BENGALURU: Kiran Nagarkar is a prominent writer in postcolonial India and has seven books to his credit, including The Cuckold and Ravan and Eddie. He is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award. Excerpts from an interview:
What was your trigger for writing the book The Arsonist - poet, weaver, seer, blasphemer?
I will have to briefly go back to my first play Bedtime Story. I started writing it just before Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency and completed it a couple of weeks before she called it off and announced new elections.
My play was instantly banned and not allowed to be performed.
Bedtime Story has greater significance for me today than when I first worked on it. Its theme is that anything that happens anywhere in the world, in our backyard or thousands of miles away, you and I are responsible for it because we do not stand up and raise our voices and fight injustices.
Let’s look at the scenario at home. Has our country and the constitution ever faced so much hatred, bigotry, injustice and the constant persecution of the minorities and that too with the approval of the ruling party? And the irony is that the culprits and the criminals getaway while the law-abiding have to pay the price. Add to that any dissent or difference of opinion is often construed as unpatriotic or as sedition.
As to the rest of the world, where does one start? Bolsinaro, Duertes, Erdogan, Mohammed bin Salman, Orban, Trump, the list is endless. The world is in the midst of extremely serious multiple terminal crises. The worshippers of each faith sing endless praises of their God. And yet God seems to have become the biggest killer of mankind today.
Whatever Mrs Gandhi’s reasons for terminating the Emergency and announcing elections, most of the opposition parties joined hands, defeated the Congress regime and formed the new government. The question is, did the Emergency teach us anything? No, we had got a second chance and we blew it.
Later George Bush, Cheney and their cohorts spun a web of lies and insisted that Saddam Hussein was building nuclear weapons. As a result, they destroyed Iraq and whole chunks of the Middle East. The results of that war were disastrous and the world got ISIS/DAESH, Taliban and so many other murderous, fanatical organisations.
After many years, Obama and the leaders of the EU cut a deal with Iran that Iran was not to develop any atomic weapons and in the bargain, it would be able to gain economic ties with the West. Then-President Trump backed out of the deal and insisted on holding Iran responsible for it. But here’s the best part. The US backs out of the deal but its Western allies do not stand up for Iran. Mr Trump generously offers to hold another conference with Iran and the European partners to work out another pact.
Iran knows what’s in store for it. Trump has always said he wants to emasculate and destroy Iran. So Iran says no and soon the European partners start blaming Iran for not kowtowing further to the US. Add to that, thanks to the climate emergency, the very existence of mankind is in severe jeopardy today.
That was the reason I decided to invoke Kabir, albeit a re-imagined Kabir as the protagonist of The Arsonist. For me the Weaver has always stood for the voice of sanity laced with humour and irony.
Have any of your books been inspired by books in regional languages?
I doubt that but our epics certainly have. Fortunately, inspiration takes off from any source. Even a dog scratching its back can be a springboard for a writer.
Do you go back to your old writings? How does it feel to re-read what you had written sometime back?
By chance I went back to Cuckold last month after 22 years. Let’s just say it was a revelation.
Have you always seen yourself as a writer? What has been your inspiration as a writer?
I can only say that I have unfortunately seen myself as an occasional writer. A bit late in the day to wake up and make drastic amends.
How difficult or easy is it to get published? Have you had to modify or change the content of any of your books for it to get published?
You may be lucky and your first book might find a publisher but no point banking on that. Life has many surprises in store for you. Let me underline, not all of them will be happy ones.
Who are your biggest critics?
My readers and, of course, the critics. The worst of the lot is someone called yours truly.
Do you think marketing plays an integral role in the success of books?
I have never had an ace marketing agent but a smart and sensitive book agent can work wonders.
With the digitisation of books, have you moved to reading books on screen or do you prefer the old-fashioned books?
I am 9,999 year old, it will take a bit of time to loosen up and learn some new things.