Veil off amid musing, wisdom, humour

Nonika Singh

Detractors can take a backseat. The atmosphere at the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival at the Diggi Palace is as electrifying as the fables have in the past years gone to town with.

Never mind that, Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje Scindia chooses the platform to not only wax eloquent about the festival but also the achievements of her “sarkar”. Yes, the inaugural function with customary lighting of the lamp has the usual dose of speeches from its co-directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple and from the man behind the literary spectacle, Sanjoy Roy.

Yet nothing can mar the energy that is palpable right from the moment Shillong Chamber Choir takes over and touches hearts and souls with it remarkable rendition of yesteryear hits as well as a train journey. Its version of the Vande Mataram has everyone standing in due deference.

But then at the 10th edition of the JLF’s morning session hundreds are anyway standing to soak into pied piper of words Gulzar’s poetic musings, to take home the wisdom of Sadhguru and laugh with the cryptic humour of Sir David Hare, a celebrated playwright from the United Kingdom.

A connection is immediately restored when noted American poet Anne Woldman refers to the swearing in of Donald Trump as a terrible inauguration. Yes, the shadow of Trump is visible when Hare, known for his political plays, while referring to him in his session is adamant how he would not care to write one on him.

Sadhguru, the spiritual leader, might say language is a conspiracy between people, the JLF is all about celebrating languages and word power. Woldman does it with her performative pieces of poetry in her keynote address, beseeching attendees with poetic lines, “push, push against the darkness”.

Guest of honour Gulzar gives a sample of his word wizardry and talks of his new book — a translation of nearly 250 poets in nearly 30 languages. And he has a ready advice for the JLF organisers too who he thinks must focus on one Indian language each year.

North-East and its dynamic poetry come in for special mention by the Dada Saheb Phalke recipient. How dynamic the music from their region can be is more than evident in the buzz created by its multi-genre Shillong Chamber Choir, whose director Neil Nongkynrih claims to be here to build bridges. More bridges are built in sessions with literary heavyweights such as Man Booker winner Paul Beatty and Kannada novelist Santeshivara Lingannaiah Bhyrappa.