Jaipur: In the backdrop of the opulent Rambagh Palace, the opening ceremony of the Jaipur Literature Festival took place. Authors, journalists, celebrities, and Jaipur’s urban elite thronged to the Taj property for what can only be described as a literary red carpet.
Unlike most red carpets, however, the entryway to the event, situated at a distance from the hotel’s hubbub, featured an array of Indian carpets and rugs that led to a Rajasthani folk band performing as guests entered the space. With each “khamma ghani” from the traditionally dressed staff, the feeling of importance and anticipation increased. Under a large banner of the event, illuminated by the glow of a hundred candles, Teamwork Art welcomed its guests.
With impeccable planning and coordination by the Taj and Teamwork, the otherwise boring garden space resembled a “durbar”—the theme of the night. Judith Albuquerque, Executive Producer at Teamwork Arts, who helped design the night, said that the idea was to bring together Indian culture while also weaving in the literary aspect of it all.
Ambience
On Wednesday evening, curated seating arrangements spanned the area. A large sculpture of an open book reflected the words “Rambagh Palace” and “Jaipur Literature Festival”, with an equally large feather pen standing in one corner near a water display. Bookshelf wallpaper and actual bookshelves were evenly distributed throughout the venue. Toward one end of the space stood a pavilion-style structure with the word “literature” in various different texts and fonts visible throughout its cut-out design.
Between the climbing vines stood a small stage for the band, Mehfil Broadcast Inc, featuring the talents of Ashish Zachariah and Aditi Raj. The songs they played were qawwali but with a “world contemporary” twist.
“The current generation is not very aware of this type of poetry. Indeed, there is even a difference between qawwali and ghazal. So the idea is to bring that to a young generation. As a vocalist, I realised I had the power to bring it to a wider audience, in a way that they don’t get bored,” Raj said.
From the words of Jaun Elia, Hassan, and Mirza Ghalib to additional verses by Raj herself, the musical performance was a fusion of the traditional and the modern. Some songs focused heavily on the bass to add more depth to the words. For Raj, the music bridged a gap.
“There is English language, and then there is colloquial English. This music and the songs with my additional couplets are like the colloquial version of music,” she said.
From a variety of live counters for global cuisines to three sparse bars, the evening went on until late into the night.
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Big fat Indian fest
Despite the chilly temperatures of Jaipur at night, the great Indian literary society convened for its annual commencement celebration.
The opening ceremony, traditionally meant for the panellists and their plus-ones, resembled more of a quasi-Big Fat Indian Wedding. With guests dressed to their nines, the event showed artists from India and outside of the country, adapting and adhering to Indian attire.
From Shalini Passi to Stephen Fry to Durru Mian of the Loharu royal family, the event was a melting point of connection hunting masked as polite conversations.
ThePrint is a media partner for the Jaipur Literature Festival 2026.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)