Manu S. Pillai & Anirudh Kanisetti make history cool at the Jaipur Lit Fest 2025
Five Days, Hundreds of Authors & One Overloaded Brain
A few months ago, I had a brilliant idea—why not go for the Jaipur Lit Fest 2025? The JLF, as the cool kids call it, is probably the biggest literary event in the world. It’s so big, it even travels to the US, UK, and Europe! Funny enough, I remember my podcast guest from the Spain episode mentioning that she stumbled upon the JLF while vacationing there. Clearly, this festival follows book lovers around the world.
So, flight tickets? Booked. Accommodation? Found a homestay right beside the venue because who wants to waste time commuting when you can be buried in books and discussions? The event runs for five days, and this year, it featured over 300 authors. I made the mistake of skimming the list to see how many names I recognized—gave up after ‘A’ because there were already 48. Forty-eight!
With five sessions running in parallel, each featuring an author (or a whole panel!) discussing their work, I knew I needed a game plan. Even before I boarded my flight, I drew a detailed chart and down the time and location of the sessions I wanted to join - it’s a bit of homework! A little excessive? Maybe. But completely necessary.
Now, onto the experience—loved every session we attended! A few things really stood out:
Diversity & Inclusion: They made a serious effort to bring in authors across different religions, political beliefs, and gender identities.
Sign-language interpretation: Alongside the speakers on stage was a sign-language interpreter for the deaf.
Audience gets to participate: The audience had a fair chance to question the speakers—some questions were quite feisty.
Impeccable Organization – Despite being packed, the place was clean, the food was reasonably priced, and everything ran smoothly. Absolute kudos to the organizers!
Book 1. Nalanda - How it changed the world
Author: Abhay K.
Panel Speakers: Abhay K., William Dalrymple and Shailendra Raj Mehta
Travelling to a place steeped in history is something I love and this session did just that. the speakers took us to Nalanda through their vivid description of the university. Did you know that the architecture of Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard universities is believed to have been inspired by Nalanda, an ancient Indian university? If you compared photos of their layouts—featuring residential and educational buildings with courtyards in front—you can’t miss the striking similarities. Here are a couple of interesting trivia from his book.
Nalanda may have introduced the very concept of a university to the world.
Its teachers fostered a strong book culture among students. This was long before the invention of the printing press, so if someone wanted an extra copy of a book, they had to painstakingly copy the entire manuscript by hand onto another parchment roll. On the bright side, Nalanda boasted a library that spanned over nine floors—plenty of parchments to read and, if you had the patience, copy by hand.
This whole conversation felt like time travel. More than just reading about it, I felt like I need to go and experience it for myself!
Book 2: The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World
Author: William Dalrymple
A friend recently dubbed my gang ‘The Dalrymple Groupies’—much like the Swifties! haha.
For the uninitiated, William Dalrymple is a highly respected historian. Of English origin, he spends much of his time in Delhi—a city he’s grown to love (despite the air quality). While his fondness for modern India is evident from the time he chooses to spend here, it’s his admiration for ancient India that truly shines when you hear him speak. In his latest book ‘The Golden Road’, he highlights how India was a global superpower during the early spice trading era—arguably the richest country in the world by a wide margin.
As evidence, he points to several fascinating discoveries:
The Muziris Papyrus: Unearthed in 1985 from the backyard of a house in Kerala, this ancient trade document reveals that the goods on the ship it accompanied were valued at over 7 million drachmas. For context, the average person at the time earned about 100 drachmas a month. Over 120 ships traveled annually between the port of Muziris in Egypt and Indian ports. If you multiply 120 by 7 million drachmas, you begin to grasp the staggering wealth India generated from trading with just one Egyptian port.
Roman Coins in India: Archaeological digs near coastal towns in India have uncovered a significant number of Roman coins, further proving the extensive spice and silk trade between India and the Roman Empire. Yet, most maps depicting the Silk Route barely mention India. Dalrymple argues that this omission is historically inaccurate. After all, if India hadn’t been an active player in the spice and silk trade, it’s unlikely that so many Roman coins would have been found here.
Book 3: The Lion House
Author: Christopher de Bellaigue
This book reads like a novel—exactly how a well-written history textbook should be. If you love the stories behind how kings ruled, why battles were fought, and who was really pulling the strings behind the scenes, this book seems like a great pick.
The author, Christopher, particularly enjoyed narrating the story of an overlooked figure from the Ottoman Empire—a woman named Roxelana. She was the queen who ruled from behind the curtains. While the official ruler was Suleiman (often called Suleiman the Magnificent), everyone knew that the real power lay with Roxelana. She was the one who decided who held influence within the kingdom.
Roxelana even commissioned the construction of a mosque in Istanbul, naming it after herself to showcase her royal authority. This was a significant achievement, as she was the first woman to build a mosque. When she passed away, her devoted Suleiman had an elegant tomb built for her, which can still be visited today in the exquisite Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.
Book 4: Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan
Author: Shrabani Basu
This book tells the remarkable story of Noor Inayat Khan, a British secret agent. A descendant of Tipu Sultan, Noor was raised in Russia, Paris, and later London. It was in London that she trained as a radio operator, becoming one of the first women to do so.
One day, she received a message for an interview—delivered via Morse code—inviting her to apply for a position as a secret service spy. Fluent in French and skilled in radio operations, Noor had the perfect combination of talents to be recruited by a secret British organization to work undercover in Nazi-occupied France. Tragically, she was captured and executed by the German Nazis at the Dachau concentration camp. However, her bravery did not go unrecognized. She was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre by France and later the George Cross by Britain.
The author, Shrabani Basu, was so inspired by Noor’s courage and contributions that she helped establish the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust and had a bust of Noor erected in Gordon Square, London. Well, the book is bought and story will be read soon :)
Book 5: Lords of Earth and Sea: A History of the Chola Empire
Author: Anirudh Kanisetti
The word "Nadu" in ancient Tamil refers to a village or a region. During the Chola era, kings ruled over many such nadus. While they collected taxes from these regions, they also had to ensure the villagers were content. One common way to keep them happy was by gifting each nadu a temple. These temples were well-funded, featuring towering gopurams, elaborate sculptures, and intricately carved lamps.
Interestingly, much of the work involved in building these temples and maintaining the people’s happiness wasn’t done by the kings—but by the queens. If you’ve watched the movie Ponniyin Selvan, you might remember the elderly dowager queen, Sembiyan Mahadevi. In real history, she commissioned hundreds of temples to maintain peace. It also helped that she was a devout Hindu.
This book is a complete treat to learn about the Cholas, through a series of well written stories.
Trivia: A collection of these villages or nadus is what we now know as Tamil Nadu.
Book 6: Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity
Author: Manu S. Pillai
India has long been a melting pot of diverse religions, and this book covers a part of the history of how some of these religions arrived here. One fascinating story about the spread of Christianity is that of Roberto De Nobili, a Christian missionary who arrived in India in the early 17th century. He quickly noticed that the only people converting to Christianity were those from the lowest castes. As a result, Christianity struggled to gain acceptance as a religion of equal status to Hinduism.
Realizing this, De Nobili devised a clever strategy. He adopted the lifestyle of an upper-caste Hindu: he became a vegetarian, sat on the floor to eat from banana leaves, and lived a life of simplicity. He understood that if he wanted upper-caste Hindus to convert, he couldn’t ask them to abandon their cultural identity. So, he allowed them to keep wearing their sacred thread (janayu or poonal), adding only a small cross to it, to signify their new faith. In places like Madurai, churches began to mirror Hindu traditions to become more acceptable to the local community. For example, goat sacrifices—a common practice in rituals for Kali deities—were incorporated into church ceremonies. When people attended his services at the church, De Nobili performed aarti just like a Hindu priest, wore saffron robes, and even applied a kumkum teeka on his forehead.
Listening to Manu Pillai speak is as captivating as reading his works. Do watch any of his interviews on YouTube and you’ll know what I am speaking about.
P.S: I bought the book a few weeks back already and it is phenomenal!
Book 7: Boundary Lab: Inside the Global Experiment Called Sport
Author: Nandan Kamath
Panelists: Paralympic winner Deepa Malik, Nandan Kamath and Rahul Bose
Sports are an interplay of multiple little social experiments. So kids learning a sport and playing a group-sport is essential not just for their physical health but also for them to learn to interact with others and negotiate for their place in the community. Rahul Bose suggested that governments should mandate sports as one of the subjects that children should pursue in high school (not just Physics, Chemistry, Maths). Perhaps parents will then allow children to play more than they do now.
On the bright side, Deepa Mallik was quite happy with the progress India has made with supporting women athletes and paralympians.
Book 8: How Innovation Works: Serendipity, Energy and the Saving of Time
Author: Matt Ridley
This session was mind-blowing—it completely changed the way I think about innovation vs. invention.
Invention is about trial and error. Take the light bulb—often credited to Einstein (oops, that’s actually Edison!)—it wasn’t a single Eureka! moment but a long process of incremental improvements, perseverance, and relentless experimentation.
Innovation, on the other hand, is about scaling an idea successfully. One of India’s biggest innovation success stories? The Green Revolution. Norman Borlaug, its pioneer, introduced high-yield wheat varieties that transformed India’s food security. A true game changer.
And in today’s world? DeepSeek—democratizing AI and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Innovation never stops!
The JLF also hosted some fascinating discussions that weren’t directly related to the books being promoted, but were centered around broader themes.
Discussion 1: Food is closely linked to memory and language
Panelists: Matt Preston, Dr. Pushpesh Pant and Romi Gill
Memory should be added to science’s definition of tastes: There are five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. Matt shared how he feels we should add memory to this list. Tasting something often transports you back in time, and the flavour of what you are eating can be affected by the memories of when you first experienced eating this dish.
Eating can trigger nostalgia: Foods have the potential of bringing back long-forgotten memories. For example, Gill shared how Maggi noodles can bring back memories of sitting with friends and chatting endlessly. Similarly, stories of train journeys often stir memories of the unique foods we savoured along the way at various railway stations.
Food influences language: Dr. Pant shared how many everyday phrases are woven around food. For example, "supari" (betel nut), commonly chewed in India, was once offered as a symbolic gesture when two people reached an agreement. Over time, this practice took on a darker meaning—when assassins were hired, a supari (betel nut) was offered to seal the deal. Today, if you hear someone say "supari dena," remember that the betel nut refers to more than just a snack; it carries a dark connotation.
Discussion 2: Covering war as a journalist is tougher in one’s own country
Panelists: Suhasini Haider, Lindsey Hilsum, Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Christopher de Bellaigue, Yaroslav Trofimov, Edward Wong and Vishnu Som
Covering war as a journalist is challenging anywhere, but it becomes even harder when the war is taking place in one’s own country. Ghaith, an Iraqi journalist, shared a poignant story about how his school grounds and childhood playgrounds became the frontline during the US invasion. Witnessing this was a deeply emotional experience for him.
Indian journalist, Vishnu Som, recounted a haunting scene from his time in Ukraine, where he came across a large teddy bear, a kitten's carcass, and a small umbrella amid the ruins of a building completely reduced to rubble. The sight was striking and disturbing, as it reminded him of his own childhood belongings. The teddy bear, still intact, was the only toy left untouched in the destruction!
What I love about lit fests is that, for a few days, you get to sit under one roof and hear from some of the sharpest minds across so many different fields. And the best part? These aren’t just lectures—they’re debates, discussions, and some of the most compelling storytelling by the best in the business.
What could possibly top this experience? Probably reading the books themselves! 😏 And yes, I took that very seriously—came back with half a suitcase full of books (which I totally planned for by carrying a massive suitcase. Priorities. 🤓).
So, toodles for now! I’ll be back with book reviews on my newsletter soon. Till then, subscribe & tell me—which one from my top 10 caught your eye?
Ah man, need to make it to the JLF. Next year, maybe. Thanks for the snapshot and book recommendations!
I have been wanting to visit JLF since the last five years but somehow couldn't make it. Your narrative literally transported me there. Thank you for this. I loved the links to the books and all the sessions were fun and unique in their own interesting way. Can't wait to see book reviews on the books you purchased at JLF.