The sensible boy

Chetan Bhagat has retained his down-to-earth attitude even as he has shot to the top of the bestseller charts. His latest book is in its 16th reprint within a week of its launch and has had a print run of lakhs. Roopinder Singh interviews the author. Excerpts:

I have lived in Ahmedabad and Gujaratis are simple people. There are many vegetarians and people are not communal. Suddenly the state was in the news for all the wrong reasons. I have received mails from many Gujaratis who said: "We have all suffered, we were not involved, but people suffered, and you have told our story." I strongly feel that India will not develop unless we tackle such violence. This generation has the best chance, if they say let us make money (much like Govind), I don’t think it is bad, in fact, greedy for money is far better than this violence.

I have a better story this time. The first one was of experiences of college, the second one was the story of one night, but this is the real events and the story has come together.

You have a strong message in the book...

I wanted to communicate. There are many young people who are not aware of Godra, the build-up to the violence—even if they have a hazy idea, they are not aware of the details. If there is an academic book on sectarian violence, maybe 500 intellectuals will read it. You need something in the mass format. It is not about Chetan becoming great and receiving accolades for his writing, it is the message. Chetan will take a few knocks from the critics, as long as young readers get to feel how what happened is wrong. They don’t want to discuss politics, and many don’t care. We can’t judge our readers’ taste, we have to serve our readers.

It was a lot of hard work. it is a tough subject for my kind of writing. I wrote six drafts. I am getting better! (Five Point Someone was reportedly written 11 times).

A lot of my readership is coming from smaller cities. Now that I am in India, it is easier to meet my readers. Many people ask me: "Did you meet that girl in the train?" or "Did you get a call from God?" They behave as if my characters are real—they want to know what became of Rayan or Priyanka. They like the passion of my characters and want to become like them. It is the young people who are recommending the books to their peers. They have responded to my books in a tremendous way, they mob me at the launches, kiss my hands...(embarrassed giggle). They like the person, and they read his books. I can feel their love. It seems that they don’t have role models, when we were young, even if we met an uncle who we are impressed with, he had could change our lives.

I will take some time off and spend time with my children. I am sure that I will come up with something next.

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