Kunzru(whose memoir Curfewed Night describes his childhood and adolescence in a Kashmiri village), himself the son of a Kashmiri Pandit, called Kashmir “India’s Guantanamo Bay”.
By far, the most explosive session of the day was the one on Kashmir featuring Basharat Peer, Hari Kunzru, and Tehelka’s Tarun Tejpal. Peer, whose memoir Curfewed Night describes his childhood and adolescence in a Kashmiri village, stopped short of demanding independence for Kashmir. When Tejpal asked him if he thought of himself as an Indian first, or a Kashmiri. “Kashmiri,” Peer said.
The temperature rose higher when the debate turned to excesses by security forces in the valley. Kunzru, himself the son of a Kashmiri Pandit, called Kashmir “India’s Guantanamo Bay”. “When Obama announced his decision to suspend the Guantanamo trials this week, he said that America’s ideals need not be compromised in the name of state security. Similarly, there is no reason why India should compromise its own ideals in the name of state security, for the human rights abuses in Kashmir has turned it into India’s Guantanamo Bay.” To the astonishment of a few, this drew thunderous applause, especially from foreign delegates.
In the line of ire Earlier, Pakistani novelist Mohammed Hanif charmed audiences with his ‘general’ humour. Asked if he had read General Musharraf’s In The Line of Fire, he shot back, “It’s a great work of fiction, did you like it?” He added, “Since Musharraf is also a writer perhaps the Jaipur Festival should invite him next year.” Hanif’s novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, brutally lampooned Gen Zia. Asked if he wasn’t worried about offending Zia’s family, he answered, “So far, there has been no reaction... I think that’s because they don’t read books.”
Good scripts The day’s final session, ‘Scripting Bollywood’, brought together film writer Nasreen Munni Kabir, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, actor Nandita Das and diplomat-novelist Vikas Swarup. They all agreed that the era when superstars could carry a Bollywood film on their shoulders was over. Good scripts were necessary, said Swarup. The Q&A author also issued a clarification: “I never said I’d have liked Shah Rukh to play the lead role in Slumdog Millionaire.” “Come on, the guy is 42. Perhaps, he can be 28 in a film, but 18?!”
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