‘I love spending time in Jaipur’

Who said you need to be born in a country to love it? Now, here is a Brit who is truly in love with India.
William Dalrymple chose to divide his life between India and Britain owing to his fascination for India and its people that led the Scottish born writer churn out some brilliant work. Known for his exemplary tomes like the White Mughals, Last Mughals, and City of Djinns, William was in the Pink City with his wife Olivia to be a part of a literary event.
Dalrymple is currently working on a book ��� Nine Lives. ���Written in the context of contemporary India, it talks about nine different religious paths. You have a devdasi from Kerala, a Jain nun who starves herself to death following a Jain rite, a jihadist from Kashmir, a Buddhist monk, an idol maker from Tanjore...,��� shares the author. Dalrymple and Olivia make a lovely picture together and when asked how it feels working with Olivia who does illustrations for his book, the author says, ���Olivia loves to underplay herself ��� she is an artist and instead of saying that she does illustrations for me, it would be better if I say I do text for her pictures.
It���s great fun working together...we often end up bouncing each other���s ideas!��� Talking about the desert state, Dalrymple, who is the founder and co-director of the Jaipur Literary Festival says, ���The Festival keeps bringing me to Rajasthan. I love spending time in Jaipur and have lots of friends in the city. Recently I had a great time staying at a beautiful fortress called Rohet Garth in Jodhpur.��� Dalrymple loves to gorge on gajak (a sesame delicacy) every time he visits the city. ���I just love the sweet and Rajasthani food and whenever I am here, I make sure I have lots of kachoris,��� he says.
When asked if he would be willing to accept a proposal to turn some of his books into films, he laughs, ���Dev Anand was once talking about making a film based on the Last Mughals... the rights of the book are still available. As for White Mughals, it���s already gone to BBC ��� they are planning to come out with a series on the book.���
As a writer who has enjoyed writing about the communal harmony that existed between cultures, Dalrymple is worried about the communal strife he sees all around him. ���It���s sad that there is so much conflict between civilization happening. There is a great need to remind people that there have been periods of peaceful co-existence. Islamophobia has developed in Britain too for obvious reasons but there is a strong need to understand the real Islam, which is different from how it is being projected. People must educate themselves about other religions. How can you understand Aurangzeb without looking at Akbar?��� Ask him about Delhi and his mind flashes back to the old days when he came out with City of Djinns. ���I am still in love with Delhi. It is one city which is always changing. It has become unrecognisably different...you have to take the change as it is. But I would be upset if I don���t get to see what existed earlier ��� the Nizammuddin Dargah, the architecture of the walled city...I am happy it���s still there,��� says Dalrymple.