Elaborating on her association with the Jaipur Literature Festival, the veteran journalist says it was a natural progression of her involvement with the Neemrana Festival (2002) and the Africa-Asia Literary Conference (2006). "Faith Singh, of the Jaipur Virasat Foundation, was instrumental in bringing me and William Dalrymple together. She felt that while I was clued in on all the bhasha writers in India, William was totally in sync with all that's happening on the international scene," explains Gokhale, who was diagnosed with cancer when she was just 35 years old, lost her husband in an accident and brought up two daughters on her own.

"I think William and I represent opposite ends of the spectrum and yet complement each other rather well. Though we are at opposite ends of the pole in our approach, as co-directors of this literary gathering, we make our own unique contributions to make it such a popular event," she adds.