Octogenarian Opens Jaipur Lit Fest With Rousing Speech

Courtesy of DSC Jaipur Literature Festival Author Mahasweta Devi delivering the keynote speech at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Thursday.

From a tiny octogenarian writer came a rousing, defiant speech that set the tone for the sixth Jaipur Literature Festival, which opened Thursday to the sounds of chanting Buddhist monks, beating drums called nagadas and India’s national anthem.

The Bengali writer and commentator Mahasweta Devi delivered the opening ceremony’s keynote speech on the front lawns of the Diggi Palace under a fuchsia and blue tent. The frail writer, whose works delve into gender, politics, human rights and class, had to be helpd up to the dais by two people, but she then delivered a robust speech titled “O to Live Again.”

“At my age, the desire to live again is mischievous,” Ms. Devi explained to the crowd. “I am tapping my 90th year, and look at how much damage I have done by being around,” she said, drawing a chuckle from the crowd.

“I don’t abide by rules. I don’t owe anything to anyone,” Ms. Devi said.

From her childhood days, Ms. Devi challenged traditional norms. At 13, she fell in love with a distant cousin, and at 16 she said she got involved with the Communist Party in Bengal. She also has worked extensively with the tribal communities in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Her family always worried about “what will this girl do,” she said.

The Dalit writer Kancha Ilaiah asked Ms. Devi during the question- and-answer session if her writing could be classified as “Marxist.” She responded, “It is up to people to find ! out. Why should I say ”

Her advice to the audience was save their “common dreams.” The right to dream should be the “first fundamental right of people,” said Ms. Devi. The applause from the crowd was thundering as she finished.

While last year’s event drew a standing-room-only crowd, which swelled to unmanageable proportions when guests like the talk show host Oprah Winfrey took the stage, this year the crowds are much smaller. The artist Anish Kapoor and the Pakistani author Mohammed Hanif, who had been expected to attend, have canceled, organizers said Thursday