Similarly lyricist Prasoon Joshi chose to initiate debate on the Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s decision to renounce writing following protests from various organizations in the session that was to discuss “”Is the Commerce of Literature Today Killing Good Writing?”.

And all the panelists were unamimous that the “burning of the book is act of violence”. Nobel Prize-winning author V.S.Naipul was also present to mark 50 years of the publication of his “A House for Mr. Biswas” that has now acquired the status of a classic. The 82-year-old, now on a wheel-chair, was moved to tears after he received overwhelming response from people as he was brought onto the stage.

Other interesting sessions that touched upon the subject of “writing on sex and refiguring masculinity” saw the panelists asking pertinent questions to the audience for “building stereotypes about these topics” and viewing them with a myopic outlook. Adding to the event’s appeal was discussions on contemporary issues like the situation of Pakistan, of the Middle East, the prospects of Israeli-Palstinian peace process, and India’s watershed 2014 elections.

For history buffs, there were intriguing facets and episodes like the 19th century Chinese empress who really modernised her country, a diamond necklace scandal that doomed the French monarchy, the legend of Lawrence of Arabia and the audacious kidnapping of a German general from a Greek island in the penultimate year of World War II.