A SOULFUL SOJOURN

The pioneer of sustainable luxury in the Maldives, Soneva Fushi played host to a tropical edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival. SUMEET KESWANI took a deep dive into this unique confluence of experiences and emerged with a few pearls of wisdom.

- SUMEET KESWANI

I THOUGHT I KNEW the Maldives. I had enjoyed the hospitality of various island resorts over the years—staying in beach and water villas, dining at waterfront restaurants, watching dolphins ride the bow waves of boats, and feeding stingrays by hand. But then, I arrived at the shores of Soneva Fushi for an unlikely festival.

I thought I knew the Jaipur Literature Festival. Every year, thousands of people throng the grounds of Diggi Palace in Jaipur to listen to erudite scholars, authors, scientists, politicians, artists, and thought leaders from around the world. But the debut of JLF in the Maldives broke every stereotype associated with ‘the greatest literary show on Earth.’ Instead of the regal setting of a Rajasthani haveli, this edition took place on pristine white sand, in beach villas and overwater shacks. The sunny skies and wintry air of Jaipur were replaced by tropical thunderstorms.

At JLF Soneva Fushi, the delegates were dressed in shorts and flowing sundresses and going barefoot on the soft sand. They weren’t sequestered to exclusive lounges, so every meal at Mihiree Mithaa became a buffet of conversations on topics ranging from teenage love to film adaptations of novels, the creative potential of artificial intelligence, current geopolitics, the colonial history of India, and wartime spy stories.