if done in a spirit of genuine, respectful inquiry!

So many timeless truths are embedded in our ancient stories, so many powerful archetypes with haunting questions…but we grow up not analyzing the Bhagavatam or the Mahabharat, not reading plays by Kalidasa, but ruminating the inaction of a Hamlet or the different realms of magic in MacBeth, by Shakespeare. This is STILL the case in English medium schools.

BACK TO JLF 2024!

As if the Universe overheard my thoughts, I found myself sitting next to a lady who recommended I buy the book,.THE ASURA WAY, THE CONTRARIAN PATH TO SUCCESS, by Anand Neelakantan.

Reading this book, I am thrilled to see how the author has plumbed all the spiritual clichés that we are fed, examining our epic stories and myths and showing a rational way to navigate the clichéd teaching (eg, THOU MUST CONTROL THOU’S ANGER) by showing how our greatest Hindu icons have achieved the greatest of victories by not surpressing anger but by channeling it towards goals that counter injustice. As you travel along the book, you sense how in tune and pragmatic it is for today’s complex landscape to see how ‘vices’ like anger, passion, greed, infatuation, pride, and a competitive spirit…all have their place in propelling one to success, if navigated correctly! Learn the secrets of the Asuras who lived for the Here and Now…because in the Age of Kali, you need to have your own back!

THE ASURA WAY TO HEAVEN IN 2024

NAVIGATING EXPONENTIAL CHANGE

A wonderful assembly of voices and views on the topic, NAVIGATING EXPONENTIAL CHANGE, featuring Albert Read, Arun Maira, Amit Sen, Debashish Chakravarti, and Koel Puri Rinchett (whose book Invisible in Paris was wonderfully evocative around the idea of how in crisis time women form deep sisterhoods which help them navigate Pandemics, and other ‘viruses’ of modern life)…The session was artfully moderated by Arvind Kalia…

I particularly loved how the panelists decoded the swamping of digital media over print, how digital media has insisted on us relooking and rethinking of education models and how technology is going to continue to be a vast, non value-driven force that Gen Z and Gen Y may become totally submerged in. Koel raised a powerful counter intuitive question…”We assume change is good…but I feel even change needs to be observed more analytically; all change is NOT necessarily leading to positive trends.”

Audacious Hope looks at the protests that united farmers across state borders in 2020 and the national outcry following the controversial CAA legislation. From the myriad ways people came to the aid of their fellow citizens during the pandemic to the testing of free-speech boundaries by cultural activists, this book undertakes the task of documenting resistance in its many forms.
Roy challenges the reader with his account of how a proud people are battling to save their beloved democracy. The question is, how can we, through individual and collective action, resist authoritarianism, casteism and majoritarianism? The answer is, of course, through the audacity of hope!

The need of the moment, many identified, was a sense of wonder, innovation, the curiosity and imagination of a child. The unlearning of set methodology and a rapid assimilation of new communication modes with the reach, power and seduction of social media.

Albert Read’s book, THE IMAGINATION MUSCLE (he is former MD of Conde Nast and saw many disruptions through publishing before moving out completely and becoming a full time author) sold out immediately post session but I hope to read a Kindle version soon!

As a leader in his former position with Conde Nast, Albert felt he had to learn to admit he was wrong when employees with far less experience had innovation plans..”it is an era of such rapid change, you have to approach your position with great humility,” he shared.

CLIMATE CHANGE: LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY

There was a virtual war between reps of lobbies from the UK, Australia, India and the US in the session, COP28: GLOBAL STOCK TAKE. The discussion opened on the alarming fact that our planet has warmed up by over 1.5 degrees Celsius and is set to breach that if current emission trends continued. The session featured EU Ambassador Herve Delphin, Phillip Green, Alex Hellis, May Elin-Stener, Jeff Goodell, and Sumant Sinha in conversation with Shyam Saran.

The conversation had a slight blame game tonality, as eco-summits often go, which peaked when the American rep predicted that India was slated to be have third biggest carbon emission globally after America and China…given India’s emissios went up by 7 percent in 2022. “For the second consecutive year, India is likely to register the largest growth in CO2 emissions among major economies, as shared by the annual study of Global Carbon Project.”

However, the Moderator Shyam Saran immediately put forward a reality check, saying India only spewed out 2 percent of the total CO2 emissions worldover, even if her population ranks at 17 percent of the global population. The US stands at a whopping 14.9 percent, China at 8 percent and the rest of the world at 4.7 in total.”

His quick defense of India was applauded, but the point he was making was that First World nations were still holding on to ‘protectionist’ policies, not willing to cut back emissions to protect certain industries…all while pressuring countries like India to cut back regardless of economics.

The biggest takeaway for me was when the Australian rep spoke up, saying “Not many people know this, but 80 percent of all solar panels used worldover are Made in Australia!” He also went on to cite many areas where Australia had followed through on climate change reversal.measures, discussed at COP28. Even Finland has been taking strong measures. We do hope India finds eco solutions for carbon emissions soon!

THE PALE BLUE DOT: CHERISHING OUR PLANET

We also had the session, The Pale Blue Dot: Cherishing Our Planet with Founder of Myntra and CureFit Mukesh Bansal, G20 Sherpa to the Prime Minister Amitabh Kant and Chief Economist of Axis Bank Neelkanth Mishra in conversation with NDTV Group Executive Editor Vishnu Som (Presented by Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Series).

Speaking of the growing industry of space exploration and India’s place in it, Kant said, “We should not be in the space business for space tourism, but to improve the lives of our citizens”. The panel highlighted the role that the private sector and, most importantly, the youth of India must play in the research of space exploration. Bansal, who has also funded India’s first private space company, Skyroot, added, “A lot of young entrepreneurs are understanding that sky’s the limit, literally.”

INNER SPACE FROM OUTER SPACE

A rivetting and soothing morning session, featured the lovely Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, based on her memoir, HOLLYWOOD TO THE HIMALAYAS. When I walked in, she shared an unforgettable scientific truth, that had great spiritual import, and that helped her to heal from an early life filled with abuse: “Your body is constantly rebuilding itself. Certain aspects..like skin..take only a few days for self repair, while your organs can take upto 7 or 8 years to totally regenerate. By the time I stood in front of Pujya Swami, in Hrishikesh, there wasn’t a single cell in my body that had been abused.” Think if how much baggage we can release, emotional, mental, even physical memory…if we think this way! Then, Sadhviji led us to contemplate a ‘Neti Neti’ mediation, where we stop identifying with layers of ‘I’…be it your job title, house, belongings, name, milestones…right down to your face, organs, skin cells, atoms, DNA…

We tried it….and felt weight lifting up …kilos of weight, evaporate! “Now in your purest soul essence, you are part of the Cosmic Oneness, and can create what you wish…or just enjoy your infinities and bliss!”

What an invigorating session!

THE ELEPHANT MOVES!

This book by Amitabh Kant barely touched the Festival bookstore shelves and sold out…twice over! Did I buy it? Will do once they have a Kindle edition…! No excess luggage required!

Amitabh Kant as we know,  is an Indian bureaucrat and was the second CEO of NITI Aayog, a public policy think tank of the Government of India. He is a retired member of the Indian Administrative Service, the central civil service of the Government of India. Amit Kapoor, PhD, is Honorary Chairman at Institute for Competitiveness, India; Visiting Scholar at Stanford University; President of India Council on Competitiveness. While three other panelists were also on board, with TV news anchor Nidhi Razdan as moderator, the most earth shaking facts were shared by Mr Kant.

The discussion around this book brought to light many fascinating facts: AS shared by Mr Kant, “In the last year, we did 118 billion fast payments. Next was China, with 28 billion fast payments. Then India has been moving towards cashless, paperless credit, with a number of young start ups, and now wealth creation has been multiplied by creating stock markets in T2 and T3 cities. We now do digital health insurance. We have created 40 million new houses, (which would mean housing for all of Australia) 710 million new toilets, (which would cover the entire population of Germany) and provided piped water connections to 253 million citizens of India (the size of Brazil!) We have also added 88,000 kilometers of roads!” Shared Mr Kant.

I swear I want to hear a song akin to Shankar Mahadevan’s BREATHLESS cover all these wonderful achievements!

DISCOVERING INDIA AS A BRAND

This was conceptually a very interesting book that one encountered at a closed door high tea at the Clark’s Amer: INDIA UNBOXED: WE ARE LIKE THIS ONLY – 75 Quirky Aspects That Define The Nation. While as a lifestyle/celebrity magazine editor, I often met people in the fashion and entertainment worlds…at JLF one was thoroughly enjoying meeting wizards and witches in diverse areas of magic making!

Safir Anand wore the spirit of Rajasthan’s handicraft on his person, mirrors flashing as cheerfully as his quirky eyeglasses. It was clear this man had an innate understanding of branding..individual..corporate…event branding or government scheme branding!

As senior partner and head of trademarks, and contractual and commercial IP, at Anand and Anand, Safir is recognised as one of India’s top IP attorneys and has over 25 years of experience in advising and representing clients from diverse industries, from fast-moving consumer goods to pharmaceuticals, software, social media, food, media, sports, entertainment, luxury, fashion and government. In a candid moment, he shared, “It was I who suggested to Sanjoy that JLF should become a global brand!’ And so it has!

Meanwhile, I am eager to get started reading this book, described as “written in an engaging style, a heartfelt tribute to an ancient civilisation but a nation young at heart. A country on the cusp of becoming a vishwa guru that still epitomizes why ‘we are like this only.’

SAM DALYRMPLE DEBUTS!

It was a delight to meet Sam Dalrymple…a Hindustani at heart who can throw a Hindi phrase at you in a thrice and make you feel right at home! Now if you have a father as prolific a writer and now podcaster, as William Dalrymple…you know you are in erudite territory!

Sam moderated a session titled DETHRONED:THE INTEGRATION OF PRINCELY INDIA, with remarkable confidence and dexterity. Leading a discussion with authors John Zubrzycki and Narayani Basu, he discussed the not-so -bloodless process of wiping out Princely states when India and Pakistan took shape as independent republics.

The discussion covered the dramatic true story of the betrayal of hundreds of Indian princely states by both the departing British and the new Congress government. In July 1947, India’s last Viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, stood before New Delhi’s Chamber of Princes to deliver the most important speech of his career. He had just three weeks to convince over 550 sovereign princely states―some tiny, some the size of Britain―to become part of a free India. Once Britain’s most faithful allies, the princes could choose between joining India or Pakistan, or declaring independence. This is a saga of intrigue, brinkmanship and broken promises, wrought by Mountbatten and two of independent India’s founding fathers: the country’s most senior civil servant, V.P. Menon, and Congress strongman Vallabhbhai Patel. What India’s architects described as a ‘bloodless revolution’ was anything but, as violence engulfed Kashmir and Indian troops crushed Hyderabad’s dreams of independence. Most princes accepted the inevitable, exchanging their power for guarantees of privileges and titles in perpetuity.

SHASHI THAROOR: ON EMPIRE AND POLICY

Two days into JLF and one had seen little sign of our usual repertoire of secular thinkers..be it Shashi Tharoor, Shobhaa De, Suhel Seth or Javed Akhtar. These were authors who believed in a free for all when it came to matters of faith, the cross pollination of beliefs and the challenging of the establishment. Were they banned or had they voluntarily vanished?

My spirits were a bit restored when I finally saw Shashi Tharoor participate in more than one panel! A session I really enjoyed listening to was when Tharoor had two British gentlemen on either side of him, and he found himself countering their racially self-depreciating sense of humour with shocking statistics about what the Empire did to India.

He was also the (weak) voice of the opposition in the session, “Audacious Hope: How to Save a Democracy”, based on a book of that name by Indrajit Roy (Professor of Global Development Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of York.. Roy is co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to Indian Politics and Society, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press in 2024. He holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford).

Nidhi Razdan conducted the session with Shashi Tharoor and Roy, about the current state of Indian democracy and their hopes for the future. When talking about the role of dissent and protests in today’s political spaces, Roy said, “It’s better to romanticise protests than to romanticise the governments.”

A loaded statement!

Stressing on the importance of the institutions of our country, Tharoor said, “Elections are not enough. Institutions give power to our democracy… whether it is new institutions or old institutions.” AS the conversation warmed up, Tharoor made it abundantly clear that between elections, India had an authoritarian government.

Indrajit’s book is an archive of efforts by citizens of India to resist the tools of authoritarianism being deployed by the present government. Dissent against the establishment is intrinsic to India, he said. Big and small actions of resistance prop up hope and keep alive a way to rebuild. In the past few decades, ordinary folk in India have stood up to repressive state authority over and over again. Their vital acts of hope preserve the collective spirit of resistance and unwavering resilience necessary to continue the fight for democracy.

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ALL THIS…AND THE FAB AFTER PARTIES, SHOPPING AND TOURISTY STUFF!

Our opening night party was at hostess with the mostest, Mita Kapoor’s bungalow…Mita is a serial literary entrepreneur who has conceived and executed many a cultural initiative and been a frequent moderator at JLF.

She runs her own literary agency Siyahi, and has also authored her own book The F Word (full of juicy gastronomic tales). We savoured her lavish buffet dinner with exotic delicacies as we mingled with members of the media, authors and cultural ambassadors.

In summary, the Jaipur Literature Festival may have dropped in its controversy quotient, even the Music Stage had far better artists last year…but there was enough oomph in the overall content, the books, the international participation and the brilliant Heritage Night with Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt..to keep you in a happy, saturated soul space..oh and of course those precious moments meeting the minds shaping our nation…Amitabh Kant, Shashi Tharoor, Sanjoy Roy…moments we wait all year for! Thank you to all at JLF…❤️❤️❤️