Jaipur Literature Festival (Day four)

Continued from Day 3.

Day 4: 24th January 2011

11a.m. -12p.m.. - Indian Summer - Alex Von Tunzelmann in conversation with Karan Thapar

Alex van Tunzelmann was interviewed by Karan Thapar about her book Indian Summer. This book is about partition and the end of British Empire in India and Pakistan. But it is more famous for it's insights into the affair of Edwina Mountbatten and Jawahar Lal Nehru. A movie is in production based on this book with the same title.

Alex spoke at length about her research that went behind this particular case. She told us that there is no doubt that Edwina and Nehru were romantically involved and that at least Mountbatten family admits to it. She also talked about the letters that were exchanged between the two and are still held by the Mountbatten family. But she believes that Mountbatten family might soon make those letters public.

Then Karan Thapar touched upon the most debated and sensitive aspect of the story, about which Alex wrote in her book as; "Edwina in her letters to Lord Mountbatten has written that her relationship with Nehru was mostly platonic. Mostly, but not always". Karan asked Alex in a straight-away fashion (for which he is so popular) that in her opinion was there a physical relationship between Edwina and Nehru or not? To which Alex very well replies, "Does it really matter? Let us give them some privacy. And sadly the only two people who really know the answer to this question are no more with us.". Karan to which quickly says (in his iconic style); "I know it is truly their personal matter. But, its devastatingly interesting to know!"

I am very sure more than anything else I attended this session because of Karan Thapar! :)

And it was totally worth it. :)

12p.m. -1p.m.. - Veda: Ends of Knowledge - Roberto Calasso in conversation with Devdutt Patnaik

A deep discussion on the Veda and its interpretation formed the basis of the next hour.

Especially Colasso's book 'Ka' and 'K' were the main points of discussion.

1p.m. - 2:30p.m - Lunch

Yeah I am mentioning the lunch too this time. Because something awesome happened.

First at the food counter I was advised by Karan Thapar to have the gol-gappa as they were very delicious!:)

Later on I took my sandwich and sat on a table where already a lady was reading a newspaper. After a while an elderly lady comes to me and says; "Is this seat taken?". I said; "No its not. Please have a seat." To which she replied; "I would have taken it any way. Can not walk any more." And we all shared a laugh. She was accompanied by a young lady who apparently was her fan. Yes, the lady was a writer as was evident by her guest batch around the neck. In next few minutes, everyone on the table got into a conversation; me, the lady with the newspaper, the elderly writer and her young fan. And then the young fan speaks in between pointing to the elderly lady; "And she is a baroness! Can you believe it?" And it came as a surprise to me and the lady with a newspaper (who is an American writer based in Bangalore as we later discover) that we are sitting next to Baroness Shreela Flather. The discussion just reached another level after that as we went on to learn, more than discuss, about the British parliamentary system and its difficulties.

2:30p.m. - 3:30p.m - A Winter on the Nile - Anthony Sattin in conversation with William Darlymple

Anthony Sattin has previously authored books with subject of Egypt. While researching for one of his book he had come across a document which suggested that on a day in November of 1849 Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert shared the same boat from Alexandria to Cairo. But of course there was nothing to suggest or prove that they did actually meet on that trip.

This discovery by the author tempted him to write A Winter on the Nile. The book is about the literary genius-in-the-making Flaubert and English bluestocking and future heroine of the Crimea Florence on a romantic cruise up the Nile.

At the session author discussed the individual lives of Florence and Flaubert at that point of time.

As for both of them this trip was before they did for what they are best-known-for today.

He also read some excerpts from the book; which truly gave the idea of the humour and comedy that this book offers.

3:30p.m. - 4:30p.m.. - Brand India - Amitav Kant, Suhel Seth and William Nanda Bissell in conversation with John Elliot

A very important and interesting session about the brand image of India.

Willian Bissell shared his experience of Brand India when he planned to take Fabindia to Gulf. He gave a presentation to the concerned people for opening up a Fabindia outlet at one of the Dubai malls. They were all impressed but after the presentation they came to William and said if he could remove/change the word 'india' from the brand name as it would devalue the brand for the population which comprises 60% of people with Indian origin. According to him, there are more than one 'Brand' at contention - There's 'great India' and 'awful India'.

Incredible India fame Amitabh kant said; "How do you make 'Incredible India' truly credible? You can't have soft-power like the Jaipur Literature Festival going on with Jaipur's streets littered. Branding means delivering the promises you make. Civic governance is a big issue for branding."

Suhel Seth interjected, "The first people to talk down 'Brand India' are Indians themselves... Can you blame people? We say 'God's own country' and only God is running this country since Manmohan Singh stopped years ago!" As the audience applauded, Kant remarked, "India's brand story has just begun. Branding is almost over in Europe, America and China. But in the next four decades, India will be making a completely new country."

John Elliott writes in his blog about the session:

"Brand India’s crowd grew, thanks to the sometimes-combative eloquence of the three speakers – Amitabh Kant, a remarkable bureaucrat who master-minded the development of Kerala tourism as God’s Own Country brand and then ran the (albeit ambiguous)Incredible India campaign, William Bissell who runs his family’s booming FabIndia shops, and Suhel Seth, an eloquent and outspoken branding guru. Basically, we all agreed that Brand India needs to smarten up."

That is a wrap from my day at JLF Day 4.