A man of few words but many languages, Amitav Ghosh traces his journey as an author with Anamika Chatterjee
Sitting cosy in his suite at Taj Mahal Hotel, author Amitav Ghosh sips his coffee and reminisces about the good old days. “I can see The Claridges from here. That's where I had my first book party. Those days I had a motorcycle and I remember parking it outside. The magic that happens with the launch of your first book never comes back." Cut to present, Ghosh is out with his tenth book, Sea of Poppies, that delves on the issue of opium trade in colonial India of 1830s. “After Glass Palace, I wanted to write another inter-generational book and I started thinking about it in 2004 when The Hungry Tide came out.”
Often regarded as an author who's quite generous with descriptions, one is compelled to wonder if writing a trilogy offers him more liberties. A notorious laughter follows as he explains, "While writing a book you can keep changing some things towards the end or the beginning. But in a trilogy, you have to keep your options open. Moreover, Sea of Poppies was the foundation of the trilogy. It had to be solid and secure." The author admits that he would have loved to cover at least 30 -40 years in the trilogy but then “500 pages later and I have covered just 8 months. I know there are readers who just like to go from point A to point B, but such a reader should not pick up my book.”
This book also set Ghosh his toughest test as researcher, as he “never had such a wide range of characters from different backgrounds”. But what about the British ones that have according to many reviews been “stereotyped”. The Observer review, in fact calls it a "clever parable for British colonialism". On a rather defensive note, he points out, "By the end of the book, everyone is a villain. It'd be ridiculous to put in some goody goody Englishmen. My book is about drug smugglers, convicts and transporters. I am certainly not going to go out of my way to create good English schoolteachers because clearly it isn't a book about them."
Striking a balance between history and fiction is not an easy task, not even for this “master storyteller”. He offers the metaphor of clay to explain his position as an author. "History is just like clay. We have to respect its unyielding nature. A writer's job is pretty much like a potter's. He gives a shape to the clay by using his imagination."
Ghosh whose first book, The Circle of Reason, came out in 1986 feels it is much easier for a writer to get published now. "When I started out, there was just one publisher in Delhi, and I think he used to publish business books only. By then my first book had been accepted in England, and I desperately wanted to get published in India. So in desperation, I went to his office with my manuscript and knocked the door. The chapraasi opened the door and let me in. He saw my manuscript and asked, "Yeh kya hai' and I said, 'Saab, yeh ek novel hai' and to this the chapraasi said, "Novel… nikal jaao."
Ghosh also has his share of favourites when it comes to Indian writing in English. “I enjoyed reading Above Average by Amitabh Bagchi. I am told Indrajit Hazra's The Bioscope Man and Tabish Khair's latest are interesting.” Even though the author thinks that Indian writing in English has been accepted worldwide, he admits that it is at the risk of stereotyping several themes and characters. "If I see the word, 'arranged marriage' in the blurb or at the back of the book, it annoys me. But stereotyping is happening everywhere. When we pick up an American novel, we tend to expect themes like gangland warfare or the mafia.”
Even as there is a buzz that The Hungry Tide will soon be made into a film, the author wants his involvement in the project to be "minimal". “Filmmaking is a distinctive art. I tried it after I wrote The Shadow Lines, in 1989. Mira Nair who is an old friend wanted to make Mississippi Masala and I was to do the screenplay. Mira, her husband and I actually drove down to deep southern America and had a good look at the Gujarati motels for our background research. But gradually I realised that it wasn't my cup of tea." But Ghosh also reveals that The Hungry Tide is an option right now by a Bengali director, Suman Mukhopadhyay who has been working on it for some time.
An adaptation works best "when a filmmaker completely reimagines the book", so believes the author. "I know the writers of several books that were made into films by Satyajit Ray and none of them were happy with the films. I told them that the films were much better than the books."
Married to writer Deborah Baker, Ghosh is also a father of two children, who have never read any of his books. “ I am actually grateful that they haven't read my works. You know when you are young and writing novels, you have to tell yourself that your mother might just read your book, and when you grow old, you keep your children in mind while reading the book, because there are things in the book they shouldn't be reading about. So I am actually grateful that they don't."
Confessing that he’s rather self-indulgent, Ghosh says, “I write for myself and my circle of friends. Sometimes when people open my book and read, I actually wonder if this would make sense to anyone. I guess that's something that only your editors and publishers can tell From Circle of Reason to Sea of Poppies, the author has indeed come a long way, but he doesn’t seem to think so. "My friend, Mukul Kesavan says that I have moved back to The Circle of Reason. The prospect of spending 10-15 years with these characters has been deeply pleasurable. In a way my friends have seen my life change and I have seen theirs changing too.” He also admits that solitude is quintessential to writing. “Months go by and I see no one but my wife and my kids. Sometimes I come out of my house and wonder why there are so many people here. Your book becomes your only reality then. It is important also because if your book does not become your reality, then it won't work." Well, considering the writer is aiming for a hattrick this time, it seems more solitude awaits him!
Sitting cosy in his suite at Taj Mahal Hotel, author Amitav Ghosh sips his coffee and reminisces about the good old days. “I can see The Claridges from here. That's where I had my first book party. Those days I had a motorcycle and I remember parking it outside. The magic that happens with the launch of your first book never comes back." Cut to present, Ghosh is out with his tenth book, Sea of Poppies, that delves on the issue of opium trade in colonial India of 1830s. “After Glass Palace, I wanted to write another inter-generational book and I started thinking about it in 2004 when The Hungry Tide came out.”
Often regarded as an author who's quite generous with descriptions, one is compelled to wonder if writing a trilogy offers him more liberties. A notorious laughter follows as he explains, "While writing a book you can keep changing some things towards the end or the beginning. But in a trilogy, you have to keep your options open. Moreover, Sea of Poppies was the foundation of the trilogy. It had to be solid and secure." The author admits that he would have loved to cover at least 30 -40 years in the trilogy but then “500 pages later and I have covered just 8 months. I know there are readers who just like to go from point A to point B, but such a reader should not pick up my book.”
This book also set Ghosh his toughest test as researcher, as he “never had such a wide range of characters from different backgrounds”. But what about the British ones that have according to many reviews been “stereotyped”. The Observer review, in fact calls it a "clever parable for British colonialism". On a rather defensive note, he points out, "By the end of the book, everyone is a villain. It'd be ridiculous to put in some goody goody Englishmen. My book is about drug smugglers, convicts and transporters. I am certainly not going to go out of my way to create good English schoolteachers because clearly it isn't a book about them."
Striking a balance between history and fiction is not an easy task, not even for this “master storyteller”. He offers the metaphor of clay to explain his position as an author. "History is just like clay. We have to respect its unyielding nature. A writer's job is pretty much like a potter's. He gives a shape to the clay by using his imagination."
Ghosh whose first book, The Circle of Reason, came out in 1986 feels it is much easier for a writer to get published now. "When I started out, there was just one publisher in Delhi, and I think he used to publish business books only. By then my first book had been accepted in England, and I desperately wanted to get published in India. So in desperation, I went to his office with my manuscript and knocked the door. The chapraasi opened the door and let me in. He saw my manuscript and asked, "Yeh kya hai' and I said, 'Saab, yeh ek novel hai' and to this the chapraasi said, "Novel… nikal jaao."
Ghosh also has his share of favourites when it comes to Indian writing in English. “I enjoyed reading Above Average by Amitabh Bagchi. I am told Indrajit Hazra's The Bioscope Man and Tabish Khair's latest are interesting.” Even though the author thinks that Indian writing in English has been accepted worldwide, he admits that it is at the risk of stereotyping several themes and characters. "If I see the word, 'arranged marriage' in the blurb or at the back of the book, it annoys me. But stereotyping is happening everywhere. When we pick up an American novel, we tend to expect themes like gangland warfare or the mafia.”
Even as there is a buzz that The Hungry Tide will soon be made into a film, the author wants his involvement in the project to be "minimal". “Filmmaking is a distinctive art. I tried it after I wrote The Shadow Lines, in 1989. Mira Nair who is an old friend wanted to make Mississippi Masala and I was to do the screenplay. Mira, her husband and I actually drove down to deep southern America and had a good look at the Gujarati motels for our background research. But gradually I realised that it wasn't my cup of tea." But Ghosh also reveals that The Hungry Tide is an option right now by a Bengali director, Suman Mukhopadhyay who has been working on it for some time.
An adaptation works best "when a filmmaker completely reimagines the book", so believes the author. "I know the writers of several books that were made into films by Satyajit Ray and none of them were happy with the films. I told them that the films were much better than the books."
Married to writer Deborah Baker, Ghosh is also a father of two children, who have never read any of his books. “ I am actually grateful that they haven't read my works. You know when you are young and writing novels, you have to tell yourself that your mother might just read your book, and when you grow old, you keep your children in mind while reading the book, because there are things in the book they shouldn't be reading about. So I am actually grateful that they don't."
Confessing that he’s rather self-indulgent, Ghosh says, “I write for myself and my circle of friends. Sometimes when people open my book and read, I actually wonder if this would make sense to anyone. I guess that's something that only your editors and publishers can tell From Circle of Reason to Sea of Poppies, the author has indeed come a long way, but he doesn’t seem to think so. "My friend, Mukul Kesavan says that I have moved back to The Circle of Reason. The prospect of spending 10-15 years with these characters has been deeply pleasurable. In a way my friends have seen my life change and I have seen theirs changing too.” He also admits that solitude is quintessential to writing. “Months go by and I see no one but my wife and my kids. Sometimes I come out of my house and wonder why there are so many people here. Your book becomes your only reality then. It is important also because if your book does not become your reality, then it won't work." Well, considering the writer is aiming for a hattrick this time, it seems more solitude awaits him!
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