The Test Match

It was 24^th of January last year I remember when my brother asked me whether I am interested in coming to Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) with him to which I humbly agreed. Being the last day of the festival and attending it for the first time I went with not much of expectations from it (although as a writer it is an irony). Having said that I attended 3-4 sessions of the day including the closing session of the festival titled “Is freedom of speech absolute?” As the festival bid adieu to the people, on the way back home I felt bad for two reasons; firstly the last session turned into a political battleground of politicians (thanks to an AAP member) and secondly and more importantly because of the feeling why didn’t I attend the festival for all five days. This was the impact of attending one day of the fest left on me (at least) and this excitement was the root for me registering for the festival this year.

The largest book festival of India and largest free literature festival of the whole world was going to be held from 19^th – 23^rd January 2017 and I was lucky to attend it for first four days out of five.

It was inaugurated by Vasundhara Raje (Chief Minister of Rajasthan state) in the grandest way possible (after all the festival was celebrating 10 successful years of its emanation) after which Gulzar mesmerized with his keynote for the festival. The morning music session by Shillong Chamber Choir was enough to take you into a trance and serenity.

The sessions I attended on my four days visit were as follows:

19^th January

1. Eternal Cities: Encounters and Inspirations

2. Azaadi Mera Brand: Walking Free - Anuradha Beniwal in conversation with Swanand Kirkire

3. Big Cat Story 

 20^th January

1. Suspected Poetry - Gulzar and Pavan K. Varma in conversation

2. Before We Visit The Goddess - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni in conversation with Shrabani Basu

3. Main Shayar To Nahin - Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor in conversation with Rachel Dwyer

4. Narsimhanomics and Legacy of Reforms - Vinay Sitapati and Sanjay Baru in conversation with Surjit Bhalla

5. Kalijayee Premchand: Timeless Legacy – Kamal Kishore Goyenka in conversation with Satyanand Nirupam

6. Gambit and Game Changers: Relooking the Indian Economy - Aruna Roy, Mihir S. Sharma, Ram Gopal Agarwal and Surjit Bhalla in conversation with John Elliott

21^st January

1. Why the Future of Free Speech Depends on India

2. The Dishonourable Company: How the East India Company Took Over India - Giles Milton, John Keay, Jon Wilson, Linda Colley and Shashi Tharoor in conversation with William Dalrymple

22^nd January

1. Ideate: Freedom To Dream - Prasoon Joshi in conversation with Puneeta Roy

2. Akbar: Kitna Itihas, Kitna Upanyas

3. After the Young Angry Man, the Traditional Woman. What? Javed Akhtar introduced by Rachel Dwyer

4. On Tour With Rolling Stones - Christopher Sykes introduced by Alex Ross

5. Mallika Dua: #nofilter - Mallika Dua in conversation with Suhel Seth

It is somewhere a shabbiness differentiating these sessions from each other on the basis of document formatting and albeit I feel every session was unique, intriguing and stimulating per se (I am not writing this because I am meant to but I mean it) still I chose to bold the ones that left me altered in certain ways.

First of all, I would like to introduce to you all a sensational writer I was lucky to enjoy the session of, Anuradha Beniwal. In an era where adolescents and youngsters opt out for writers like Chetan Bhagat (it's a disgrace to even write his name in a literary article), I think and suggest that it's high time they go for writers like her. What a carefree, fearless and thought-provoking woman with fresh, anew and rejuvenating thoughts which she not only reflected in her new book "Azaadi Meri Brand" but also delivered to the audience in a respectable manner in the festival for which she deserved the applause she got. I think she is the first author whom I liked, to the extent that I decided to read her books just after hearing for 25 minutes. Her book is the first Hindi book I am going to buy for myself because the reason she gave behind writing the book in Hindi is not only enough to buy it but also to savour her ideas and thought process. For me, this session was one of the top 5 sessions of the whole festival and Anuradha was a new and peculiar found!

Another dandy session was Before We Visit The Goddess and although the session was more about the new book "Before We Visit The Goddess" of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, for me this session was more about learning and discovering aspects of and as a writer. She is not only an out of the league writer like Paulo Coelho but also an empowered woman (please do not relate it to orthodox feminism and woman empowerment). It was such a pleasure to hear her stories, encouragement behind writing novels, personal life and above all the lessons she gave to improve oneself as a writer.

Then there were sessions like Narsimhanomics and Legacy of Reforms, Kalijayee Premchand, The Dishonourable Company: How the East India Company Took Over India and On Tour With Rolling Stones that implied how intriguing history can be if you start to explore it. Immerse yourself in the sea of facts and the sea will engulf you, you don't need to swim, it's just natural.

Writing only good aspects of my experience won't do any justice to the festival in my point of view and therefore here are few flabbergasting and melancholic experiences. People and nothing else I think would completely summarize this but still, I will elaborate. I quote here a Policeman in the parking area duty of festival and suppose the same, "5% of the total people visiting come and savour the festival for what it's really meant to be: LITERATURE!" But just to be "tolerant" and "lenient" and I would accept 10% rather than 5%. I saw most of the people busy in taking selfies just to get few likes on their Instagram or FB handles. I am not raising objection against taking selfies. In an era dominated by technology, our half happiness comes from the facts how we look, how many likes did we garner on social media but you have come to a lit fest, not a fashion show. You came here to share and exchange ideas and thoughts and more than that acknowledge the beauty of literature, not photographs. I also saw people eating and gathering like a reunion with friends, beware some came in the festival just to hang out with friends and above all, take a bow some lovebirds conceived the festival as a lovers point and did exactly the same things. I could see more people in the food zone than in the sessions at times. I could see people talking loudly with each other or over the phone at sessions where they are supposed to be quiet and concentrated on the words of authors and speakers. I can see people coming to see Gulzar, Javed Akhtar, Rishi Kapoor and etc. rather than listening to them. People came to see celebrities rather than listening to authors.

And I could not resist myself from stating this one particular incident that happened while in the On The Tour With Rolling Stones session. Firstly, I will clarify here that most of the time venue would go houseful were at times when people like Rishi Kapoor came and not some foreign author because half of the people simply don't know them. Now, this session included only Christopher Sykes. He was narrating his story of being with The Rolling Stones on their tours along with some timeless and personal pictures of them. I was sitting in third last seat and a row ahead of me were some 8-9 boys (do not expect age, I am very bad at deciphering age by looks). They were talking, playing, making fun of each other and I don't think they have the least idea of legendary work of the band. So my concerns are essence lies in originality and although you are pleased by your acts there are people that are not, that genuinely praise ones work. As one of my friends said to me "Samosa bhi ₹40 ka milta hain.....wo jagah ab dharti se jude logon ki nahi rahi (Even a samosa costs ₹40....the festival no more belongs to serious literature enthusiasts)." Stating the word literature enthusiasts may bring upon a mayhem on me and I am not portraying myself as some serious literature enthusiast (although I have become a big fan of literature in recent past years), I am just saying that we ought to do what we are supposed to at certain places (well who am I to judge and pass comments, Sorry!).

On the other hand, I assume these 10% meaningful audience is the core, why the festival is still sustaining and getting larger and larger every year. I saw some faces on all the four days visit of mine and it made me happy deep down that there are also people like these that actually come to appreciate a different opportunity served to them and I think they were happy too to see my face. Then there were these kids and some literally nascent in terms of understanding literature but again they surprised and rejuvenated me by asking apt questions and the way they conducted themselves the whole time. I can see writers and poets reciting and speaking their works and asking for suggestions and guidance from authors which eventually help everyone.

Earlier in this article, I wrote something about some sessions altering me in certain ways and I am going to conclude this article with the same. I don't know in which way my above paragraph (the one describing the Arvind Kejriwal's Common Man) will be inferred and I don't care much about that because more than I was down in the mouth I was elevated and ecstatic for the overall experience I had. Most of the times I restrained myself to get affected by people around me and rather enjoy what I really came for and I think was successful. The most adjuvant thing that happened to me in those 4 days was how to be a better writer and there was some advice that was simple yet elegant and powerful. Another thing that was brainstorming was healthy debates and discussions on serious topics like Demonetization, Women Equality, History and etc. I got an opportunity to know other people's opinion on the same topic. I got to feel what it looks like to see something from other's perspective. There were thoughts, there were words, and there was literature.

The festival was a mixture of liveliness, pure legends, geniuses, colors, words, books, beliefs, experiences, thoughts, poetry and everything that can make you fall in love with literature. In the end, it was an experience wherein I learned so many things as an audience, as a boy, as a writer, as a person, and as a human.

The Golden Bird!

A nation that created me,
That gave me everything,
Flag that has colors three,
The national symbol having a king.

The day I was born,
I breathed in its air,
That day unaware of the horn,
Was busy crying in tears.

Indebted to it,
For the life it gave me,
Above all it made me sit,
Could not have been so free.

Later came to know,
What a nation means to one,
Help it to grow,
The work is still undone.

Politics is understood,
As a dirty field here,
No one enters to make it good,
And they say: why we'd bear?

Cricket is that jewel to us,
You can't take away,
Even single matches create a fuss,
We win that is all we pray.

Reservation is our food,
Without which we can't live,
If your tribe has been screwed,
Come everything we will give.

A lifeline to people,
Every month we have ample,
Celebrating love and joy ripple,
They are our dear festivals.

People: they are just jaunty,
They will make you happy,
They welcome you fondly,
Love is what they always carry.

When comes to the nation,
They are not responsible,
Blaming each other in accusation,
That is why development is impossible.

Well, one day they will wake,
One day a new sun will rise,
The day that will be the last break,
The boat that will never capsize.

No matter how they are,
I still love them,
Brothers, sisters not by far,
We are the roots and stems.

Albeit 29 in number,
They still stand as one,
All bear to make a tricolor,
Without even one, we are none.

Lastly, I want to say,
Stop arm-chair politics people,
That is not our way,
It's in our hand to remove evil.

Incorporating all these facts,
No matter what says media,
The nation that always attracts,
I love my India, I love my India.

-AAYUSH GOYAL

Second To God

There is this one sport,

Not played on any kind of court,

Rather played in a ground,

Known by the name of Cricket,

Among Indians it’s renowned.

The game is second after temple,

Its worshipers being ample,

Cricketers are second to god,

Be it 2007 or 2011 World Cup,

Or the final of 1983 in Lord’s.

Every street houses a Tendulkar,

Soon to become next non-striker opener,

There are also like Virat Kohli,

Half century or century every other match,

No matter who the hell is bowling!

People are obsessed with Cricket,

Jump or cry depending upon fallen wicket,

India-Pakistan the best sporting rivalry,

No matter which team wins the match,

The nature of the ambiance is lively.

We know everything about this thing,

Like married the game with a ring,

Can scrutinize better than the fourth umpire,

No matter what is going in world,

To us, a cricket match is still higher.

It’s fed in us starting from birth,

Somethings you learn naturally on earth,

This is one among them,

The joy of watching a match,

Is like after effect of a rum.

-AAYUSH GOYAL

The Known Truth

A kid asked his mother,
Why are holidays extended further?
Why are streets so dirt less?
On carrefour I can't see any mess.

Mother answered in low voice,
It's for Netaji's rejoice,
Tomorrow he will visit the city,
And doesn't want useless pity.

Are politicians always like that?
Before the election: a dog; after a cat!
A plethora of promises of development,
In power, they're nothing but ambivalent.

Incessant cases of their lord bribe,
They themselves a unique tribe,
Corruption like RBC in their blood,
And money like water in flood.

Representing the world's largest democracy,
Having a bizarre bantering idiosyncrasy,
Watching porn openly in parliament,
No wonder they've got real talent.

They know how to make one fool,
Better than that how to misrule,
All are equal before the law,
Is it obscured or I never saw?

Everybody's not a criminal,
Some are born without a miracle,
Kalam and Vajpayee are one among them,
Reinforced the Indian politics' stem.

A nation can be on top of the world,
Once again called the "Golden Bird",
For it, India requires no politicians,
But we the responsible Indians.

-AAYUSH GOYAL 

I saw a dream and I wish it could be true.

Dreams. Every one of us has them every night. And do I need to describe dreams? But yes, I would like here to comment about their quality. Some are pleasing, some are not so pleasing and few are not at all pleasing also known as nightmares. Some are usual and normal and some are repetitive. Some are the total recap of our previous day's activities while some are reminiscent. Some are terrifying wherein you fell from a height and some are your favorite adventurous trip. Whatever may be they are like, but, in the end, we know they are not real and then comes the most peculiar dreams we sometimes have. Those dreams which we wish could be true. And one such dream I saw lately.

The dream I saw is very likely to upsurge squabble among the readers, especially in two countries which this dream of mine was centered about. But as a matter of fact, it doesn't matter to me and it should also not exasperate you, because after all, it was a dream. However, if by any means and in any way if any of you is disgruntled then I apologize in the very starting.

So let me begin with my dream. I woke up in the dream in my home at Karachi, India. I was taught in my primary and secondary education in school that my motherland got independence from the British on 14-15 August, 1947. Thereafter my country was one and only one, known as India. The total area spanning 43,16,746 km² belonged to only one nation comprising of 390 million indigenous civilians "undivided". There was no emanation of two nation theory at the time we were fighting for our liberation. There were no 1 million deaths and 12.5 million missing persons at all for reasons of immigration and emigration. I never read these kinds of bewildering facts in my education rather I felt pride studying facts like, if East Bengal (1,47,750 km²) had been partitioned from India in 1971 due to some inner conflicts there would have been a migration of approximately 6 million people but fortunately it never happened. If there had been riots between Hindus and Muslims from time to time it would have led to 4 major wars in years 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999 leading to a loss of 28,123 men in total but again it also never happened because each and every denizen of my nation believed in harmony, peace, and non-violence.

The most beautiful state of the republic also known as 'Heaven on the Earth' was its most northern part, Jammu and Kashmir spanning a total area of 3,08,504 km². Srinagar, Gulmarg, Leh, Sonamarg, Jammu, Kathua, Budgam, Pulwama, Kargil, Pahalgam, Hemis, Katra, Patnitop, Drass, Muzaffarabad, Neelum Valley, Leepa Valley, Mirpur City and Pir Chanasi were some of its most magnificent and audacious locations one could visit. The locations were home to the highest and most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. You could find saffron fields running perpetually to the horizon. Pashima Shawla, apples, dry fruits, Kashmiri Sapphire, Papier Mache, Phernan and Wooden Handicrafts were some of the main attractions of you could find in there.

My country in that dream was one of the safest lands in the world almost free from militancy, terrorism and inner conflicts emerging from issues like inter-religion turmoil, inter-caste riots, and emulation. Although the largest democracy in the world, the government was one of the most powerful, effective in its execution of plans, corruption-free and really bore the meaning of the phrase: 'Of the people, by the people, and for the people'. We had the largest army in the world with almost 1.9 million active army personnel ready to overcome any obstacle that would likely introduce anarchy and upset the established order in the nation. I also read a funny real story in my books that we were in the state of war with China several times when they tried to capture the northern parts of Kashmir and Leh which they eventually lost every time. I used to laugh and feel proud simultaneously after reading that particular story.

The nation literally worshiped Cricket with Cricketers as gods and I am not exaggerating but our national cricket team incorporated the best bowling attack along with the best batsmen of the world obviously best enough to be no. 1 in Tests, ODIs and even T20s. We lifted the World Cup trophy in the year 1983, 1992 and 2011. We were the champions in T20 World Cup in the year 2007 and 2008. And the Asia Cup was like our home cup which we captured frequently in the years 1984, 1988, 1990/1991, 1995, 2000, 2010, 2012 and 2016. We also won the only World Championship held in 1985. We were the only winners in Australia Asia Cup held only thrice in the years 1986, 1990 and 1994. Aren't these facts baffling and ecstatic? My country gave this world some of the best bowlers including the names of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan; some of the finest batsmen this world could have ever seen like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Javed Miandad, Virender Sehwag and Inzamam-ul-Haq; some of the best all-rounders like Imran Khan, Kapil Dev and Yuvraj Singh and captains like MS Dhoni and Shahid Afridi. And why only cricket the country I lived in excelled in major sports like Kabaddi (champions in every major tournament every time), Badminton, Squash, Polo, Snooker, Boxing, Wrestling, Chess and what not.

Widely popular as the most diversified country in the world and basically we were with 1.5907 billion citizens following major religions like Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Kalash and Bahà'ì Faith. Spirituality was one among the prime things the country was famous for. People here speak around total 1700+ languages in total. Home to the festivals like Diwali, Holi, Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha (Bakra Eid), Milad-un-Nabi, Muharram, Makar Sankranti, Navratri, Janmashtami, Shab-e-Barat, Maha Shivratri, Christmas, Good Friday, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja, Lohri, Ratha-Yatra, Ugadi, Onam, Vasant Panchami, Rakshabandhan, Dussehra and Pongal. One of the largest human congregation in the world: Kumbh Mela was held here. The grand and greatest weddings were the pride of the nation, happening often. Women without jewelry....how can you even think about it? The regional diversity was beyond comparison and having more than 40 dance forms in total will justify that fact. Not only culture but I was also proud of my country's heritage which was cheerfully preserved and passed onto the next generation. Taj Mahal: one of the seven wonders and Karakoram Highway: the highest paved international road were in my country.

About art and stuff I dare any country would be slightly equal to that of mine and if you can't believe what I am stating then here goes the enumeration. We had the world's largest film-industry in terms of films produced and tickets sold. We gave the world musicians like Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Mohammad Rafi, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, A.R. Rahman, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Mehdi Hassan Khan and many more. Freddie Mercury, the legendary singer of the rock band 'Queen' was born a Parsi with the name Farrokh Bulsara while the famous Oscar winning Hollywood star Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji.

Now some of the astonishing facts just to show-off and say I am proud to be an Indian. My nation housed the world's highest cricket ground 'Chail Cricket Ground' in Chail, Himachal Pradesh and highest polo ground 'Shandur Top' located in Gilgit. My country was the largest producer of football with more than 50% of the world's football produced there. One of the largest desert: Thar, was in my country. Largest producer of the milk, the largest vegetarian country in the world, 2^nd largest English speaking country, largest postal network with over 1.8 million post offices, largest irrigation system, largest ambulance system, 2^nd largest salt mines: Khewara Salt mines, the largest deep sea port in Gwadar and list goes on incessantly. Water on the moon was discovered by us. The famous Mars Mission: cheaper than an auto ride in terms of per km ride was ours. My nation gave the world great personalities like APJ Abdul Kalam, Malala Yousafzai, Swami Vivekananda, Mother Teresa, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Kailash Satyarthi and many more.

There was no hate among people of any religion for any other religion. There were no useless ceasefire violation along the middle-western part within the country. There were no harsh feeling among the western part of the nation for the rest of the part and vice-versa. The nation shared its international boundaries with countries like China, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan and Iran. The biggest cricket rivalry was India-Australia. No skirmishes and clashes in the youth on social media over anything related to Pakistan and India.

Actually, Pakistan and Bangladesh did not exist in my dream. The world knew one and only one country as a whole known as: INDIA. But then all of a sudden the morning sunshine pounced on my eyes and woke me up. I realized that I have been dreaming about all these things. I spoke to myself that I had imagined a fairy island like girls often do in their dreams albeit my island did not had Prince Charming in it.

I thought to myself lustfully: I just wish it could be true.

NOTE: All the facts and data are from Wikipedia.

NOTE: The words you are going to read are my personal thoughts that I would like to share with my readers. Although I know this article of mine is fictional in nature but I would like here to state that to write this article I had to go through immense research about the two countries. Throughout my research, there were things I didn't know about India as well as Pakistan. I came to know facts about India and Pakistan that made me both proud and jealous as an Indian. Some facts flabbergasted me to the core and some facts after reading made me wonder what if India was never partitioned, what if these two countries were really together?