<b>Mihir S Sharma:</b> Jaipur and the India we are

Every year, I return from JLF with my hope in the possibility of that India a little renewed

Every year, the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) faces one basic dilemma: Is it simply a place where people go to discuss books and ideas, or does it have a larger purpose? If the latter, what is that purpose — simply to reflect the India we live in, or the India we might wish to create? Every time there’s some controversy or the other, it is this essential division that is revealed. When Salman Rushdie was invited and then disinvited, it showed that a festival about books could not invite the most celebrated living Indian author in English — and it