Yes, it was once. Not anymore.
And it has nothing to do with me. I still feel about the same way - the feelings that started taking me away from the event - first some valid questions - then a valid dislike - and then a sense that the event doesn't figure in my calendar.
Jaipur Literature Festival is an event which saw meteoric rise and then a meteoric fall - all in a span of few years only.
What makes this trend remarkable development, a must-study case study, is that it started with marketing itself as a 'literature' event - but then rapidly degraded.
Well after 10 odd years, it is now established well beyond doubt that though it is a grand event - it is an event without literature's soul and the descent has been rapid.
To cater to the marketing forces, the organisers have compromised its literary quotient.
Now it is just another routine marketing event and the kind of media neglect that it is getting is 'informative/symptomatic' of that.