PARALLEL LIVES

It was in February 2006 that I first heard of Kunal Basu. It was thanks to a review copy of Racists. The book kept me up all night. Could something like this have happened? The intensity of the rivalry between the two scientists was almost too real. What about the infants left with a mute nurse on a remote island in Africa? This story was taking me places, just as great stories are meant to. The next morning it was down to googling the name Kunal Basu. No, this couldn't be an Oxford don, teaching Management by day and writing such gripping stuff by night or perhaps the other way round. After 'Racists', I quickly got down to reading 'The Miniaturist' which took me from the 19th century to the 16th century into Akbar's court, completing the journey with 'The Opium Clerk.'

Kunal happened to be passing through Singapore and we finally got a chance to meet on 16th March 2006. I wished the conversation could have lasted longer. There was so much more I wanted to know about his writing. As I always do with authors whose writing stirs me, I mentioned the Ubud Writers Festival, the invite from Janet followed and he was there. There were no promises of an airfare (he paid for his ticket), when his books didn't show up on time, he made no noise. Here was someone, fired by the conviction that his work would speak and it did. Readers loved the sessions, festival organisers wanted him at their next fest and Kunal stayed himself. Feet firmly on the ground, unaffected by the adulation.

Could it perhaps have something to do with the parallel life he led? Just like my other good friend Captain Elmo Jayawardena. There was something about their approach to life, their optimism, their drive to change things, the way they talked about the issues of our times, the way they wanted to live more than just this lifetime to continue doing all the things they were already doing..... In their midst, talk of the number of books sold, royalties, advances lost its sheen. There was so much to them, so much I could learn, perhaps we all could - but I'm not in the business of speaking for everyone.

All I can do is share some thoughts, some snippets stored on tapes that I'm in the habit of rolling at literary festivals, during interviews, tapes that definitely don't deserve the solo space on my recording shelf....

Q : Kunal, ‘Racists’ is a book I’ve found hard to put down. What inspired you to write it?
A : To be honest, how I thought of the story of ‘Racists’ is a complete mystery to me. I’m not the type of person who spends a lot of time thinking about race or racial matters. I would like to say I’m race blind really. I’m not a biologist or a scientist, so I don’t think about the history of evolution, the biological thinking about race. So why on earth did I think of a story which has one child from one race and another child from another race marooned in an African island with scientists studying them remains an utter mystery to me. But once I did think of the story, I went back and started doing research into it. I went to libraries to find out about 19th century racial science and a whole world opened up in front of me. This turned out to be a world where scientists were really passionately engaged in trying to solve the puzzle of human variation.


Q : The story is set in the world of 19th century racial science. What made you pick this setting?
A : This world had as its grand ambition the hope that science would be able to solve the puzzle of human variation, the difference among the races, among the Europeans, the Africans, the Chinese, the Indians and so on. It’s a story of an imaginary experiment with two scientists, a British craniologist Samuel Bates and his French rival Belavoix who maroon two infants a black boy and a white girl on an African island. Now, the two children are raised by a young nurse, who is very pretty who is mute. They’ve deliberately selected a mute nurse because she would otherwise influence the children in terms of the races they come from. So the children grow up for a whole decade on this deserted island without speech, without any connection with civilization, punishment or play. The scientists come to visit them twice a year, they bring their fancy instruments, observe their behaviour as if they were two rats in a laboratory. But what they are really after is to determine whether one child is superior in intelligence and morality than the other. They are doing this to determine which race of the two is superior to the other.

Q : Kunal, you say this is fiction, a story fired by your imagination. But how important is research when it comes to developing a story like this?
A : You know this was a very fertile field of research in the 19th century. Lots has been written on this. For instance, what is the logical measure that would show one race is superior to the other? Thankfully, no such experiment, the one you read about in my novel was ever performed, although scientists came pretty close with something called the ‘forbidden experiment’. Scientists flirted with the notion of the forbidden experiment. Why forbidden you may ask? Forbidden because the planned neglect of children is really unethical.

Q : But your characters very well fleshed out, there’s a lot of attention to detail. Samuel Bates seems almost too real as does his French rival. Did you have a real person in mind when you were writing about them and their intense rivalry?
A : I did not model either of the two scientists around a historical figure of that time. I’m sure there are perhaps figments from here and there, but they were not modeled around actual human beings.

Q : You seem to have a passion for going back in time. In ‘The Miniaturist’ you take us back to the 16th century....
A : Yes, its sets in the 16th century and is the story of a child prodigy, an artist who is enormously talented and he is the son of the chief artist of Akbar – the great Mughal Emperor. The protagonist of this novel has everything going for him, he is talented, he is the son of the boss and everybody expects that he will grow up to be the chief artist and that everything will be great for him, except that it doesn’t. Things change when he commits an unpardonable crime – a crime that I won’t reveal for the benefit of those who haven’t read the book. It results in his exile from Akbar’s kingdom and he then goes around the inhospitable terrains of Central Asia, as far as Turkey. What he is looking for is an answer to the question – what is the real value of art, the real purpose of art and what constitutes artistic success?

Q : Kunal, as you tell me this, its hard for me to imagine that another part of your life sees you teach Strategic Marketing at Oxford. How do you create these creative spaces to write about the fascinating stories you present to your readers?
A : The most difficult question to answer in any interview is – where do I get my stories. The best explanation and its perhaps the right explanation is that I’m a great day-dreamer. I’m constantly thinking about things, listening to conversations, finding out about people’s lives, picking up bits and pieces from here and there and then the stories starting shaping in my mind. Once I’ve got an idea and am fired by it, then comes the research into the subject to bring the story to life, to do it full justice. In terms of my professional life, yes I am a Professor of Management, but it’s a life which is quite distinct and different from my life as a writer so there is no secret corridor that connects the two.

Q : Speaking of secrets and corridors, lets track back a little bit to your first book. ‘The Opium Clerk’ which is a journey from Calcutta to Canton tracks the lives of young men whose lives get linked to the fortunes of the opium trade. How did you stumble upon this story?
A : I was trekking in Thailand some years ago, I was near the border of Burma and I came across this dog-eared paperback which was describing the Golden Triangle and the whole opium trade. I was never interested in the drug trade. Intellectually, it doesn’t hold my curiosity, but there was a phrase in that book which leapt out and fired my imagination. It said, “In the 19th century Calcutta was the world’s capital of the drug trade and the drug of choice was opium.” I thought to myself that this can’t be right. I’m born and raised in Calcutta and I thought I knew everything about Calcutta. But in my history books, I hadn’t found any references to that. At that time I was living in Canada, so I went back to my University library and started reading up just about everything I could find on the opium trade and the whole story revealed itself to me. I learnt all about this enterprise that spanned from Europe to Asia, India, China, Malaya and all the different parts of the world and the book came together.

Q : As a writer, should you be a better observer of things around you, should you be one who is interested in the past or should you just let your creativity speak for itself?
A : I think all of the above. I think its important for me to lead a full life and leading a full life means to engage with the world around me. Also the memories and nostalgia of the world that has gone by resonates with me and my books do capture that. Talking to people from different parts of the world helps enormously when it comes to writing. And my professional life, helps me engage with so many different and fascinating minds everyday. Apart from that, I’m constantly observing people, whether it is on the road, in the supermarket, the way they walk, the way the talk to each other, the way they converse with you. Then, of course there is reading, almost all kinds of stuff from the popular press to the more serious literary works. All of that creates the crucible from within which dreams are formed and ideas take shape.

Q : Apart from writing books, you have also written plays, documentaries, acted. How do you balance so many things?
A : I balance a variety of different things by not trying to think about too much about the differences. I think I’m guided by my passion, guided by what I’m excited about and if something keeps me awake at night and says this is something I ought to do, then I do it. I think I’ll do myself a lot of disfavour if I said to myself that - Oh my God, I do management writing, I write fiction, poetry, screenplays – how does it all fit together? I don’t think all the pieces of my life need to fit together as long as they make sense as individual bits and as long as people appreciate them, I’m happy to lead a disjuncted life.

You'll be hearing a lot more of Kunal in the days ahead. The Japanese Wife, a short story written by him is being made into a film by acclaimed film director, Aparna Sen. In an interview with Tehelka, she said she was smitten by it. "The improbability of it attracted me, I found it haunting - a love poem in celluloid. Mainstream cinema is peopled by people who have buying power. This is completely different, it's about people who are essentially good and innocent and yet all of it is not in earnest, there is gentle humour. It's funny, really."

If you happen to be in Singapore in December, you can hear Kunal talk more about this and his work at the upcoming Singapore Writers Festival. He'll be appearing on several panels, though for purely vested reasons I'll extend the invite for the one on:
Saturday, 8th December, 1pm
A Tale of Two Cities features David Davidar and Kunal Basu
At the Chamber, The Arts House

FRAGRANT RICE

The other night Janet and I ended up at the Pan Pacific Hotel. We were to pick up Kunal Basu. The minute we were there, I realised this was like a karma play. "It all started here, Janet," I said.

"Yeah, it seems like yesterday," she responded.

Pan Pacific it was. Almost three years ago. Over a cup of coffee that lingered too long. Words had already transformed Janet's life and they were destined to chart mine too. Little did I know. The next morning, I thought of so many things, our friendship, our early morning conversations and the interview that had started it all.

This was done some time ago, yet when I re-visited it, a lot of things Janet said then, still hold good. If you missed this year's Ubud Writers Festival, you can catch her at the upcoming Singapore Writers Festival. Among other discussions, two culinary greats will be sharing the stage at the festival. I'm talking about Madhur Jaffrey and Janet. Food is their shared passion and it shows in almost everything they touch.

Interestingly enough, while Madhur's culinary journey took off when she moved from Delhi to London, Janet's started after her move from Melbourne to Ubud. And it was love that drew her to Bali:

I first visited in 1974 and then when I went back in 1984, I met my husband on the second day and after that I was spending most of my time in Ubud. I was open to learning and found the culture and the people there fascinating. When you are willing and when you are younger, it’s a lot easier to adapt and adjust to something that seems tougher once you’re older.

How her book ‘Fragrant Rice’ happened:The book was originally meant to be a cookbook. That was my idea, that was my passion. I love Balinese food. But once I started living there, had my children, I started seeing this other side of life in Bali, the cultural aspects too. I started jotting down stories, details of the ceremonies – each of which had so much history behind them. I would talk about them in my cooking class and people would always ask – ‘are you writing a book?’ To which I’d respond, yes, I’m writing a cookbook. They’d all tell me that I needed to put in all the other stories in the book too. That’s how it started. The collection of recipes slowly transformed into this book about my life in Bali.

What she hopes to achieve through her book and on being crowned the ‘cultural ambassador of Bali’:
I feel uncomfortable about that. I don’t think I’m quite an ambassador, I’m only doing my bit to help people better understand and appreciate Balinese culture. If the book is helping in a small way, then I’m grateful for that. When I go back to Australia, people often tell me that they’ve almost always seen it as a beach resort. But it’s so much more than that.

On the Ubud Writers Festival:
The festival was born out of tragedy, sadly enough. There was a lot negative press that we got to see and read after the bombings. ‘Fragrant Rice’ was out, I was doing the rounds of literary festivals and I thought that literature and the written word is a way of understanding things and moving ahead. It’s just such a great connect. Also Ubud and the Balinese are known for their hospitality, so I thought why not enhance their own rich culture through something like a literary festival. We were also looking at something that would be targeted at young readers, aspiring writers who were hoping to meet authors they wouldn’t always get to meet. We were also very clear that Indonesian voices should always be heard at the festival. And we’ve tried our very best to get a diversity of voices at the festival. We’ve had writers like Michael Ondaatje, Amitav Ghosh, Kiran Desai share the stage with Ayu Utami, Luxmi Pamuntjak, Putu Wijaya, so its been a fascinating cross-cultural exchange.

For children, we’ve made the events fun. When you speak to writers you realize, something magical or special happened to them when they were children. That’s when they started reading and moved on to writing. We focus on children because in addition to being our future audience they are quite literally our future.

What she hopes people take back from her book:
I suppose I want to make people understand that different cultures have different ways of doing things. It doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. It’s important to not only understand but value those differences too. It’s important to appreciate, embrace and enjoy different ways of living. Living in a different culture has certainly made my life more exciting and has hopefully made me a better person – but I’ll leave that for others to decide.

UBUD BLOGGED

It was great to see more blog names morph into real life. It had to be at Ubud. So much happened in four days - the increasing number of posts are a testament.

To get the full picture, don't go anywhere without taking a look at Sharon Bakar's Bookaholic, Eric Forbes' Good Books Guide, Isman Suryaman's The Fool Has Landed, Nury Vittachi's The Curious Diary of Mr Jam.

One can't have too much of a good thing. If you spot more great stuff, drop me a line at readalong@gmail.com

Yes, it is time for that blog aggregator you mentioned, Sharon & Nury.

SHAKEN N STIRRED

Something to Say with Nury Vittachi, Shashi Tharoor, Made Wijaya and Julia Suryakasuma.

Yes, yes, yes - I know all you want is my word on this and you shall get it, if you'll be patient a tad longer.

Yes, I have all the pictures thanks to Temple.

The South China Morning Post report (October 4th, 2007) claims "even the moderator was laughing loudly." Really? Trouble is the said sequence of events and the pictures to go with the report are a little messed up. The amorous act didn't happen till the end of the entire discussion. What happened initially was an attempt to urge Made to stop, followed by Nury's loud snoring, which had no impact as well and then Nury getting up to kiss and hug Julia. Made only stopped when he finished what he intended to read.

And then the discussion was right on track.

The said action - the picture of which you've already seen and which I shall post again lest you missed it occurred at the end when Nury said "Shall we finish what we started?"

Before one could figure out what was happening, books had been thrown off the table, pages were strewn, Julia was on the Left Bank coffee table.

At the closing party, it was a house divided. Some folks loved it, others questioned me "what was going on?"

Since most of the posts have been penned and the judgment passed, I'll bask in the luxury of the last word.

When you have four speakers on a panel and one of them happens to be Shashi Tharoor, you'd definitely end up looking wiser if you answered the question that was put to you. And when you call yourself a "fiery feminist" make sure you end up on top.

Now, for the pictures.....
Made was on his feet before I could even sit down post introductions

Attempting to interrupt sans luck:

Then there was snoring followed by some hugging and the discussion was back on track:



Festival Director Janet de Neefe delivers her speech with grace, poise and style:


Fiery feminist or not, you decide....

One for the record books....



Pictures on this post courtesy Temple Connolly

ONLY THE NAILS REMAIN

"My first pilgrimage was undertaken in the shadow of the war in Bosnia, my last in the sunlit promise of the new millennium, before the war on terror darkened every sky. But what I learned on Mount Athos holds through the ages - through feast and famine, war and disease, love and loss. And if my course of travel on the peninsula and the literature of faith resembled the meandering of a river that eventually empties into the sea, I understand it now in a new light. "That ladder that leads to the Kingdom is hidden within your soul," wrote St Issac of Syria. "Flee from sin, dive into yourself, an in your soul you will discover the stairs by which to ascend." This was the ladder I did not know I was seeking until I had already begun to climb it."
- Christopher Merrill in 'Things of the Hidden God - Journey to the Holy Mountain'

Lots has been written about his work and about this book in particular, but this bit from The Spectator sums it up perfectly "A gem that shows off Merrill-the-poet's gorgeous writing, and Merrill-the-reporter's sharp eye-and introduces a new Merrill, the pilgrim."

Merrill has had the most fascinating journey. A journey, I definitely would have known little about, had a panel discussion not fallen through and taken the shape of this one on one.

In 'Things of the Hidden God' Merrill re-traces some of his steps. A benign tumour, a hospital bed, the release from which left him feeling like he'd "been granted a new life. Poems flooded over me. I was surrendering to the dictates of the language instead of attempting to control the process of discovery integral to creation, even as I learned that obeying formal imperatives could lead me into the uncharted waters of memory and desire."

Words leap from the pages, you feel the sounds, you imagine the colours, you see him journeying through the heart of a war, something he hadn't quite imagined when in 1991 he'd taken up an invitation from a Slovenian friend to join him on a hike across his homeland.


"Ours was to be a literary excursion through the mountains of Yugoslavia's northernmost republic: we would drink wine, listen to folk songs and stories, revel in the wild. I wanted to explore a place where literature is more than a decorative art. Nor did I foresee Yugoslavia's violent breakup, though perhaps a closer reading of the poetry and fiction of the South Slavs would have prepared me - and the world - for the coming horrors..... What blood, what loss, what poetry speaks through this pain? Ezra Pound called literature "news that stays news." Notwithstanding the inconsistencies, bewilderment, and occasional wrong-headedness of the writers and artists I met in my travels I found their experience and witness of challenging circumstances not only compelling but also current in a manner distinct from the reportage of the front-line journalists whose courage inspired me."

With that Merrill the poet, the reporter and the superb writer brings alive the Scenes From The Balkan Wars in 'Only The Nails Remain.' Yes, only a poet-journalist could accomplish this. Just as a poet-journalist is best placed to take on the serious business of literary awards and to direct the University of Iowa's celebrated International Writing Program.

In fact, Merrill was so in demand in Ubud that it was impossible to sit him down for a chat before the session. We barely managed a quick 10 minute session to discuss the flow and go through some of the order of the questions. There were writers, aspiring writers, poets - almost everyone wanting a little more than a minute of his time. And he was enormously patient. In the conversation, he spoke about the Creative Writing Programme, which takes in published authors and there have been several biggies there - Orhan Pamuk, Kazuo Ishiguro....and several creative episodes too - an assistant being bitten in the cheek by an author who needed to be brought under control. We'd see more of some writers creative abilities the very next day - who was to know.

In a little over an hour we'd traversed through the world of poetry, war, life, literature, writing and so much more. His has been a journey that most of us can only imagine, a journey that certainly isn't for the faint-hearted. One can only thank him enough for being our guide that hot afternoon at Indus.





Pictures on this post courtesy Temple Connolly.

MONSOONS, POTHOLES N MANUKA

Over the hill, over the mountain, over the tree. Can't remember what exactly it was. There were lovers and all of the above and tea. With Manuka for company, a yarn couldn't have been far behind. She had me in splits as she helped me make some careful tea choices at Lunuganga. "Lover's Leap," she urged me to pick. One minute I was attempting to settle down tea bag, tea cup in hand. Never mind about the tea, the taste of which fails me.

Then we ended up on the same little van headed back to Galle and it turned out to be the busiest 60 minutes of my life. We flitted between tales of Sri Lanka, epic Vittachi Scrabble battles, Bollywood, her childhood, then mine, her family, then mine. By the end of it all, we knew this chat would continue across continents and it did.

Manuka Wijesinghe got invited to the Ubud Writers Festival and she did the wise thing by getting her flight booked on time. We met for coffee, for a drink, for dinner. We wished we could make our rupiahs last. We did the walks in search of restaurants that would accept credit cards. I heard about her meditation, her dancing practise, her book, her life and it was fun all the way.

Readers who heard her, lapped it all up. Sri Lanka came alive, colourful tales of politics and politicians seemed to be running in the family, it was a journey for the brave-hearted, I certainly happened to be one of them.....

Picture courtesy Shelley Kenigsberg

BOOKING KIRAN DESAI

Time flies as it's meant to.

Gosh, it's been three years on the lit fest circuit, three years of work that has gone into the making of Off The Shelf. Three years of dealing with authors of varied sensibilities, propensities and manner.

Some are propah, others like to shock - for reasons literary and otherwise. Some are engaging minds, others focused on selling their book and getting over and done with you. Some give you thoughts to last you a lifetime, others are gone as swiftly as the 10 minutes of air time. Yet each of them leaves you with a lesson. Depending on their disposition it can range from one in haughtiness to one in modesty.

Yes, it's been a journey that will never have another parallel. Over the weeks, months and years, some authors have felt like family, others have become family and
some have made a special place in my heart.

Kiran Desai is one of them. I met her for the first time at the Galle Literary Festival in January this year and it was an immediate connect. In an earlier post, I'd mentioned meeting her was "almost like bumping into an old friend." And it felt the same way in Ubud.

Untouched, unspoilt by her success, she seemed slimmer, at times a little exhausted, yet she never skipped a beat when it came to meeting people who wanted to know about her or about her work. Between sessions, you'd see her gamely posing for photographs at Indus, granting interviews to pretty much whoever came along - and lots of people did.

We managed to sneak in a dinner at the Cafe de Artistes after the Amandari Cocktail evening and indulge in some surreal conversation at Blanco and it sure felt like time stood still for just that little bit.

Kiran will be appearing at the Galle Literary Festival next year together with her mother Anita Desai. I don't know about you, I just can't wait....


Kiran has spoken of the "debt of gratitude" she owes to her mother. Both mother and daughter have enormous respect for each other's work and it shows. I've unfortunately missed out on the whole mother-daughter relationship and when I took a closer look at this shot, I couldn't help but wonder what things would be like, when Aneesha grows up. Who knows.....


Apologies for the darkened shots. This was the best I could get on my camera phone in the Amandari lighting. Lots was said in this session with Shashi Tharoor. More on it later. If you have better pix, replacing these is no issue.

UNKNOWN ROADS

With Richard Flanagan and Adib Khan.

If there was one session that I was worried about, it was this one. It wasn't about the great authors on the panel, it wasn't the issue spelt out for discussion, rather it was the setting for the discussion. My worry centred around discussing Adib Khan's 'Spiral Road' and Richard Flanagan's 'The Unknown Terrorist' in a lunch setting. Would this work while the audience was sipping wine, tucking into their irresistible Alila lunch (the food was fab, the dessert sinful), would they listen, register, question?

As things would unfold, this should have been the least of my worries. Yes, yes, I know you want more of the Juicy Julia and Naughty Nury session, but that'll have to wait.

A lot was discussed at this year's festival and as I take baby steps to recount all that happened, I have to start at the beginning with Adib and Richard, who made this a session to remember. Award-winning authors both, they've turned their attention to the issues of our times with their latest work. Adib who started writing in his 40s made his debut with 'Seasonal Adjustments' in 1994, which went on to win the Commonwealth Writers First Book Award. This was followed by 'Solitude of Illusions' in 1996, 'The Storyteller' in 2000 and then 'Homecoming'. His latest book 'Spiral Road' deals with Muslim identity in relation to terrorism and is set in Bangladesh.

Tasmanian author Flanagan is a Rhodes scholar, who survived near-death experiences as a kayaker. One look at his palm and you know such experiences come naturally to him. His books throw critics into a tizzy, its amazing to see how much they can read and often (mis)read his work. But Flanagan has survived more than just the critics, to give us 'The Sound of One Hand Clapping,' 'Gould's Book of Fish' which won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers Prize and most recently 'The Unknown Terrorist' - the nightmarish tale of a woman mistaken for a terrorist after a one-night stand with a man of 'Middle-Eastern' appearance.

Richard set out "to write a book that was a mirror to these times and a book that I hoped might be a warning to people about what I feel are a series of frightening tendencies in our society."

If you imagine this would set the tone for a heavy take on the war on terror, think again. His unmatched academic credentials haven't made him a dry narrator. Each episode, each story that went into the making of his book packed punch, humour and insights. When questioned about identity, he narrated the journey through parts of the US, where he was introduced as a "Tanzanian author," where he got away with very little talking on some shows as the eager questioner told the whole story. He backed journalists and journalism for putting stories in perspective - the ones who believe in it still do that, he reminded us. His book is a sober testament of our times, the story of 'The Doll' resonates despite what David Marr had to say about it in his rather unflattering review in The Sydney Morning Herald:
"In Gould's Book of Fish, he created a magical little universe somewhere at the far end of Macquarie Harbour two centuries ago. It was brilliantly inventive. The book has fans all round the world. I didn't believe a word of it. Nor can I believe the Doll."

Pity about that because there is more than just flashes of Flanagan brilliance in 'The Unknown Terrorist.'

How much control then does an author have over his work? It's a question I'd put to Adib before we started another panel discussion that took off with a reading from 'The Spiral Road.' In this conversation though, Adib re-traced his steps to Bangladesh, a place he'd left in 1973, when he moved to Australia. And there are traces of his identity, his fractured sense of self in the protagonist Masud Alam, the 53-year old librarian, who has to go back to Bangladesh to reconnect with his family. His father is dying, the family's fortune is gone and the world Masud left behind when he moved to Australia doesn't exist anymore. Khan uses many of his own experiences to draw attention to several issues - betrayal, alienation, identity or the lack of it.

The Age dubs it a novel that "bears re-reading on many counts."

As I re-visit one of the many passages I'd marked for the discussion and for this post, I couldn't agree more:

'That made them uncomfortable,' the woman chuckled. 'Are you a migrant?'
'Yes,' I replied.
'So am I,' she said. 'If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to you about the questions you asked.'
I liked her forthrightness.
Afterwards we headed off for coffee.
'I'm Amelia.' She held out her hand.
'Masud.'
'Are you....' she hesitated. 'Indian?'
'Bangladeshi.'
'A Hindu? Sorry! I don't mean to pry.'
.......
Nowadays Amelia and I occasionally go out for dinner and then to a concert or a play. We no longer talk about our shared migrant experiences.

Wish we'd had time to talk more....

While I wait for another time, I leave you with some pictures through Shelley Kenigsberg's lens:





P.S. The thing about Richard's palm. In a nutshell, your palm is supposed to have three main lines, each of which indicates a separate area of your life. Your love line is the one on top, your head line is in the middle, and the bottom line is your life line. Richard Flanagan's palm is missing one key line, making it most amazing palm I've seen in my life time. (Perhaps, that explains the superior intellect as well!) Thanks Dad for everything and the palmistry training, in particular.

Pictures on this post courtesy Shelley Kenigsberg

BACK N BATTLING

Sleep. Yes, I'm prone to a little craziness. Those of you who've known me long enough already know this. Which is why I find myself dreaming a little dream, thinking green, getting off a jet plane and heading straight to work. Tonight I will crash, maybe not burn. Ubud is still on my mind. Those conversations, those authors, those readers, that 11 year old. There are many, many, many stories playing in my head, as they always do. I don't blog when I'm on the road. I want to absorb it all. I want to talk to people. I want to see things around me, not indulge in the search for wireless connectivity. That's one of the many reasons why when I come back I'm loaded with posts - which for some readers is a good thing. It's a house divided, others would have liked to read it as it happened. I'll try my best, over the next couple of days to recount all that happened in the sessions I attended at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival 2007. There was a lot. Most of my time was spent working on sessions I was moderating this year - a great mix, the writing workshop and then the conversations that started on a panel and continued till much later.

Christopher Merrill has said this before, in a different context, yet as I start the journey of re-tracing my steps at the fourth year of the festival, it's worth sharing this:
"Did I read every page of every book? Of course not. That would be impossible. But I read enough of each book to know whether it merited further consideration. And what I will remember of the judging process is the glee I felt each day at the sight of dozens of books piled on my doorstep, each an invitation to embark on a new journey. "I have traveled much, in Concord," Thoreau wrote. In these past months of reading, I traveled much, in America-an endlessly intriguing place."

We'd discussed this, among many other issues in the one-on-one with Merrill and one of the things we agreed on was that literary festivals are the best discovery zones. Ubud, the cultural centre of Bali makes that cross-cultural connect in a way no other place can. It's seeped in culture, the people are unbelievably nice, the settings are more than perfect, the mix of authors to die for. As a moderator, I come back each year, humbled by the knowledge that there is so much to be learnt, that people in so many parts of the world continue to battle with liberties that we take for granted. It may be an increasingly globalised world but our approaches will always differ.

Which is why, at the risk of repeating myself I credit the festival organisers again for coming up with such a superb mix of authors, of perspectives, of getting our worlds to meet, of ensuring that East meets West isn't a mere style statement. Sitting with authors like Somaya Ramadan, Richard Flanagan, Lee Hye-Kung, Debra Yatim, Adib Khan, Rosario Cruz Lucero, I realise there are no easy answers to even the most direct of questions.

What's even tougher is finding the right connect for authors of their stature. There are big names, there are established names, there are emerging names. Making panels that straddle the worlds of Shashi Tharoor, Kiran Desai, Peter Goldsworthy with other literary names is no easy feat. Yet, Festival Director Janet de Neefe together with Finley Smith and Karen McClellan has pulled it together to near perfection. They have had the support of the huge pool of volunteers, advisors and feedback has always mattered. I know that, I get to hear the good, bad and ugly sides of my modest abilities as a moderator.

Yet, it is the stimulating discussions, the level of debate and sometimes the strange and the sublime that leaves me pining for more. Then there is Ubud - a place of unmatched beauty. Honeymoon Guesthouse, which increasingly feels like a third home. I can't imagine being anywhere else but there. This time round, my camera failed me. Had been downloading pictures and forgot the memory stick back. Technology being technology, I rather painfully realised that the model I use for my camera is not being used anymore. Thank heavens for the N73 and thanks also to Bala's cousin, Anisha, whose superb photography skills show why you should be there too, if not this year, then the next. If you have more pictures to share, I'll be happy to do the posts. I'm only warming up, lots more in the days ahead.

For the moment though, let these be your inspiration.....

UBUD WRITERS FEST

I have to, I have to start packing my bags, my books, my camera, my lenses, my rolls, my flash, my memory sticks. Yes, I know there is lots to be done. I must stop blogging. It should be the last thing on my mind. Yet, its your indecision that drives me. If you're still tinkering with the thought of that flight, that weekend that is again to full, let me leave you with some pictures. They are always supposed to be doing the talking. With that, I'm off, blogging shall be intermittent, if at all. Updates may take time, but they'll happen. You know me, have I ever broken a promise?

Get ready for Sekala Niskala - the Seen and the Unseen - the Festival's theme this year.

UBUD ON MY MIND

You might have missed this and this, unless its another compelling reason, I wouldn't recommend missing this, rather another year of the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival.

If you've been a regular, you already know what to expect. If you're still toying with the idea of getting there, these are the writers you could meet or the events you could attend. If your kids are on your mind (mine are), there's enough to keep them busy every day of the fest.

Writers in waiting look out for the launch of The New Writing Partnership (Asia Pacific) - a huge project that has the literary and creative might of people you definitely want to know. There's Christopher Merrill, Director of the famous writing programme at the University of Iowa, US, Jon Cook of East Anglia U in the UK, Robert Dixon, Chair of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, Nury Vittachi, writer, humorist, columnist and Editor of Asia Literary Review. Jane Camens, a former journalist, who co-founded Hong Kong’s international literary festival with writer Shirley Geok-Lin and Nury has worked very hard at this and I'm sure will be delighted to see you at the official launch of the Partnership on Thursday, 27th September at Indus Restaurant.

The spectacular Indus, is the setting of several festival sessions. It's stunning backdrop, magnificent arches and the seats are inspiration enough. The Balinese paella is to die for as is the absolutely sinful brownie with ice-cream.

It's also the place where you are most likely to sit Festival Director Janet de Neefe, Finley and Karen for a chat or ask your favourite writers out for a cup of coffee or something stronger if you wish.

If you still haven't made up your mind, let me tell you tickets out of Singapore are a bit hard to get. After weeks of waiting, I opted for JetStar and if you think any longer, you might not even be that lucky. Time to stop thinking and get going. Sekala-Niskala it shall be - the seen and the unseen.

AUTHOR SPEAK: TAN TWAN ENG

The day the list was out, some literary trackers groaned "haven't heard of half of these writers on the Booker Long list." More voices screamed "literary heavy weights felled." Sure, the list was shorter, yes some names were ignored, yet some great ones were recognised. I was delighted to see Mohsin Hamid and Tan Twan Eng on that list. Just when you think the congratulatory messages should be pouring in, the insider-outsider debate is back.

Raman of Silverfish Books wrote about it, Sharon posted a worthy rejoinder and the comments are an indication that the debate is here to stay.

At the risk of detracting from this post, I'll add that this isn't something that's unique to Malaysian writing, take a look at Indian writing and you can count the outsiders who have made it big globally. Authors who have moved outside and decided to write about their home reality will always tell you about the pining for home, the sound of rain, the heat, the dust, the sights, smells, sounds - all of which turn into a heightened sense of reality when you are away from home.

As Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen rightly put it, there's nothing wrong in multiple identities.

Given that one can feel for more than one thing at the same time, my take is that as long as it spurs great writing, it doesn't matter if you are an outsider writing from the inside or an insider writing from the outside.

With that, let me get back to what I set to do in my post of the day. It was to write about Tan Twan Eng, some of his thoughts that have spurred his writing, what it took to get published and what made him give up his law career. Excerpts from a conversation with the reluctant lawyer.


Was writing always on his radar?
I found the light and decided to devote myself full-time to writing. Writing was always on my radar, I’ve written a lot of stuff in my youth but nothing serious. Being a lawyer gave me the avenue to write as well.

What got him started on ‘The Gift of Rain’:
I was living in South Africa and I had time to write. I’d always wanted to write the history of Penang because
a)I was born there
b)and I love the place, the history, the city streets, the atmosphere of the older streets and I’ve always wanted to capture that. So much of it is disappearing because the old buildings are being torn down, new apartment blocks are being built, I wanted to capture that old world charm. In a way, its a testament, a memorial to something that is fast disappearing.

Being in South Africa, not Penang, while penning the book:
I think (being in Penang) wouldn’t have helped. I felt the emotions were stronger while I was away. The sort of longing for something which is familiar when you are sitting out there. Outside its almost a desert landscape and there you are longing for a tropical rainstorm. In Penang, it’s almost like part of your being. You are in the landscape, life has a pattern, going to the beach, walking, eating. It’s the absence that drove the book – absence in a good way.

What it’s taken to stay true to fact?
I’ve tried to be as accurate as I can. It helped that I’ve always been interested in the subject. The facts have always been there in my head, since the time I was a little boy. The process of getting it all right required verifying, re-confirming, re-checking.

Did his background as a lawyer help in this?
Yes, of course. My British agent also warned me that British readers, particularly those who are interested in history are very unforgiving when it comes to inaccuracies. The phrase that was used was “they would fall on me like a ton of bricks if there were any inaccuracies.”

Tweaking it for a broader audience:
I did have to explain some issues, the background. Some people would say it’s over-exoticising our Asian culture but I think that is necessary because if I were to just have a single line then it wouldn’t make sense to a lot of people. Though local readers would say he is going on and on, so I had to sort of play a balancing role all the way through. I reject the point that the adjustment is only for Westerners, those who are not familiar could be from other Asian countries as well – from Japan, from Indonesia. But, I’ll say that catering to everyone is a difficult balancing act.


Flashback, dreams and characters:
Yes, there is a part in the book that came to me in a dream, maybe it was my homesickness. But the characters didn’t come to me in a dream, they were created with much thought, to include as many viewpoints as possible. I’ve tried not to be insulting or dismissive in the portrayal of the different characters and the views they represent. If anything, I’ve tried to be fair and balanced in my writing.

Authors he looks upto:
I read widely, so it’s a long list, though the one’s who have influenced me the most are Kazuo Ishiguro and Salman Rushdie.

Process of writing the book:
It took me about 8 months to write the book, another 4 months for re-writing. The book's become longer through the re-writing process. People don’t know how much re-writing authors have to go through to get the book out. Agents will look at, editors will look at it, they'll make suggestions or ask for changed. Then we discuss it, then there is the whole process of re-writing and sometimes all of this may just get repeated.

Is a movie in the works?
My agents have pitched it, I think it’s a very cinematic book. I do understand if a movie is to be made, it would have would have to change a lot, the book is very introspective.

Getting to a publisher:
I sent it out to 5 agents and I got an agent fairly easily. The difficult part was getting a publisher. They’d all say while it’s a good read, they didn’t know how to market it.

Certainly hope someone, somewhere happens to be feasting on their words. Also read one of Twan's first interviews with Dovegreyreader and don't leave without seeing all the support Sharon's extended to a truly deserving author. Love the Starbucks and the exclamation marks!!!!

If you want to meet the author, it isn't too late to get yourself booked for the Ubud Writers Festival, that's happening in September.

OFF AGAIN

It's cold, they tell me. I'm better prepared this time. Coats, woollies, even gloves. Haven't quite forgotten what it meant to brave the chilly winds to get my jaw moving the last time. Looking at the size of my bag, I know it'll be warmer this time.

Looking forward to conversations in the marquees, panels, workshops, sessions. Meeting old friends and making new ones. It's back to the discovery zone once again.

If you've missed out on this year's Byron Bay Writers Festival, fret not. Mark your calendars for September. The Ubud Readers and Writers Festival returns with all the promises of 'The Seen & The Unseen'.

ON MY SHELF.....

There's lots more Sri Lanka to go but my books are piling up. I know the publicists want me to wait for this one. It will be out in March. So look out for Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist. I finished reading a proof in two straight nights - yes, the eyes hurt forever and copious coffee drinking followed at work, but it was worth every eye-burning moment. It's post 9/11 America and no you haven't heard the story before. I haven't read his first book - the critcally acclaimed Moth Smoke, though I do know it won the awards and set the bar for the second book. Well, it definitely doesn't disappoint. And buzz, buzz, he will be at this year's Ubud Writers Festival together with lots of other exciting authors. Pull that calendar and start marking the dates.

WHO TAUGHT?

I joined the old Lady of Boribundar in the good old days. When copy had to be edited on actual scripts which took a painstakingly long time to emerge out of the printer. The salmon sheets had to be attached to the copy with an indication of the font size, the upper lower cases marked for the heading and the sub-heading. Once you did all of that it would be sent to the Chief Sub-Editor, who if you were a newbie, would routinely spike your copy.

If you were lucky, it would make it to the copy checker, who would in a sheer demonstration of prowess make a couple more changes then put it back in a red tray to send it back for the Chief Sub to look at. All of that would then make it to the type-setter, bromides would emerge from a freezing room. They would be put back on a tray, sent back to the desk. The Chief Sub would look at his clock. If he was the confident sort, he'd take the lead and get cracking on his pages. The not so self-assured ones would wait for the Bombay Times headlines to arrive before deciding on their pages. Then with lotsa bromides in hand, we would all march to the paste-up room to start making the pages. Once that process was completed, it would go the camera room for the negative of the real page which would then make it to the press located strategically on the other side of time.

Those were the days. Laborious but lots of fun. We discovered so many things, often by looking at the negatives. On night, for instance, just as we were walking out I glanced at the negative and felt the R.K. Laxman was ulta-pulta. Imagine that! I told the Chief Sub about it who shrugged it off as the 'paper is upside down no'. So we walked to our waiting van and had driven past C.G. Road, when the Chief Sub started having his doubts. Given that we didn't have the luxury of cell phones, we had to turn the van back to get to the newsroom. The page was on its way to press and we intercepted it just in time to realise the said cartoon was indeed upside down.

A lot has changed since then. Blogs, for instance, give you total control of your content (in a sense) and the medium itself. You can cut, copy, paste without having to go through the whole selection and rejection change. Getting content out there is almost as easy or as difficult as the speed at which you - the writer can generate it. We spoke about this, after the blog panel got on, then off, then on again at the Ubud Writers Festival. A comment on media, straddling between three - print, TV and blogs was something that stirred one of the participants there who first mentioned the word 'workshop.'

Having never addressed anyone beyond my children and facing rejection as a teacher in the extreme degree when it came to teaching them, I wasn't sure if I was entirely upto. But you never know till you try. So when Libby asked if I'd like to do a workshop at the Galle Literary Festival, I decided it was time to get my act together and go through the world of print, TV and blogs - worlds I live in.


The venue provided by Amangalla was perfect for straddling between worlds as it were. And my master-class even more so. There were two students on holiday from Melbourne and their enthusiasm and ability to pick the right angles as well as pitches for stories was amazing. The Brandix team taught me so many ways of pitching more than just their own products. Rohanti Alahakoon, an award-winning poet entrusted me with some of her work. Sanjiva Gauthamadasa from 'The Lighthouse' taught me more than a thing or two about marketing 'single estate tea.'


Gehan de Sliva (a separate post on him shall follow) turned out to be an eco-warrior in corporate clothing. Janet de Neefe, as always touched me by her sheer presence. And at the end of the three hours, I'd learnt as much from the charged participants as I hope they did for me.

So when the question was asked : "Would you do again?"
I responded, "If you give me the platform, absolutely."