Visit to the Jaipur Literary Festival, '13.

On the morning of 23 January, 2013, a team of 38 students from classes 8, 9 and 10, along with 4 teachers set out on a 3 day trip to attend a most coveted annual event, the Jaipur Literary Festival or JLF as it is popularly called!

We attended the first 2 days of the event, ie., 24 and 25 January while 23 January, we devoted to seeing the sights, as it were, the various historical monuments, like the Amer Fort, Jal Mahal and the City Palace.

On the first day we attended the inaugural session a talk by Mahasweta Devi, a stalwart of Bengali literature, followed by Dr. Dinesh Singhs (VC of Delhi University) talk on the greatness of Ramanujan in the area of Mathematics. We also attended The Global Shakespeare a chat show featuring Christopher Ricks, Anjum Hasan and Chandrahas Choudhury. Another event was Dr. Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Tarun Tejpal, Book Release by Kiran Bedi and above all the Dalai Lamas address on the Kinships of Faith.

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Day 2 had a book-reading by Namita Gokhle, followed by Andrew Soloman, author of the book Far From The Tree, speaking on physical and learning disabilities in children. Later in the day Sharmila Tagore read excerpts and also spoke on Aruna Chakravartis novel Jorasanko: The Tagore Women, which was followed by a talk on Ian Flemming and the making of James Bond. A highlight was Javed Akhtar speaking on Bollywood and National Narrative.

Students and teachers alike returned excited, enlightened and enriched by the exuberant experience.

Filed by Ms. Mithu Paul, English department.