From Davos to Jaipur in 80 hours
Ibiza for the literate
Whilst the world economy and Davos froze over. Figuratively and literally. The world of literature, at the other end of the world, hummed along as business as usual. Much like the bumble bee oblivious to the physics of mass and lift.
Bad times are chicken soup for a writers soul. But gruel for money managers & CEO’s.
But what of Davos?
Its a wonderful world of business people, public officials and politicos....to talk up the economy..schmooze presidents,finance ministers,central bank governors, prime ministers…inventors….But this time around all bemoaned 'inequality' amidst the salubrious environment of Switzerland.
( whilst armed troops, anti aircraft missiles and tight security marked the event). And "Hubot" the 1st registered robot Davos delegate strutted its stuff!
Apparently, 62 people own more than what 3.6 billion people do. That is the dominant theme. Thomas Piketty notwithstanding. This is an Oxfam finding.
This is ironical because the WEF has always openly celebrated money and power. Nothing surprising about that. And now they had this peculiar and unenviable problem of having to address ( and solve ? ) the problem of plenty - 'Plenty of Money, and Plenty of Power’. Alas, concentrated in all too few.
(On a lighter note. It is like Zika mosquitoes having a convention on how to improve mosquito repellant! )
The issues were mainly two;
- inequality in pay structures in corporate salaries, and
- taxation. The critics want more tax for the rich ( and large transnational companies ), and less pay variance amongst employees who work in such companies.
Essentially it boils down to how to spread wealth around more equitably, without calling it some kind of " ism".
For e.g America has 3 million people who own 90 percentage of its wealth. And US$ 500 billion of USA corporate profits are held abroad in tax havens to avoid paying corporate tax in the home country ! These are American Cos, wanting to avoid paying due tax to their own Govt ! In most countries this would be seen as avoidance or evasion.
This is the conundrum one has to wrestle with. Not too difficult for any neophyte to understand. But too complex for any Nobel Prize winning economist to answer.
On the other end of the income spectrum is India. Where in last 15 years 80,000 Indians have redomiciled to easier tax regimes. And 250,000 well of Indians wait for resident status to be granted in Dubai itself !
So wealth begets wealth. Nothing new. And nothing is going to change. Even in emerging countries, home to the poorest in the world. The problem and complexity remains the same whether you are in West Coast U.S, India, Biafra. Or indeed at the World Economic Forum at Davos.
Now lets fast forward 'mindshift' to another large , well attended and much media covered event - the world 's largest literature festival.
The Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF).
Margaret Atwood,Stephen Fry, Niall Ferguson,Ruskin Bond, Thomas Piketty, Ben Macintyre, Colm Toibin, Alexander McCall,Meera Syal, Tishani Doshi all steered, scheduled and paired admirably by noted historian William Dalrymple - the co curator. Actually all the 350 authors of different shapes, sizes with Nobel, Booker, Pulitzer and other top draw literary awards from across India and the world to boot; activists and travel writers. biographers and poets...artists and photographers...singers and entrepreneurs...bais and tawaifs...bollywood stars and plebs....social commentators and sportsmen.. .. jostled for space and to get the odd word in. Any word.
A witty repartee here, an anguished cry there. Nothing was sacrosanct. No topic taboo. No person too small to raise a voice, express an opinion or ask a question in any language or dialect or accent. Or might I say even tone ! No writer or festival star too big to sit on the dusty stomped on coir mat at the bottom of the stage. Or hang precariously from a tree branch in the courtyard of the 160 year old ' heritage ' Palace. Because there was no place to sit on the 10 acre site. Let alone stand. No questioner too small ( a ten year old with a question to best selling US author-surgeon Dr Atul Gawande on the 'meaning of death’. No question too sensational ( a young girl asking Stephen Fry how he seduces women).
The 0.3 million visitors ( equal to a 3 full days at the Wembley Football Stadium) ranging from ages 10 to 80 who traipsed in over the 5 days were clearly the final judge, jury and executioner.
Pitched as the worlds largest 'free' literature festival. It certainly is. All made possible by over 130 sponsors and US$ 2.5 million budget. But it could very well be the largest open and public court of free speech, ideas, expressions of thought, discussion, debate and argument.
Opposite of what happened on the other end of the world. With its rarefied alpine atmosphere. Rarer talk of stalled economic growth and lip service on economic justice.
Some idea of the melding of tech and public footfalls, as a further measure of democratization thru digital, was evidenced by the fact that 250 mbps of fibre capacity criss crossed the quaint tree lined and potted plant 'haveli' catering to free public ' wifi ' and private festival network. At it’s peak 220 mbps was 'pulled' during just one session with Bollywood Star Karan Johar. A 'telepresence' session with top selling Indian author Amish Tripathi was on the cards but I did not quite get to see that. Though the telco engineers were preparing for that when I bumped into them at the makeshift Network Operations Centre on the 1st floor terrace.
In its 9th year the Jaipur Literature Festival by far is certainly the marquee, democratic and much sought after event in the cultural calendar of the world.
The verdict being that the buzz,haze,dust,crush,drink,food,music,chaos, traffic, cold and color all gave it that ring of rustic-meets-high culture authenticity that can only be pulled of in one place in the world - Jaipur, India. And a total contrast to what happened in the white sterile surroundings of Davos, Switzerland.
