JLF: Bigger and Bigger

/3 min read
The 18th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival proves why it is the matriarch of its tribe
JLF: Bigger and Bigger

At the entrance of Durbar Hall two artists sit bent over a sprawling painting of a tree with animals residing on its branches. On day four of the Jaipur Literature Festival (January 30 to February 3), held at Clarks Amer, they were adding the final touches to the canvas. While attendees to JLF buzzed around and stopped only to take a photo or video, the Gond master artist Ram Singh Urveti and his assistant remained engrossed in their work. Their grip on the brush was as steady and unflinching as their attention to their canvas. The work before them engrossed them so wholly and completely that the rest of the world was rendered invisible.

These two artists are an apt reminder of the toil of an artist. They devote years (sometimes decades) to their craft. And to do so they must silence the noise of the world, and demands of the community. We, the public, only see the final product of their efforts, and not the labour that has gone into it. The 18th Jaipur Literature Festival is a celebration (rightfully) of the final product— the novels that authors have conjured into being, the nonfiction books that have been meticulously researched, the poems that slice the truth. In the hullabaloo around the bound book, the book between covers, here was an aide-memoire of the writer at the desk. We celebrate the author and her books, but while doing so we must also heed the sacrifices made and the labour involved. And a well-curated. festival must bring together all these elements; the process and the product.

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