A bicycle is leaned against a shady tree in the backdrop of the blue Mangalore skies. The cover page of The Revised Kama Sutra might look breezy, but the story goes beyond that. Expresso catches up with Richard Crasta at the book launch at Reliance TimeOut
Three-and-a-half years after The Revised Kama Sutra was published, you took back the rights. And now it’s out again. What’s happening?
The marketing director had problems with me right from the beginning. When the book was first published, it brought phenomenal response. But people couldn’t find the book in the stores. It’s painful to see something like that happening. So I took back the rights. But I had to wait for 13 years to have a new launch.
You began writing when you were 10. In your words, it was an ‘atrocious’ 12,000-word novel. What was it about?
That was a childhood fantasy story -— maybe the Harry Potter of Mangalore. A classmate of mine decided to read it and I never got it back.
You call much of Indian fiction published for foreign reader as Potemkin fiction. Can you elucidate?
I’m talking about writing that makes us look like exotic Indian souvenirs. Unless you are a Chetan Bhagat, Shobhaa De or Khushwant Singh who write exclusively for Indians, you are out. And there are the other writers who write for Indians and the rest of the world. All I want to say is that if Indian readers don’t support the writer, it’s a problem. Unfortunately we can’t survive on the money Indian publishers give us. I have to do part-time editing work to have financial freedom. I believe people should openly talk about these problems. There are solutions. If I were a cynic I wouldn't have written Impressing the White.
Where do your books figure in?
My books are about writing from the heart. I essentially tell a story that is unvarnished. Language is something I enjoy. I’m not willing to hide and I have nothing to hide from. I take the liberty writers have in this generation. And I think Indians have the right to tell a story truthfully.
You said that the American edition of The Revised Kama Sutra is the weakest of all the editions. Why so?
I was in a bad financial situation then. I wanted to make the book a success. And when you want to make a book a success, it weakens the book. Also, Americans need an explanation for everything. I had to explain that a tonga was a horse cart and so on. I weakened the language and thus I weakened the book.
Is the book named provocatively?
Yes. It is provocative, ironic and shows defiance. It’s an anti-cliche, making fun of the notion that India is all about yoga and spirituality.
The cover page shows a cycle against a tree. There is no element of provocation there.
I don’t have complete control over the cover. But I would say, ‘don’t judge a book by the cover.’ In some ways, it describes the idyllic innocence of a small town in the 1960s. Also, I didn’t want a racy cover because people might be embarrassed to carry it around.
You were a civil servant. You left your job to get into full-time writing. What made you do that?
My faith in what I was doing. I felt that I had to put my whole self into writing. Van Gogh and Henry Miller had a passion and they followed it even though they starved.
You were raised by Catholic nuns and priests in Mangalore. Is the book a vent for those years of suppressed feelings?
There were things that had to be said. Back in my school in Mangalore, if you were the son of well-to-do parents, you were treated differently. They were all nice to me. Dynasty system still exists in India and I felt I had to address that issue.
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