Jaiho Jaipur

At the weekend a few of us went on a trip to Jaipur for a break out of the chaos that can be Delhi. We went to a literary festival at the Diggi Palace hosted by William Darymple. In it's 5th year, the festival was pretty well attended. As I'll be back in Jaipur in two weeks, I didn't see so much of the famous 'Pink City'. I did get time to find out about the Camel Festival in March with an Elephant Festival later on in the festvial season. Only 6 hours away from Delhi, it was a good escape and the bus was cheap. Even the deluxe version was good and nicer than the train.

Other writers in attendance were Roddy Doyle, Hanif Kureshi, Niall Ferguson, Shoma Chaudhury (Editor of Tehelka magazine), Ayaan Hirsi Ali (living under a Fatwa for speaking out against Islam) and many others. There was a special focus on Dalit literature, also known as the 'untouchable' caste. At times it felt like literature was the new Rock n' Roll for the middle classes.

The cars still honked. There were still no pavements. We were treated like tourists. It was all somehow different though. We swanned around pretending we were on holiday. We ate dinner and drank beer in rooftop bars. We shopped and took photographs. Coming back I felt different about Delhi. A sort of calm resignation that this was where I lived and it wasn't so bad at all. Perhaps it is because Delhi may be starting to feel like home.