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The two-day talkfest on Urdu icons Ismat Chugtai and Saadat Hasan Manto in Delhi last weekend was a delightful departure from what the capital’s long-suffering book-lovers are by now used to. The speakers weren’t your embedded Sahitya Akademi types, the sessions were framed wittily—“Pom Pom Darling and Lady Chengis Khan” for the literary feud between the two Urdu prima donnas Ismat and Qurratulain Haider, for example, a blend of literary gossip and stalwart speakers a la Jaipur litfest. Best of all, any speaker who exceeded the time limit was given the thumbs-down. No wonder an unusually enthusiastic audience crowded the sessions.