Jaipur Diary – In Martin Amis’s Melancholic Company Travel by The Delhi Walla - January 26, 2011January 26, 20110 On porn, aging and writing. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] Writing fiction in the eighties was a loner’s job. “No profiles, no photo sessions, no book tours,” said London-based author Martin Amis in the session ‘Writing the 1980s’, which he participated with New York based novelist Jay McInerney. The Delhi Walla was in the Jaipur Literature Festival. Looking slouchy and sad, Mr Amis questioned the point of ‘decade’. “You never set to write a novel to write about a decade. You’re not even aware that you’re in a decade. It’s an arbitrary idea.” Describing a time when newspapers were not thick and journalists hadn’t exhausted all the gossip mongering about the private lives of socialites and boxers, Mr Amis said,
Jaipur Diary – What the F! Travel by The Delhi Walla - January 26, 2011January 26, 20112 Irvine Welsh’s ‘fuck’ fixation. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] His was the last and the shortest session in the Jaipur Literature Festival. His was also the only session in which questions ran out before the stipulated one-hour time. That’s no indicator of the cult status of Irvine Welsh, the author of Trainspotting. His tent was full and the people – mostly college grad types – were looking starry-eyed at the man as he read about sex with the disabled, excerpts from a forthcoming book that is a prequel to Trainspotting. “We human beings are programmed to failure. We’re somehow tuned to make terrible life decisions and that fascinates me,” Mr Welsh said, while sipping red Sula wine. Tonsured and a little
Jaipur Diary – Mama, Don’t Preach Travel by The Delhi Walla - January 26, 2011January 26, 20111 Listening to Sex & the City writer Candice Bushnell. [Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi] She came, laughed, growled, flailed her arms, groped for words and gave relationship tips. The high-heeled and perfectly manicured Candice Bushnell, the author of Sex & The City, was a hit on the penultimate day of the Jaipur Literature Festival. In a session moderated by chicklit novelist Ira Trivedi, Ms Bushnell had a somewhat sobering message to Indian girls most of whom, according to Ms Trivedi, are virgins before their marriage. “Be a person first and a gender second,” said Ms Bushnell. “Experience whatever you can. Get a job, earn your money, make your choices, work hard, be disciplined … it’s a delayed gratification but it’ll