From Jerusalem to Calcutta

David Grossman (on left)

The Jaipur Literary Festival doesn’t lend itself to pictures. It is panelist of speakers.

The first session was on Foreign Correspondents and the risks and importance of what they do. I have always heard of David Grossman, the Israeli writer but never heard him speak. He is a combination of a writer and foreign correspondent. But unlike most foreign correspondents, he doesn’t have to travel anywhere, for he writes about the Israel and Palestinians. He lives among them. He is considered Israel’s preeminent writer and a potential Nobel Prize Winner. Another of the other members of the panel was Don McCullin, he an 80 year old photo journalist who has covered wars all over the world. He expressed with great emotion how taking pictures of the victims of war has scared him forever.

They discussed the ethical problems they face: for example in places of danger the western foreign correspondent  might have bullet proof vests, while their local helpers don’t have them. War correspondents used to worry about being collateral damage in the events they cover their have always been deaths, now they are the targets. Over 1000 journalists have died in the last few years. They are critical to explaining to us, what is happening unfiltered through government propaganda.

The Next panel was on what is called in India “The Emergency”. This refers to a 21-month period in 1975–77 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi unilaterally had a state of emergency declared across the country. She effectively became a dictator. The discussion was wide-ranging from the reasons she felt she had to do this, to the ultimate capitulation of the Judiciary and other government institutions to this act. It is considered by most to be the darkest spot on the Democratic history of Modern India. The question we are left with is could it happen again? The formulation was, the people want something, the Government declares there are subversives who are stopping the peoples will. In the name of the people desires the government declares it must suspend liberty to achieve the peoples wishes. The panel was divided when asked, could it happen again.

The next session, was wonderful. It was called the Peace to End all Peace. I loved it. I have read several of the books the panelist had written. It is all about the peace settlement of the First World War. I won’t go into the details, but the mess in Iraq, Syria, Israel and much of the Middle East is directly attributable to the artificial countries created by the borders set in place in the Middle East. It should have been a European only war, but the Ottoman Empire based in Istanbul was on its final legs. The Ottomans have traditionally feared the Russians. They wanted to join one of the European sides so that they would have an alley to resist Russian Expansion. They could have chose either side each wanted them as an Alley. Unfortunately for the world they chose to join the Germany. Thus it was inevitable when the the West won that the territories it controlled would be spoils of war. Who would control what was the subject of the Peace Settlement talks in Paris. The problem was compounded by the desire of the western governments to feel it was there right to control the nations that were created out of the old Ottoman Empire. The Arab states would never in the long run allow this. We are paying the price and the bill has not been settled.

We sat through a wonderful dialogue with David Grossman. He expressed the process of creating fiction, the richness of writing in Hebrew, the difficulty of translation, among other things. His is presence that has to be experienced. He clearly thinks deeply about what he is writing, its implications and nuances. He is deeply committed to Israel, while simultaneously understanding the terror rained down on the Palestinians via the occupation. He is both a realist of the existential threat to Israel by its enemies and the just cause they have. He is trying to explain a dilemma and calling for peace.

The Pedantic Award of the day (actually I would give it for the 2 days we have attended) goes to the discussion we suffered through about Honor Codes (think Honor Killing among other things). Two philosophers tried to out philosophize each other as they spoke of probably important issues. They were so nauseating pretentious that one couldn’t get past our loathing of their self-aggrandising rhetoric to hear what they were actually talking about. We didn’t like this discussion at all!

The last panel was much excellent. It was about Calcutta from a writer’s perspective. Two authors read passages from their books and discussed the Calcutta they were portraying. One of the author’s subject was a Male Prostitute in Calcutta, the other was about a child growing up in Calcutta with an actress mother. They were both compelling as they explained the genesis of their writings.

After the last panel, Cathy and I returned to the Rambagh Palace for drinks and Vegetarian  dinner. Shumon and John left to go shopping and then out for dinner.