Greatest Indian Novels
: Interview
with Vikram Seth
1. Two of your novels, The Golden Gate and A
Suitable Boy, have been nominated as the Greatest Indian Novels of All Time.
Which one do you prefer?
On Mondays and Tuesdays I prefer Gate, on Wednesdays and Thursdays I prefer Boy, on Fridays and Saturdays I prefer An Equal Music, and on Sundays I hate them all.
2. Which character -- from A Suitable Boy -- did you most enjoy developing?
Cuddles, the vicious dog, who bit family friends, postmen and journalists with equal enthusiasm.
3. Apart from being a writer, you're an economist. You're fluent in Chinese and have studied Arabic calligraphy. You cook and you paint. You're trained in Indian classical music and have a fondness for Western Classical music. Is there anything you can't do but would like to?
Of late, I find it hard to get to sleep. But I am working on it.
4. A decade ago, in an interview with HT Brunch, you had told us that you write in bed, sitting up, covered by a plain duvet ("so I'm not distracted by the pattern"), composing sentences in longhand. Has anything changed since?
Everything is much the same except that my sentences now spontaneously decompose.
Saudamini Jain, HTBR1406222
On Mondays and Tuesdays I prefer Gate, on Wednesdays and Thursdays I prefer Boy, on Fridays and Saturdays I prefer An Equal Music, and on Sundays I hate them all.
2. Which character -- from A Suitable Boy -- did you most enjoy developing?
Cuddles, the vicious dog, who bit family friends, postmen and journalists with equal enthusiasm.
3. Apart from being a writer, you're an economist. You're fluent in Chinese and have studied Arabic calligraphy. You cook and you paint. You're trained in Indian classical music and have a fondness for Western Classical music. Is there anything you can't do but would like to?
Of late, I find it hard to get to sleep. But I am working on it.
4. A decade ago, in an interview with HT Brunch, you had told us that you write in bed, sitting up, covered by a plain duvet ("so I'm not distracted by the pattern"), composing sentences in longhand. Has anything changed since?
Everything is much the same except that my sentences now spontaneously decompose.
Saudamini Jain, HTBR1406222
Greatest Indian Novels: Jerry Pinto's list
1. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.
In which an Indian writer revitalises the novel, tells the story of a nation, makes love to the language and writes back at the empire. Then he goes on to win a Booker and becomes a big international star and makes it easier for the next generations.
2. All About H. Hatterr by GV Desani
Because this is a book that is so audacious that no one has ever been able to follow it up. No one should try. Not even Desani could. This is The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy of India. And laugh out-loud funny.
3. The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh
So many to choose from - Shadow Lines is also a great favourite - but this one is a favourite: rivers, language, sediment, dolphins.
4. Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar
I don't think we do historical novels well but I think this one is a stand-out. What do you do when the other man in your love triangle is God and your soldiers have a default setting that says, "Fight unto defeat" because they've never heard of strategic retreats?
5. Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai
A beautiful novel and Nanda Kaul, who resists love and all its blandishments as far as she is able, is one of those quiet and lovely achievements.
6. Coolie by Mulk Raj Anand
I could have gone with this one or The Untouchable but I chose this for personal reasons. It was one of the first Indian novels I read and it hit me hard.
7. Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur
No one does the small savageries of Indian households better than Manju Kapur and this one is a favourite.
8. Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond
I should like to write like this: like a mountain stream, limpid, clear, looking up into an untroubled sky, with small polished stones of love and friendship and abandonment and loneliness and the invention of family.
9. The Fig Tree by Aubrey Menen
Penguin brought Menen out again and he was as fresh and funny as he was so many decades ago.
10. The God of Small Things by Arundhathi Roy
I remember reading it at one go, not stopping, and being so dazzled by the quality of the writing.
Jerry Pinto is the author of Em and the Big Hoom (Aleph Book Company) which won the Hindu Lit for Life Award and the Crossword Award for Fiction and of A Bear for Felicia (Puffin).
Saudamini Jain, HTBR140622
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