Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka’s morning session, however, was called off because the author couldn’t make it on time — his flight from Delhi was cancelled. Girish Karnad’s flight was also delayed and his keynote address had to be rescheduled. Henry Louis Gates Jr, author of ‘‘Thirteen ways of looking at a black man’’, and Andrew Lycett, biographer of books on Dylan Thomas and Rudyard Kipling, could not get visa clearances and had to cancel their visits. Shabana Azmi barely made it on time for the evening session on Thursday where she read from her mother Shaukat Kaifi’s memoirs, ‘‘Kaifi aur main’’.

Yet the festival had abundant energy with writers, authors and publishers mingling with the audience, students and delegates alike. One of the most stimulating sessions of the day was held in the Mughal Tent (now called the ‘Merrill Lynch Mughal Tent’ — sponsors are taking note of the festival’s growing prominence, just as the festival itself is called ‘DSC Jaipur Literature Festival’).

Italian intellectual and publisher Roberto Calasso provided some fantastic insights into how mythology and ritual are violent and innate human impulses with which mankind has always had a problematic relationship. His theory that the internet revolution as a form of mankind’s desire to connect with ‘‘manas’’ (the sense-mind in the yogic world) found its share of sceptics, but it did uplift the audience to loftier realms of thought.

Mukherjee said that the intention is to make tourists stay in those places for two to three days and also visit nearby places. Work has already begun in Jhargram in West Midnapore district. He said that the state government has identified areas in the dense forests of Jhargram, including Maoist infested Chilikagarh.

Nawang Rigzin, Tourism Minister, Jammu and Kashmir who was also present on the occasion, invited tourists to visit his state.  The three-day Fair (July 11-13, 2009) is being attended by over 250 participants, including representatives from 26 states and nine countries- Bangladesh, Mauritius, Bhutan, Dubai, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Switzerland and Thailand. From here, the fair proceed to Gujarat.

Tourism officials informed that most domestic tourists came from various destinations in West Bengal. A large number of people from the Southern and Western states of India visited places like Nathu La this summer. On the dip in the foreign tourists’ numbers this year, the officials attributed it to the ongoing economic downturn, as well as the perception of terrorism and other insurgencies in various parts of the country.

The officials added that post-monsoon months the state may witness a surge in the number of visitors to the border state as has been the case in the past years, to enable Sikkim to achieve the target of five lakh tourists. The state has declared the year 2010 as the Year of Tourism and has lined 13 festivals to woo visitors in its drive to develop the tourism industry as its main source of revenue and employment in the long term.

As per MPSTDC sources, the number of foreign tourists, especially from Netherlands, visiting places of tourist interest in Madhya Pradesh by caravans has reduced in the last decade possibly due to the need for more facilities. Though the famous tourist attraction Khajuraho, known for magnificent temples, has a camping site, the number of foreign tourists visiting it by caravans has dropped as well.