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Has it been inspired by any
real-life characters or any other book?
The decision to
weave the story around a family of shikaris was inspired
by Norman MacLean’s bestseller A River Runs through It. The
book is about a small, fishing family of Montana wherein a river
forms the backdrop for the story.
So, I thought to
myself: why not create a family whose members are connected with
each other through the sights and smells that emanate from a shikari’s
household. In fact, these smells play the role of memory to
link the four generations portrayed in the book.
Since the book is
about smells, how far have you drawn on your own sensory
experiences?
Oh lots! I’ve
seen shikar being done in my childhood days. Without
having felt these sights and smells, i could not have described
them so graphically. I’ve seen it all, how to treat a gun, how
to aim it, etc.
Do you wish to
convey any message through your book?
No, no. Reading
the book should be like seeing a good movie...you come away
feeling good.That’s it.
Do you find
fiction-writing more difficult than political writing or
bringing out a magazine?
Oh God, yes,
certainly. When you are publishing a magazine, you have a given
structure within which you work---your day’s work is laid out
for you. You know which stories are expected, which stories have
come, what edits you have to write, you decide the layout, you’re
working within a given deadline.
But when you’re
writing a novel, everything is being born out of your own womb.
It is not as if a bunch of people are organising the inputs for
you. And after you’ve written, you’re totally naked, totally
vulnerable in terms of the barbs, the arrows, the criticism that
you invite. The natural progression for a political writer is to
write a book on the major events he has covered.
Therefore, the
obvious thing for me to do would have been to write about some
of the convulsive events that I covered—Bofors scandal, Rajiv
Gandhi’s assassination, Ayodhya crisis, Mandal agitation. That
would have been easier, but I didn’t want to do that.
What is the
creative process you followed? Did you have sudden bursts of
inspired writing or were you organised, like spending fixed
hours on writing?
Well, when I was
finishing the book, I was organised in the sense that i would
start writing around 8 pm and go on till three or four in the
morning.
But the best
portions were written in a burst of creativity. And later, when
i looked closely at a sentence—its phrasing, the music, the
cadence, its architecture, the structure of words—I would
wonder whether I would be able to do it again. It looked like
the work of a stranger.These are portions I never had to
rewrite.
It’s like you’re
chasing the characters you’ve created. Once they have been
born out of your womb, the umbilical chord is cut, they grow to
independence and then you’re chasing them all the time.
How much time did
it take you to write this book?
About two years.
Are you planning
another book ?
Yes. It’s
nothing definite,but it will tentatively be titled Survival.
It is not meant to be a eulogy of poverty or anything of that
kind. But it will portray the lives of women like Jamila, who
are replicated all over India. She is a child widow, who was
married off to a 60-something man. She struggles to keep the
family going on a meagre pension and yet keeps up her spirits.
The book will be a toast to the resilience of such women who can
smile and keep their sense of humour through all the odds.
Why did you not
take to writing earlier? Do you feel you were not ready for a
book till now?
If I had written
the book earlier, I probably wouldn’t have had all the
inspirations, experiences that I needed to it. In a sense I
would say that I hadn’t matured for the book uptil now.
Which are your
favourite books? Who are the authors whose style of writing has
influenced you?
There’s no
question about it...I’m hugely influenced by Henry Miller’s
style. In fact, one reviewer even pointed this out.
In terms of
movement, it’s the Yiddish writers that I’m highly
influenced by.
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