It was a session called Trial by Media. I made myself believe that as a journalist, it would be my professional and ethical responsibility to attend it.
So I made my way to the Mughal Tent (one of the six sites at the venue), and thus began the last day of the Jaipur Literary Festival. Moderated by Rohit Gandhi, and involving journalists Avirook Sen, Shoma Chaudhury, and Madhu Trehan, the session sought to dissect and analyse Indian media’s influence on judicial cases.
The conversation, as expected, commenced with talking about the Aarushi Talwar case. It is true that the 2008 Noida double murder case is perhaps the most glaring example of this, and Sen’s book on the same definitely made it the point of discussion (both Sen and Chaudhury have covered and followed the case extensively).
While talking about crime reporting, Sen noted that there is a certain suspension of rationality that comes into play. Chaudhury was of the opinion that whenever the media has come under scrutiny for reporting a particular case speculatively, they have hidden behind the excuse of sub-judice.
Shotgun Sinha
By the time it was afternoon, the front lawns of the Diggi Palace began swarming with crowds. It seemed the whole of Jaipur wanted to be there for a particularly heavy artillery session, involving an equally ballistic person. And then, amidst sudden cheering, he appeared on stage, arms akimbo, greeting the applauding crowd.
Shotgun Sinha was on stage. Joined by Suhel Seth, and Shashi Tharoor (Tharoor, who has written the foreword for Khamosh, Sinha’s biography, was MIA for the first few minutes, and it took a rather ‘immodest’ Suhel Seth to seek him out).
Sinha has been known for his cut-throat nature, even when it comes to talking about his own party, the BJP. Seth began by asking both Tharoor, again quite immodestly, if they have ever cheated on their wives while married.
Sinha admitted he did once, but then promised his wife to be a good husband and stopped telling her afterwards. Laughter resonated throughout the venue.
Sexual Revolution
What can you say about a woman who authored the brilliant Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution, and was part of the Arab Spring uprising in Egypt, and has no qualms about calling Donald Trump a “f*****g fascist” – you go girl!
In conversation with Abeer Hoque, a Nigerian-born Bangladeshi American writer and photographer, Mona Eltahawy was astounding. Eltahawy was insistent when she said that even in times of conflict, women shouldn’t be treated as some fluff issue, to be put way down in the list of social and political agendas.
The JLF Holy Trinity
Sanjoy Roy, Namita Gokhale, and William Dalrymple spoke with The Quint about organising the festival, highlights and takeaways from this year’s event.
Roy spoke of the various outreach programmes, involving taking authors to schools in various remote areas, and getting children from schools across Rajasthan involved in the festival.
On being asked if there is a skeletal template for choosing authors, Namita Gokhale said that the process is rather intuitive. But Gokhale emphasised that for her getting Indian authors also writing in the various bhasha traditions was of prime importance.
When asked if we should look out for one possible author next year, William Dalrymple said that he is trying his best to get Australian writer Peter Carey.
The past five days at the Jaipur Literary Festival was a heady mix of engaging and eclectic sessions. And as we leave – fearing any sort of value judgement – let us just say, so long, and thanks for all the fish!
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)