75. Wanderlust And The Art Of Travel Writing .

Paul Theroux , Charles Glass , Samanth Subramanian , Sam Miller , Brigid Keenan
In conversation with William Dalrymple
Venue Rajnigandha front lawns.
By Zeeshan Akbar Yahoo
In a captivating session held at the Rajnigandha front lawns, the relevance of travel writing was
discussed in our present times of internet , globalization , and Google maps.
William Dalrymple , the author of nine books about India and the Islamic world said that travel
writing is one of the most ancient forms of literature. He then read an excerpt from From the
holy mountain which talks about how in 587 A.D , two Christian monks set off on an
extraordinary journey that would take them in an arc across the entire Byzantine world, from the
shores of the Bosphorus to the sand dunes of Egypt. William spoke how travel book was still
viable in the modern era, even when world has become suburban, because the real stories of real
people still need analytical penetration.
Brigid keenan , an author and journalist said travelling was thrust upon me . Keenan talked
about her travel writings in India and quipped how she had various medical disasters. She talked
that writing about India was always my favorite thing. She said nothing in India comes across
as it seems and that the human error factor is pretty huge while travelling in India. She said that
in India, truth can turn into fiction addressing that fact that one never could guess what could
happen to you when you are travelling to India.
Sam Miller read an excerpt from A Strange Kind Of Paradise: India Through Foreign Eyes
about his personal exploration of Indias past and a present by travelling in India. His readings
were about how everyone expects Indians themselves came to the idea of India. He appreciated
the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival for standing up for propagation of ideas and being firm in
times of controversy.
Paul Theroux, the highly acclaimed travel writer of The Great Indian bazaar fame, that he
travelled for his own comfort. He talked about travels in America particularly southern part of
America. He also talked about when questions him about his travels in India, he just replies
Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family). He read an excerpt from his unpublished
work that explains how India is a land where the past is never dead and history is alive . He
talked about India being a place of celebrations and harmony. He spoke about how Indians have
this supreme relation to their own country, the very thing that makes him come back around
again and again. When distinguishing writing travel book or fiction, he said that when writing
about travel, the writer has no clue where its going to end, the same cannot be said of fiction.
Samanth Subramanian read an excerpt from his latest book This Divided Island: Stories from
the Sri Lankan War . Subramanian said that its challenging as well as satisfying to cover the
stories of unknown faces.

Charles glass , a broadcaster , journalist and writer said that when you writing a travel book ,
you need something bad to happen .He also spoke about volatility of the cold war in Syria and
how when travelling through Syria all he saw was violence all over the place.