The Festivalwallahs

Kumbh mela of literature’ is what Namita Gokhale has called the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival (ZeeJLF), and so it is, with the thousands upon thousands of visitors walking through the portals of Diggi Palace for the duration of the festival. Many of them are repeat visitors, who return to soak in one more time Diggi’s unique carnivalesque atmosphere during the festival. But not everyone who comes to ZeeJLF is there for the books and the authors; many come just to hang out with friends, with a dose of culture as a side-dish. Others yet, it’s evident, are just there to air their silks. Here are eight types of 'festivalwallahs' identified by our veteran watcher of the ZeeJLF:

THE WRITERS’ PARTY

ZeeJLF is a mecca for aspiring writers. Where else would they find, within such close confines, some of the biggest, most influential names from the world of books and publishing – hotshot literary agents, big name editors from powerhouse publishing houses, star authors? Who knows, if they persuade even one to read their book/manuscript, and perchance it was liked... it could be their ticket to the big time. It works the other way too – publishers and translation scouts, ever on the lookout for the next big thing, say that it was at ZeeJLF that they met with/heard of some authors they later signed on. No wonder, the ZeeJLF directors started the First-Book Club New Writers’ Mentorship Programme last year, a kind of institutional platform to connect the two.

SELFIE HUNTER

ZeeJLF has a huge, and growing, social media footprint. Just last year, it notched one billion impressions on Twitter, 156,000 engagements on Facebook and 99,000 views of videos. The most numerous of these, probably, are the selfies, given how at the festival, everywhere you look there’s someone posing prettily against the colourful buntings of Diggi Palace, pouting moodily into the camera next to one of the many artworks, or getting the author they love to pose with them. After all what do you go to a literature festival for if not to tell the whole world about it?

EAGER YOUNGSTERS

Full house sessions, packed audiences are nothing new at ZeeJLF. But the sea of humanity that descended on a session by APJ Abdul Kalam a couple of years ago was absolutely unprecedented – and most of them were youngsters, clapping loudly, and generally hanging onto every word that the former president spoke. Even otherwise, the eager beaver young reader comprises a huge chunk of the turnout. You see them all over the place. Sometimes in a school uniforms, sometimes in mufti; in groups, large and small, sitting earnestly through sessions or chattering away at the back, as young people are wont to. Often, they’re the ones with the sharpest questions, taking even the literary luminaries on the dais by surprise.    

THE BOOK CLUB GANGS

For groups of mostly middle-aged and well off, men and women; avid readers who’ve bonded over books, and decided to travel to the pink city for the festival – a books holiday with the added attraction of a destination festival in Jaipur is an added incentive. They’re hard to miss – sticking around, as they do, in groups, laughing, chatting animatedly among themselves, and poring diligently over the festival programme as they debate which sessions to attend.

ALL DRESSED UP...

Last year a local paper carried a quote of an earnest fashionista in ecstacy over the fact that two things were happening in the city: One was sales in all malls and retail outlets, and two the Litfest. ‘‘I’m so glad,’’ she gushed ‘‘that the sale is on at the right time. I can now buy those boots I’ve been eyeing and wear them at the festival.’’ Fashion is a serious affair at ZeeJLF. You can see it in how everyone goes through the trouble of dolling up before they make an appearance at Diggi. Boho-chic is the dominant note among the young crowd with bright dresses in funky prints and hippie cuts; trendy hairdos, spiffy footwear and sunglasses, bags, and headgears in the very latest of styles. The older set, not to be outdone, standsout, outfitted  in ethnic winter – shawls, saris, skirts and jackets in rich colours and weaves, with chunky jewellery, etc. 

THE MINOR CELEBRITY

Jaipur, during the five days of the literature festival, is the place to see and be seen, a platform that’s guaranteed to get you an airing on the evening news bulletin or the morning papers. No wonder the festival has emerged as the favoured hunting ground for small-time politicos, TV starlets, studio intellectuals, businessmen and once-prominent actors looking for a second wind as authors.   

THE JHOLAWALA

They no longer carry a jhola – the side-slung cloth bag – but you can’t miss the left leaning intellectual types at ZeeJLF. These days this tribe is better identified by the no-nonsense backpack, the jhola’s modern cousin, worn over a kurta, frayed jeans and flip-flops. You’ll see them on the sidelines, sitting on the railings, browsing through a book, and looking with disdain at the vulgar bourgeoisie they’re surrounded by.    

FOREIGNERS

William Dalrymple loves to tell the story about how, at the first edition of the festival, a majority of the audience comprised of a group of walk-in Japanese tourists who had no idea what was going on. Even today, videshis flock to the festival in large numbers. Some fly in especially, but many more, passing through Pink City, drop in to check it out. And, going by the expressions on their faces, go back a little gobsmacked – at the crowds and noise, at the literary names from all across congregated in Jaipur and the highfalutin of the general discussion!