He is the man who held aloft the mirror and exposed the murky defence deals, dirty match fixing scandals and Parliament pander-moniums! For someone who has been part of more than 60 sting operations, finding inspiration is no big deal. Yet, Aniruddha Bahal, co-founder of Tehelka and editor-in-chief of cobrapost.com, has turned to ancient Greek history for his latest book, The Emissary: A tale of love, vendetta and war. “I could have written 60 books picking on every other scandal I have uncovered but I didn’t want to,” the author said.
His inquisitiveness on topics like why polytheism couldn’t survive in Greece unlike in the sub-continent even though both were invaded several times, and his admiration for the maniacal energy with which Alexander The Great fought his battles has left him with no choice. “I would discuss such topics with VS Naipaul, who I greatly admire. I was so immersed in Greek history that I couldn’t think of anything else to write,” he said. And looks like the author has thoroughly enjoyed running riot with history.
The book, which has an autobiographical tone to it, has Seleucus, son of Nicator following Alexander’s battles and gives a first hand account of what happened in these battles, “History leaves us with little gaps, which augurs well for writers like me. I just fill them up with my imagination,” he said.
The book, according to Aniruddha, consciously veers away from the usual trend of Indian authors who work within a small circle. Bahal said, “Indian writers are obsessed with colonialism and I feel irritated. The part of that irritation stems from the fact that foreign authors tell us Indians about the Indian involvement in Afghanistan.” He said this was a conscious effort to look beyond the queen and Britain. His last novel Bunker 13 was described as a racy read but more than the ‘racy’ tag, Bunker 13, is talked about for the bad sex in fiction award. The author laughs it off, “This book has a bit of sex too,” he quipped.
The sad part of the evening however, was the fact that even the presence of this high profile journalist couldn’t bring in guests for the book launch, which finally took place in the presence of a few friends from the media. Art critic and writer Sadanand Menon, who was in conversation with the author, was heard telling the author in private that book launches like these were ‘always tricky’. But he also described the author as ‘unputdownable’.