JLF 2022 Part I

 JLF--it sure is an addiction.  I just can't seem to not attend the sessions and this year is no exception.  The fest this time is being held in hybrid mode, the first few days purely online and then the last five days in person in Jaipur with the sessions being streamed online.

I must confess, after having attended the fest many times in person, I do prefer attending the sessions from the comfort of my home where I have the liberty to mutli-task during a session which not be as interesting as I might have imagined it to be.

So, what are the sessions that I have caught so far?

Yesterday, I caught James Fox's The World According to Colour which proved to be a fascinating session with a lot of trivia on various colours, such as the blue butterfly does not have any blue pigment but is actually brown and its blue appearance is actually a result of scales that reflect the blue or that the Arabic word for green is the shortest line in the Quran.  This is definitely a book I want to pick up to dip into every now and then. Having lost track of time resulted in me catching the end of the conversation with Padma Kaimal on the Kailash temple of Kanchipuram--definitely a book to read before visiting the temple! Elif Shafak's session had me putting her book The Island of Missing Trees on my wish list.  I just hope it lives up to its promise.  

Today, I attended the talk by Marc David Baer whose book on the Ottomans deviates from classical approach of the likes of Bernard Lewis and others who saw the Ottomans through a rather Orientalist lens.  Instead, he presents them as constantly evolving and at its zenith as being a dynamic empire which fostered learning and inquiry and which was a force to reckon with not just on land but at sea too. The end of this session had me adding The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs to my wish list:)  Let's see how many more get added to my list over the next week!  

Definitely, time was well spent while attending the sessions.  The only thing that rankled is how in referring to Indians who challenge the Mughals, Dalrymple referred to them as Hindus!  Clearly the colonial gaze of identifying Indians by their religion rather than nationality continues--but more on that another day!