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Zee Jaipur Literature Festival volunteers an indispensable part of event

The Zee Jaipur Literature Festival is spread out over ten venues, involves 300 speakers in 209 sessions and attracts over 2 lakh audience members. It is the world's largest free literature festival. Can a festival function without its volunteers, the unsung heroes who make sure everything run smoothly? A plethora of functions will be performed by the 298 volunteers who are working for the ZJLF this year.

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Preparations for the Zee Jaipur Literature festival that kicks off in Jaipur on Wednesday, in full swing
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The Zee Jaipur Literature Festival is spread out over ten venues, involves 300 speakers in 209 sessions and attracts over 2 lakh audience members. It is the world's largest free literature festival. Can a festival function without its volunteers, the unsung heroes who make sure everything run smoothly? A plethora of functions will be performed by the 298 volunteers who are working for the ZJLF this year.

Volunteers perform the bulk of the work during the festival, from bringing authors from the airport and railway station to panel discussions, to manning the bookstores and stalls, directing visitors to various venues, to liaising with the media and enforcing security.

Besides being indispensable workers, volunteers are the festival's ambassadors because they interact with the general public. Said Giraj (who does not use a last name), who is training volunteers for the festival, "There is a large number of volunteers coming in. They are the identity of the festival. They need to carry the values of the festival, a democratic platform showcasing various views without necessarily subscribing to them. Moreover, we sensitise volunteers about untoward incidents… particularly with the number of girls working here. Also, we tell them how to make authors and visitors feel good." Then Giraj gave a group of volunteers a slideshow presentation about the festival's ethos and how to deal with various emergencies.

After the presentation, dna spoke to another group of volunteers to gauge their motivations behind volunteering for the fest.

"You don't find people like this elsewhere. Friendly people," said Sanjay Nainani, 21, a 4th year B Tech student and resident of Jaipur, describing his interactions with ZJLF volunteers from around the country and a few from around the world. What he likes most about volunteering for the festival is making friends with other volunteers, some of whom remain his friends after the mega event, he said.

Because of the prospect of making friendships and the aura of the festival, for many volunteers, this ZJLF is not the first. Echoing Nainani's words, 22-year-old Karan Vig is a repeat volunteer: this is his fourth year with the festival. Besides meeting friends, his love of books drew Vig to the ZJLF. He is looking forward to seeing one of his favourite authors, Devdutt Pattnaik, who will be a panelist at the upcoming festival. "I have read his Sita, The Pregnant King and Jaya," said Vig, a student of English Literature in London, who is spending his holidays volunteering.

Most of the volunteers are from Jaipur, but a few are from other cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, and one or two are from other countries as well.

19-year-old Stuti Maheshwari of Jaipur, a B Com student, is an audience-member-turned-volunteer. She said, "I have been attending JLF since 2010. I just sat in any session, because I liked the serenity of the place. I was wondering how to volunteer." She got her chance this year, and likes her given job, which is to bring authors from the airport to their hotels and then to the festival venues every day.

This is among the most hectic tasks, since it involves working at odd hours, said Sarthak Barakoti, 21, a B Tech student. It is also a task to which most engineering students gravitate, he said, apparently because "engineering students are good multi-taskers."

Rubbish, said his friend and co-volunteer, Maheshwari. "It's because engineering students have more time right now (because their exams are over)." They both laughed, showing the camaraderie built up through working together.

Besides getting a stipend, volunteers receive a certificate of accomplishment as remuneration for their work, which looks good on their resume, Barakoti said.

Even as the final touches are being applied so as to make the venue, the Diggi Palace in Jaipur, ready for the festival, the volunteers are trying their level best to ensure that everything goes smoothly.

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