An Unexpected Invite

It had to be spam. Why else would someone send me an e-invite for the largest literary festival in Asia- pacific, the Jaipur Literary Fest? I deleted the mail.

The following day, I received another one. It essentially said, “You have been invited to represent thousands of Bloggers in India. Please confirm your presence.”

Delete again.

The next day, I received a phone call. Someone was speaking on behalf of the organizers. “Madam, please confirm your presence so that we can register you on the panel of speakers and issue security passes. You are a part of our interactive session, immediately after Salman Rushdie where he replies to questions on his book, ‘Midnight’s Children’.”



I was not so imagining this. I cleared the lump in my throat and mumbled, “Yes, I will be there.”
Diggy Palace, Jaipur. Wow!
There was so much to be done. Air tickets, speech, dress, bookings etc…After all, I was on a panel, representing esteemed bloggers in an interactive session.

Finally, years of writing paid off. So what if I earn zilch from blogging. The pride of being a part of a festival widely acknowledged as the Kumbh Mela of Indian and international writing, was a definite high. And what’s more? I could rub shoulders with celebrities like Oprah, apart from reputed writers like Amitav Ghosh, Fatima Bhutto, Gulzar, and Jhon Elliot who are going to be a part of the festival.

Okay. Stop right now.

Tell me what are you thinking?

1. Why her? I have noticed typo-errors and grammatical mistakes in her posts. Plus, she is not even a published writer.
2. If this is the quality of writers being invited to the literary fests, thank God I was not invited. What has the world come to? Mediocrity is being applauded all around.
3. Someday, even I will be a part of the festival. There is hope for bloggers.
4. Why is she bragging about the invitation? Anyway, who is she to represent me?


Gotcha! Okay, I was fibbing. Apologies for that imaginary ride!

I am NOT an invitee at the Jaipur literature festival. I am simply a fence sitter who is watching all the brouhaha over Rushdie being a part of the literary festival. When every third malnourished child in the world is an Indian, the media and the neta log are busy discussing Rushdie’s presence on Indian soil. Misplaced priorities?