Bombay poet Adil Jussawala, whose manner reminds me of actor Donald Sutherland, attended the Kitab literary festival last weekend:

Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur:

Popular people’s poet Jeet Thayil reading by candlelight. Power outages during poetry readings are so Dead Poets:

The luminous poet and classical dancer Tishani Doshi:

Tourism author Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal at the Prithvi Theatre café:

Time Out Mumbai editor Naresh Fernandes (in orange) sits uncomfortably amidst author Amit Chaudhuri’s band This Is Not Fusion:

Organizer Shivmeet Deol:

India’s most popular blogger, or at least that’s how we tease him, Amit Varma (India Uncut):

Aditya Adhikari (Mesocosm) and Chandrahas Choudhury (The Middle Stage):

Jai Arjun Singh (Jabberwock) searches for inspiration in a glass of Sula:

Saket Vaidya (Vulturo):

One of the memorable parties was the launch of the Indian edition of the Wasafiri literary magazine. It was held at the Good Earth furnishings gallery in Lower Parel, where one strains not to spill one’s wine while sitting on new furniture:

There were a large number of no-shows including Hanif Kureishi, Reza Azlan, Germaine Greer and purported replacement Gloria Steinem. But Brit publishers showed up in force for the free trip to Bombay.

Related posts: One-liners from the Kitab fest, Ceci n’est pas fusion, Whopper misquotes