Discussion on war, democracy marks 1st day of Jaipur Lit Fest

star-studded sessions

Jaipur: Poetry, war, history, translation, sport, history and democracy were some of the prominent themes that were covered on the first day of the Jaipur Literature Festival. The five-day annual festival, which kicked off on Thursday, is currently in its 16th edition.

The day saw speakers like Raghuram Rajan, Kai Bird, Gulzar, Paul Lynch, Ranjit Hoskote, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and
B Jeyamohan in attendance.

The festival began with an inauguration ceremony, and an address by Diya Kumari, the deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Festival director Namita Gokhale then took the stage to offer the audience an overview of what to expect over the next five days.

Raghuram Rajan, former governor of the Reserve Bank of India discussed his book, ‘Breaking The Mould: Reimagining The Economic Future’ with his co-author Rohit Lamba.

At a press conference later in the day, Rajan touched upon topics such as the need to create more jobs and upskill youngsters, and called for basic regulation of the cryptocurrency market.

“It is always useful to allow technology some space. It’s wise to put some of your money in it, but not all your life’s savings,” he explained. He also highlighted the importance of India taking the lead on green technology.

‘Philosophy, fantasy and Fandom’, a session featuring B Jeyamohan saw the Tamil writer in conversation with translator Suchitra Ramachandran and Bengaluru-based author Anjum Hasan. The discussion revolved around philosophy and his books, ‘Stories of the True’ and ‘Abyss’, both of which were translated into English from Tamil. While the former is a collection of short stories, the latter is a tale of a flawed man who makes a living through dubious means.

“I was a mendicant in Varanasi, so I could put myself in the shoes of beggars (whom the protagonist uses to make his money in ‘Abyss’),” Jeyamohan said.