{"id":46366,"date":"2013-02-07T11:06:43","date_gmt":"2013-02-07T16:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=46366"},"modified":"2013-02-09T18:38:27","modified_gmt":"2013-02-09T23:38:27","slug":"letter-from-jaipur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2013\/02\/07\/letter-from-jaipur\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from Jaipur"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last year\u2019s Jaipur Literature Festival was exciting and boring at the same time\u2014a death threat is exciting, but thirty death threats are boring; as Dostoevsky wrote, \u201cMan is a creature who can get used to anything.\u201d Salman Rushdie was scheduled to attend: Islamic groups agitated to deny him a visa, which he does not need in order to enter India, but never mind. It was suggested that instead Rushdie might address the festival via video conference: the government itself advised against this. Hari Kunzru, Jeet Thayil, Amitava Kumar, and Ruchir Joshi read aloud in protest from The Satanic Verses<\/i>, still banned in India, but, after the gravity of their collective transgression had been brought home to them, they left the festival.<\/p>\n

We know what comedy is: life is increased. Think of Rodney Dangerfield addressing the crowd at the end of Caddyshack<\/i>: \u201cHey, everybody, we\u2019re all gonna get laid!\u201d And we know what tragedy is: isolation increases. I used to think that life was about winning everything, Mike Tyson once said, but now I know that life is about losing everything.<\/p>\n

But what is India, with its boundless affirmation of life in general that befouls so many lives in the particular, with its joyous proliferation unto overcrowding, need, and misery? I did my small part, during my brief month there, to maintain those inequalities: Give me your shoes, I know you have other pair, you not need these, give them me, said a man as he tried to pull my sneakers off while a second man tried to pin my arms; and what he said was true, somewhere on the other side of the world I did have another pair of shoes, four shoes and only two feet; all the same, unhand me, my little friend, before I pick you up and throw you like a javelin.<\/p>\n

I attended the 2013 JLF. It began in the same way. Ugly cartoons of Rushdie appeared in the papers: \u201cIf I say I\u2019ll go to it, the Jaipur Lit Fest is all about me. \/ If I say I shan\u2019t go to it, the Jaipur Lit Fest is all about me. \/ If I didn\u2019t exist, the Jaipur Lit Fest would have had to invent me.\u201d Pakistani diplomats were barred from visiting Jaipur, presumably as symbolic retaliation for a Line of Control incident, including beheading and mutilation of Indian soldiers, that had taken place earlier in January; Pakistani writer Mohammed Hanif, scheduled to appear with Jamil Ahmad on January 24, was a no-show. Jaipur Police Commissioner B. L. Soni said the festival could go forward only on the condition that organizers promised no one\u2019s feelings would be hurt; Timothy Garton Ash later said, \u201cIf no one\u2019s feelings are going to be hurt, then we might as well all go home.\u201d Muslim hard-liners forbade the participation of Kunzru, Thayil, Kumar, and Joshi, those who had read from The Satanic Verses <\/i>the previous year; Thayil bravely attended, trailed by a personal security officer, and won the DSC South Asian Prize for his novel Narcopolis<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Let me tell you something about those \u201cboring\u201d threats of violence: they are much more exciting, in fact almost intolerably exciting, when you are not reading about them, safe at home, but instead are half a world away, being frisked and having your various metals detected. They are exciting enough to make you have to pee.<\/p>\n

I can imagine one day moving to Jaipur; but I will not soon attend another literature festival in that city, or in any other. To be a writer off the page\u2014to hold forth, to be a bore!<\/p>\n

Tarun Tejpal said, \u201cBe quiet, stop interrupting me, everyone is only here to hear what I am saying.\u201d Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak began talking and I immediately fell asleep, as if by sudden enchantment; I woke and she was still talking, and I fell asleep again; I woke a second time, and Sir Christopher Ricks, onstage with her, was also asleep, with his head in his hands, and Spivak was still talking, by now laughing with delight about how boring she knows she is, which of course not only does not mitigate such an offense but compounds it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t she wonderful?\u201d Probir Roy asked me, with fierce Bengali pride. No doubt a failure to appreciate Spivak\u2019s vacuous profundity is evidence of my lack of sophistication. To my way of thinking, a university is like jail\u2014sooner or later, you\u2019re going to have to go, and it\u2019s nothing to be ashamed of, but remember: your goal is to get out and never return.<\/p>\n

Spivak had the peculiar good fortune of benefiting from the contrast with her still more egregious moderator Chandrahas Choudhury, who had opened their panel by asking Ricks if a good critic needs to be a good reader, or a good writer, or both, or neither. Your thoughts?<\/p>\n

Wade Davis is a good writer, even if he himself would be the first to inform you of that fact. An unmatched monster of egotism, Davis, while ostensibly moderating an hour-long session on \u201cThe Art of Biography,\u201d gave an interminable introductory speech about his own most recent book, hilariously titled Into the Silence<\/i>. A woman seated behind me shouted, \u201cSomeone stop him! This is scandalous!\u201d Scattered applause. Davis kept talking.<\/p>\n

There were exceptions (the charming and patient Pico Iyer, the already-mentioned Ricks, the expert if suspiciously over-rehearsed Reza Aslan, the droll Tahar Ben Jelloun), but for the most part the festival was yet another in a series of reminders that people who are socially competent tend not to choose a career in which one sits for hours at a desk in solitude.<\/p>\n

And then there was the Ashis Nandy scandal. I don\u2019t think my opinion of a foreign country\u2019s free-speech laws can be very interesting: India\u2019s citizens face challenges I don\u2019t begin to understand, and for all I know they have developed optimal policies for managing said problems. I do not presume to render a judgment, but I can offer evidence, for I was present in the audience at Nandy\u2019s \u201cRepublic of Ideas\u201d panel.<\/p>\n

What Nandy said was essentially this: Corruption is the great hope for a more equal India. It is well known that our lower classes are the most corrupt\u2014corruption among the upper classes, it should go without saying, is of a wholly other order of magnitude, and is destroying our country\u2014but corruption among the lower classes is most widespread, because we, the elite, have crafted legislation such that the lower classes may not enjoy our rights and privileges. If they want to enjoy them, as well they should, then they must break the laws we have used to shut them out: they must become corrupt. Good for them. Only in this way will equality increase in India. This kind of corruption is the way to a better, more just future.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is what the Times of India<\/i> printed:<\/p>\n

\n

A day after author Ashis Nandy said people from OBC, SC and ST [other backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes] communities were the \u201cmost corrupt\u201d, its fallout was resonant at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Sunday … Police had on Saturday registered a case against Nandy and festival producer Sanjoy Roy under SC\/ST act [prevention of atrocities] and also under Section 506 [criminal intimidation] of the IPC [Indian penal code] … protesters continued pouring in at Diggi Palace seeking immediate arrest of Nandy and Roy… \u201cWe shall continue with the protest until Nandy is arrested,\u201d said Roopchand Rehdia, district president, Jaipur unit of the BSP.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From another newspaper:<\/p>\n

\n

Sociologist and political commentator Ashis Nandy ignited the festival with what he said…Nandy tried to douse the flames with a clarification. But his comments, played in a spool on TV channels, spread like wildfire to far away Uttar Pradesh as well, where chief minister Mayawati exhorted organizers to throw Nandi out of Jaipur.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But that is not at all what Nandy said, except in the strict sense that the words \u201cmost” and “corrupt\u201d are two of the many words he said: \u201cIt will be an undignified and vulgar statement but the fact is that most of the corrupt come from the OBC, the SCs and now increasingly the STs. As long as this is the case, the Indian republic will survive.\u201d One thinks of Wesley Addy lecturing Ralph Meeker in Kiss Me Deadly<\/i>: \u201cListen, Mike. Listen carefully. I\u2019m going to pronounce a few words. They\u2019re harmless words. Just a bunch of letters scrambled together. But their meaning is very important. Try to understand what they mean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nandy soon apologized, and you might think that would have been the end of it. But no: yet again his apology had contained the magic words, which yet again scandalmongers could reprint shorn of context, and so off with his head.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe case is open and shut one. Nandy was heard and seen by millions talking about SC, ST and OBC communities in bad light. Government should have arrested him before doing any investigation. I fail to understand what actually government intends to find out,\u201d chairman of the SC\/ST Commission, P L Punia, told TOI [Times of India<\/i>] on Monday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It seemed everyone had an opinion\u2014an irresponsible, hysterical, uninformed \u201copinion\u201d:<\/p>\n

\n

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said no one has the right to make accusation against a particular caste. He said the statement showed mental bankruptcy and only a person who has lost mental balance can say such things. \u201cWe will see what he has said and in what context. If he has said anything which is against the law, action will be taken against him,\u201d Gehlot said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0State BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] President Arun Chatruvedi [sic<\/i>] also condemned the comment. \u201cThe statement is objectionable. Someone comes in a literary programme and then makes false allegations against a community cannot be accepted,\u201d Chaturvedi said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As the days passed and lies ceased to sell copies of newspapers, the editors began to experiment with partial truth: it had a certain attractive novelty value; perhaps someone, somewhere, might pay to read it. \u201cThat Nandy was actually making a point about upper caste corruption and the inequality that crushes the dispossessed was entirely lost on the outragers,\u201d wrote the Hindustan Times<\/i>\u2014using valuable column inches that could instead have been devoted to reprinting Nandy\u2019s complete remarks for all to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cRich people,\u201d Shyam told me as he drove to the next hotel, my thirteenth and final hotel of the month. \u201cThey are saying illegal to get into paper and on TV. He is knowing all the time is illegal. He is saying to get into paper. Publicity. And now being in paper every day. You are seeing paper?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t think Nandy will go to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. No. Not go to jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think he did it on purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year. Every week! All the time!\u201d<\/p>\n

I did not attend the famous parties of the Jaipur Literature Festival. Instead I took an autorickshaw into town, looking for trouble. I made some friends, one thing led to another, and two days after the festival was over I was drinking lime soda at a wedding reception in Delhi next door to prime minister Manmohan Singh\u2019s residence. The trip ended with a wedding: it turned out India was a comedy after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me,\u201d said the editor-in-chief of Indo-European Affairs<\/i>, \u201cwhat do you think of Indian journalism?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps we might discuss some other topic,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive me your honest opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince you have pressed me on the subject,\u201d I said, \u201cfor the most part it seems to me to be an easy way to make a living. A man just makes up anything he wants and they print it. The United States operates more or less along the same lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese papers are full of lies. It\u2019s a disgrace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch your words.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNext time don\u2019t ask me what I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGive an example.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Ashis Nandy scandal. I was there. He did not say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did say it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you he said it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not an expert,\u201d I said. \u201cFar from it. I\u2019m just a fool with a pencil. But I was there. Were you there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw Nandy today,\u201d he said. \u201cGetting into a taxi.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs he all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told him I was with him,\u201d he said, not answering my question. \u201cI will not go to jail with him, of course. But I am with him in spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think he will go to jail?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shrugged. \u201cThe Jaipur Literature Festival,\u201d he said, and he snorted. \u201cRun by a Frenchman!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Frenchman is that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis William Dalrymple person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cScottish,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot French?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrinity College, Cambridge,\u201d I said, \u201cif I am not mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrench!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I said, and he frowned. I had the sense he had not heard the word no<\/i> often.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you ever write about anything serious,\u201d he said, \u201cor only about literature?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

J.\u2009D. Daniels lives in Massachusetts.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year\u2019s Jaipur Literature Festival was exciting and boring at the same time\u2014a death threat is exciting, but thirty death threats are boring; as Dostoevsky wrote, \u201cMan is a creature who can get used to anything.\u201d Salman Rushdie was scheduled to attend: Islamic groups agitated to deny him a visa, which he does not need […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[9984,9982,9983,9971,9977,9974,1048,9970,6627,4435,9979,9976,9980,1856,9975,9981,9973,9972,9978,1845],"class_list":["post-46366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-arun-chatruvedi","tag-ashis-nandy","tag-ashok-gehlot","tag-b-l-soni","tag-chandrahas-choudhury","tag-gayatri-chakravorty-spivak","tag-india","tag-jaipur","tag-jaipur-literary-festival","tag-mohammed-hanif","tag-pico-iyer","tag-probir-roy","tag-reza-aslan","tag-salman-rushdie","tag-sir-christopher-ricks","tag-tahar-ben-jelloun","tag-tarun-tejpal","tag-timothy-garton-ash","tag-wade-davis","tag-william-dalrymple"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLetter from Jaipur by J. 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