​All's well that ends well

25 January, 2017, Jaipur: ​Things couldn't have ended on a better note for Jaipur Literature Festival. The five-day festival was like a home for the authors, poets, lyricists, actors, historians, journalists and many more brilliant minds. The festival is all about literature and more. It attracted scores of people and has its own set of glitches and controversies too.

The JLF went cashless this year to streamline transactions throughout the festival. As per the cashless system, each visitor's festival pass has a unique QR code which was scanned every day at the entry and exit point. The guests were intimated of this in advance. By visiting one of the cashless counters at the festival one could put money into the cards and make transactions at the festival with various vendors.

However, on the first day of the festival, visitors faced difficulty in putting money into their respective passes and were compelled to use cash. Similarly, the vendors who finished almost half of his stock w​ere surprised to see no money in his account. There was a glitch.

The festival themed "The Freedom to Dream: India at 70", was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje, Man Booker Prize winner Paul Beatty, much-admired lyricist Gulzar, American poet Anne Waldman and mystic yogi and guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. At the time of the lamp-lighting ceremony, fireworks went off in front of the stage. Media personnel, unaware of the display, faced difficulty in retreating quickly and few of them got mild burns. Days before the festival began, controversies started to build up around a talk featuring Manmohan Vaidya, the head of RSS's communications department, and Dattatreya Hosabale, a joint general secretary of the RSS. Newspapers did report that CPIM leaders stayed away from the festival.

Taslima Nasreen's session, which wasn't announced earlier, except for the word Exile on the schedule, was pre​-​poned to 12 noon from 3:45 pm. People at the Front Lawn were surprised to see her walking up on the stage for the session. Even the media was surprised. Later, some Muslim protesters came to protest against her session but the matter was sorted out in a closed-door meeting at Hotel White Lily.

The Festival kept its promise to provide the visitors with the perfect mix of star power, mythology, history, economy and more. The festival chaired a packed session on Brexit – the most divisive issue in Britain with A N Wilson, Andrew Roberts, Linda Colley, Surjit Bhalla and Timothy Garton Ash in conversation with Jonathan Shainin. Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, in his session “Brave New World: The Virtual Economy and Beyond” went on to question the need for demonetization, the push towards a digital economy, disruptive policies, a need for the right internet infrastructure and faster processes to enable people to set up bank accounts. People also got to see one of India's most famous film stars Rishi Kapoor, who discussed his new book Khullam Khulla with his fans.

The crowds did get a little thinner as the Festival drew to a close, but interesting sessions kept many coming back for more. Atheism, Brexit, music, dictatorship, among others, were few of the big ideas which occupied the stages of the Festival. Shops have sold wares representing the culture and tradition of Rajasthan. Food stalls have kept the hungry mouths fed with delicious and scrumptious multi-cuisine meals and drinks.

The city of Jaipur is sad to bid farewell to this roller-coaster ride of art and artistic freedom that was on for the past five days. But the city is also hopeful and excited to see what JLF will bring next year.

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