New Delhi, Dec. 6 -- At a literary festival one expects to come back with the usual haul. Autographed books. Selfies with authors. A tote bag.

But as a writer I am embarrassed to admit I bought no books at the Shillong Literary Festival in November. My excuse was books are heavy, I was already carrying some and there was no room in my luggage. However I managed to find room for some very unliterary goodies-bottles of fruit wine carefully swaddled in T-shirts and socks.

I felt like a literary traitor. Every year I go to the Kolkata Book Fair, the world's largest non-trade book fair. And every year I make snide remarks about how the lines for the food stalls selling biryani and fish fries are longer and busier than the lines to get into t...