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It was not easy to write fiction," says Neelima Dalmia Adhar, the writer of Merchants of Death. The new work of fiction is from the lady who penned Father Dearest, The Life and Times of R. K. Dalmia, a well-received biography of her father, the well-known industrialist. How did the new book come about, and why the arms trade as the focus. "I had a lot of material on the Marwaris while I was researching for the book on my father and my editor as well as some others felt that my writing style was more suited for fiction and that I would be doing myself a disservice if I did not write a work of fiction," she says. This story spans four generations of a Marwari industrial family, the House of Loyas, a powerful group with strong political connections. The Loyas exploit their proximity to the powers that be ruthlessly to their advantage and dominate the murky world of the sale of arms. However, their lives are distorted though the women are strong and have distinctive identities, says the author. Why arms trade? "There is a certain brazenness about the people in the trade`85nobody tells you they are in the arms trade, yet everyone knows them." Has she met any arms traders? "Yes, I have met them all—all the major ones. However, she maintains that the book is not based on any family or person. The protagonist, Bharat Loya obliterates his rivals with a savage cunning. He is a much-sought-after fixer, with a legitimate fa`E7ade of hotelier-cum-airline owner. However, he is also a troubled man. Writing Merchants of Death, says the author, took more effort because when she was doing her father’s biography, she was a part of that story, whereas she has had to build the narrative here, and "it is a much larger canvas," spanning four generations and culminating in 2002. It covers the ruling elite of India, political figures from Jawaharlal Nehru to Atal Bihari Vajpai, the rampant corruption and the sometimes lurid and decadent lives of the super rich. A student of psychology, the author has laid special emphasis on the interaction between the various characters in the book, bringing out their moods, emotions and eccentricities. She says that she did not find the transformation from a biographer to a fiction writer easy, and had to re-do the manuscript several times. As any writer knows, the strength of the craft is in polishing the manuscript till it is just so, but even then, there is always trepidation when you send your labour of love into the hands of strangers.
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