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Jaipur Literature Festival 2017

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Jaipur Literature Festival celebrated ten successful years of organisation in 2017. The event was organised from the 19th to the 23rd of January at Diggi Palace, Jaipur. The 2017 edition of the festival featured writers, poets, speakers and artists from a variety of genres of literature.

 

The event began on the first day with an enthralling musical performance by the Shillong Chamber Choir, followed by the keynote address by Gulzar and Anne Waldman. The five day event went on to witness a huge crowd from India and abroad, acknowledging international authors and artists like Emma Sky, David Park, Roberto Calasso, Hyeonseo Lee and Rachel Dwyer. Indian authors who added to the festivity of the event were Devdutt Pattanaik, Ashwin Sanghi and Dhrubajyoti Borah. Other artists who spoke of their field at the festival were Javed Akhtar, Shashi Tharoor, Sudhir Mishra, Imtiaz Ali, Rishi Kapoor and Neel Madhav. After a long day of sessions and interactions, the organisation held a Music Stage: Cultural Night of Jaipur Literature Festival at Hotel Clarks, Amer from 19th to 22nd January, 2017. These cultural nights saw splendid performances by some of the best greatest performers in the international and Indian music industries. The musical genres ranged from indie and electro to folk and sufi, ensuring that there was something for everyone.  Artists like Rajasthan Josh, Band Kabir Cafe, Raghu Dixit, Inna Modja, Lisa Hannigan and others put up breathtaking shows on all four days.

Image Credits: jaipurliterarturefestival.org
Image Credits: jaipurliterarturefestival.org

 

Apart from literature and music,  Ojas Art, has been an annual fixture of JLF, instrumenting and incorporating visual arts into programming, and providing a platform for artists to showcase their work and also awarding the best to encourage them. Since 2008, JLF has seen growth in numbers of both speakers and spectators. Appreciating the grand tenth anniversary celebrations, a spectator was overheard saying, “India is very rich in literature and the growth of partisans in these literary events in the recent past is highly appreciable.”

Radhika Boruah

[email protected]

The Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), well attended by the crème de la crème of the literary world, is also surprisingly accessible to students on a shoestring budget. Free entry to the festival is possibly one of the most important factors that draws throngs to the festival.

If you’re attending JLF this year, here’s how you can have a good time in the Pink City, flout your jholas and nehru jackets (while at JLF, it may be nice to play the part of an intellectual), and laugh at intelligent wisecracks, all on a student budget.

Transport

If you’re feeling extravagant, you may want to take the double-decker train from Delhi to Jaipur, simply because a double-decker train sounds like fun. However, if you’re looking to cut down on the cost, a non-AC sleeper will suffice. Alternatively, an RSRTC bus ticket will cost you around the same amount as a non-AC sleeper.

Accommodation

The fact that Rajasthan attracts a huge number of tourists every year, even from abroad, gives us the added advantage of a good array of hostels for backpackers. These hostels offer dorms (mixed bed dorms/female only) at rates that don’t burn holes in your not-too-deep pocket. Most come equipped with lockers, a kitchen, and some graffiti on the walls to boot. Bathrooms are to be shared. Some also offer single rooms with twin beds, but that will work out to be more expensive than a bed in a dorm. You can do without air conditioning in Jaipur in January, if an AC room is out of your budget.

You may want to orient yourself around the Diggi Palace (Shivaji Marg) keeping in mind that you will be spending most of your time there. The closer you are, the less you will have to pay on transport to and from the festival venue. Here are some options you could consider. Rates may vary depending on whether you choose a mixed bed dorm or a female only dorm.

Backpacker Panda

Rs. 349-Rs. 599 per bed, per night

Opp. Om Tower, MI Road, Jaipur-302001

1.5 kms (5 minutes) from Diggi Palace

Le Pension Backpackers’ Guest House

Rs. 300-Rs. 350 per bed, per night

K-94, behind dana pani restaurant Kishan Nagar, Kishan Nagar, Shyam Nagar, Jaipur-302019

7.7 kms (16 minutes) from Diggi Palace

Zostel Jaipur

Rs. 500-Rs. 600 per bed, per night

First Floor, 85-A, Rajamal Ka Talab, ICICIi Bank Building, Chandi ki Taksal, Opposite Tourist Police Station, Jaipur- 302002

Crashpad

Rs.200-Rs. 300 per bed, per night

B-20, Shiv Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur- 302016

4.5 km (12 minutes) from Diggi Palace

Roadhouse Hostel

Rs. 499-Rs. 569 per bed, per night

D-76, Shiv Heera Path, Chomu House Circle, C Scheme, Prithviraj Road, Jaipur-302001

2 kms (5 minutes) from Diggi Palace

Doodle Rack

Rs. 379 per bed, per night

33, Civil Lines Road, Suraj Nagar, Civil Lines, Jaipur-302006

4.6 kms (11 minutes) from Diggi Palace

Food

You will find several stalls within the festival venue, at different prices, ensuring that you need not step outside the venue or miss important speakers in the process. You may also sample the street food in Jaipur (read kachoris, parathas, lal maas). MI Road in particular, has a couple of places that remain open from early in the morning to late at night, if you’re staying around the area and are looking for a bite to eat.

To know more about Jaipur Litfest 2017, read – https://dubeat.com/2016/12/jaipur-literature-festival-a-literary-wonder/

Image Credits: Abhinaya Harigovind