Naipaul to visit city for literary festival

new delhi: it''s probably his lastvisit to india, says lady nadira naipaul. "he''s turning 70 this year and feelstime is running out. besides he can''t bear to be parted from his cat, augustus."she''s referring to sir vidia naipaul and his forthcoming visit to the capital,to attend what is being billed as an all-star event, a five-day literaryfestival, beginning on february 18. for the wiltshire-based sir vidia, itsignals his homecoming, his first after receiving the nobel prize forliterature. for the hitherto-staid indian council for cultural relations (iccr),the literary fashion parade is to yield two documentaries, two special tie-inbooks, and perhaps even a tv series. and many marquee names. there''s amitavghosh who''ll speak on the many versions of history; there''s annie proulx, freshfrom the success of seeing her novel, the shipping news, transformed into ahollywood movie; and pico iyer, the self-confessed "global village on two legs".ved mehta — whose memoirs, , were published to much acclaim last year — will be travellingfrom new york with his wife. vikram seth and arundhati roy have agreed toattend, for now, but rohinton mistry is not making the long journey home,apparently because he cannot travel by anything less than club class.indo-american author bharati mukherjee has also dropped out while the pulitzerprize-winning jhumpa lahiri is otherwise engaged, she''s having a baby. thathasn''t stopped several "one-novel authors" from wanting to be part of themuch-coveted three-day neemrana retreat. ironically, what iccr director-generalhimachal som was worried about was being accused of discriminating betweenenglish and bhasha writers. but as he rattles off names — from assamesegreat indira goswami to the towering mahashweta devi — it is clear hewants the obc tag for regional writers to be removed forever. "we want all thewriters to share one platform," he says, adding how some were even willing toforgo their first class air fare and five-star accommodation for the privilegeof attending what som hopes will be the first of a triennale. "we''re celebratingthe success of indian writing but we''re not saying the iccr is perfect. all i''msaying is let''s not get bogged down in personalities," says som. but whetherit''s sir vidia presenting the jnanpith award, upamanyu chatterjee reading at ststephen''s college, and president k r narayanan playing host to all guests attea, it''ll be an event which will inevitably depend on its star value. salmanrushdie''s no-show has already robbed the event of some lustre.