The greatest literary show on earth is back with a new line up of authors, sessions and music. By Team Viva
Often described as the ‘greatest literary show on Earth’, the Jaipur Literature Festival is scheduled between March 5 and 14. It will have an array of themes, India 75 being one of its highlights. The JLF will look at various facets of the journey so far with a diverse set of sessions.
DEEP DIVE INTO SESSIONS
A session will explore the narratives and counter-narratives of the electoral process and democratic systems. The panel will includes former chief election commissioner of India and the author of Every Vote Counts Navin B Chawla; national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janta Party and the author of Makers of Modern Dalit History Guru Prakash Paswan; jurist and retired judge of the Supreme Court of India justice Madan B Lokur. In conversation with academic and author Mukulika Banerjee it will discuss the political and electoral process, the paradoxes of democracy, and its triumphs and discontent.
The evolution of modern India is a unique offering to the historical, socio-political, and psychological study of nationhood. Writer and journalist Saket Suman’s enlightening book, The Psychology of a Patriot, presents a thought-provoking chronicle of India. Writer, poet, and academic Makarand R Paranjape’s forthcoming books include JNU: Nationalism and India’s Uncivil War. Gurmehar Kaur’s most recent work, The Young and the Restless: Youth and Politics in India, explores the electoral and ideological involvement of the youth in the Indian democracy as it presents a generational evaluation of political identity. Academic and author Badri Narayan's Republic of Hindutva: How the Sangh Is Reshaping Indian Democracy examines the evolving structures and systems of belief that comprise the RSS. In conversation with author, academic, and social anthropologist Mukulika Banerjee, they will discuss the coming-of-age of an entire nation focusing on its foundations and future. Mukulika Banerjee’s new monograph Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India is a study of the relationship between political democracy and active citizenship in rural India, particularly West Bengal. At another session, Banerjee will be in conversation with writer, journalist, and translator Namita Waikar. Together, they will explore the democratic values and notions of agriculture that shape the country’s political landscape.
The disability rights movement in India is salient but under-represented. Professor and entrepreneur Anita Sharma called over 2,000 driving schools in the country and found that none catered to people with reduced mobility. Having survived polio and knowing the requirements to learn this skill confidently, she began On My Own, a driving school for people with reduced mobility. Indian social entrepreneur, writer, and disability rights activist Nipun Malhotra; journalist and novelist C K Meena, and senior vice president and Head of SAP Engineering Academy V R Ferose have co-authored an insightful book on the lives of persons with disabilities in India, The Invisible Majority: India’s Abled Disabled. They will be in conversation with festival producer and managing director of Teamwork Arts, Sanjoy K Roy at an illuminating session on the rights and representation of India’s persons with disabilities.
Indian rural middle classes, comprising many hundreds of millions of people, straddles the worlds of both agriculture and industry. A leading scholar of rural economy Maryam Aslany’s new book Contested Capital: Rural Middle Classes in India throws light on the vast, evolving rural middle classes, to which more than a third of the country’s middle class belongs. Aslany will be in conversation with writer, politician, and former diplomat Pavan K Varma, whose penetrating study The Great Indian Middle Class traces the evolution of this socio-economic group through the 20th century.
Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s political legacy embodies the vast and kaleidoscopic history of India, post-Independence. Senior journalist Sagarika Ghose presents a deeply researched portrait in her new book Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Author, social scientist, and journalist Nalin Mehta’s latest book The New BJP: Modi and the Making of the World’s Largest Political Party examines how the political party reshaped the Indian polity with its own brand of social engineering, powered by new caste coalitions, a focus on marginalised social groups and the making of a women-voter base. They will be in conversation with journalist Mandira Nayar discussing Vajpayee, the man, and his legacy.
Commemorating the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, Operation X, written by former Indian Navy Officer Captain MNR Samant and author Sandeep Unnithan, is the untold story behind one of the world’s largest covert naval wars. Naval Commando Operations (X) was the Directorate of the Naval Intelligence’s code for a series of guerrilla operations against the maritime jugular of the Pakistan Army in erstwhile East Pakistan. Collaboratively they will explore the inner world of this conflict with naval historian Commodore Srikant B Kesnur.
India’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak followed by a total shutdown marked an unimaginable national tragedy leaving millions of migrant workers stranded, starving and unemployed. Award-winning filmmaker Vinod Kapri’s 1232 Kms documents the journey of seven migrant workers to their village who were forced to walk hundreds of kilometres home, through deadly conditions, abandoned by an administration. Journalist and author Puja Changoiwala’s Homebound tells the story of a family determined to survive and hope against a humanitarian catastrophe. In conversation with academic and author Chinmay Tumbe, Kapri and Changoiwala will discuss the faces and forces at the centre of the exodus and its numbers.
At a session on ‘Sri Aurobindo’, medical doctor, poet, and philosopher Pariksith Singh and writer Makarand R Paranjape, in conversation with academic, editor, and writer Malashri Lal, will explore their perspectives of his philosophy and his ‘inner quest’ as articulated in his writings and life.
The legendary names in Hindi literature — Ramdhari Singh Dinkar and Subhadra Kumari Chauhan — evoke idealism and inspiration. Writer, poet, and musicologist Yatindra Mishra and scholar, writer, academic and historian, Tripurdaman Singh will speak of the lives and legacy of the two poets, their deep commitment and rooted patriotism, and the impact they continue to have on the identity and understanding of Hindi literature.
LET THERE BE MUSIC
Scheduled from March 10 to 12, the musical extravaganza Jaipur Music Stage will be held parallel to the 15th JLF. The lineup will feature a diverse group of artistes from all over the Indian subcontinent. These include Anirudh Varma Collective, a contemporary Indian classical ensemble led by New Delhi-based pianist, composer and producer Anirudh Varma; Advaita, an eight-member fusion band that has completed 14 years; Mooralala Marwada, a Sufi folk singer from Janana village of Kutch district; Kutle Khan Project, a collective of Rajasthani folk musicians highlighting Kutle Khan, a folk artiste; Ali Saffudin, a singer-songwriter from Srinagar, Kashmir; and Ankur & The Ghalat Family, a Hindi rock project led by frontman and singer-songwriter Ankur Tewari, along with Gaurav Gupta, Sidd Coutto and Johan Pais.
The audience can book their tickets by visiting the Festival website. A single day pass costs Rs 499, and a combined pass for all three days of the Festival is available for Rs 1,300.
