Writing can never be rendered obsolete

On January 22, I had the privilege of being part of a session called 'Teen Tales' at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) held at Diggi Palace. I booked my tickets thinking that this would be a short one — go to Jaipur, finish the session, and be back in Mumbai on the same night. But, JLF proved to be so much more.

On the day of the session, my dad, who had stayed back in Mumbai, constantly kept messaging me to leave early and get to the venue on time. He kept saying that I would absolutely love it there when I reached, and therefore it was imperative that I have some time to look around. However, I wasn't so enthused. I mean, I had been to a few other Lit Fests and at the end of the day, aren't they all the same?

But due to his constant nagging, my mom and I did end up reaching the venue early and WOW – I'm so glad that I did. From the minute that I stepped through the huge arch that welcomed us to the JLF, the entire atmosphere seemed to change. The traffic and yelling of Jaipur city faded away, replaced by happy chatter and ringing laughter from all sides, the smoke and fumes of the city gave way to clean air, vibrant banners, tents and glimpses of colourful scarves worn by hundreds of people who had come to be a part of this event. My eyes widened as I took in the huge registration tents, dozens of food stalls and roadside shops selling Jaipuri handicrafts.

And I hadn't even reached Diggi Palace yet. Honestly, I had imagined Diggi Palace to be one of those 'hotel palaces', like the Taj President in Mumbai or the Udaipur Lake Palace, but Diggi was an actual palace.

The entire place was built around a HUGE central lawn that was overlooked by beautiful terraces (which had been taken over by the press) and courtyards that opened into it. Signboards were put up to help the thronging mass of people find their way around, colourful banners and decorations adorned every corner and crevice available, and faint music and conversation floated in from every direction. On the sides, chaiwallahs supplied kulhadi chai at phenomenal speed and book stands were alive with activity. I stood there in the midst of this mayhem, with my red 'speaker' badge gleaming in the sun, soaking in the entire scene.

And I realised that I had never seen such BEAUTIFUL chaos before.

Despite the sheer enormity of the crowd, everything was perfectly organised with just a little bit of artistic flair. The atmosphere was more that of a fair or a mela than that of a Lit Fest. To handle an event of such epic proportions is no small achievement and I applaud every single person who was responsible for this. And I thank the entire JLF team for such an amazing opportunity. Not only an opportunity to share my views on a public platform, but also for the opportunity to be a part of something this big. It truly was inspiring to see just how many people attended because it just goes to show that books and writing can never, EVER be rendered obsolete.