What Ruchir Joshiauthor of The Last Jet-Engine Laugh, which hispublisher in the UK proclaims the literary debut of the yearhates arenovels with little footnotes to explain Indianisms. They (authors from the West)make no concessions for me and expect me to make sense of their slang, invectives, argot.I dont see why I should make any concessions. I think footnotes are offensive.
Im not writing for readers in the West, but for people like me, whereverthey areurban, educated, coming from a more traditional system but exposed to thenew polyglot reality.
The advance (he wont spell out how much) was nice, yes, but Id havewritten the same book, with or without the advance. Ten years from now, nobody is going toremember how big the advance was, just whether the book has survived or not. The advanceis like a reward for an outline you have and someone says, We like the picture youwant to painthere is the money for the canvas, paints and your sustenance, now goahead and paint the big picture. I got an advance for Eleven Miles too, though notthis much. You owe it to yourself then to do the best damn job.
Of course, I didnt have a writers block. I wouldnt dignify itby that name. Its just that I write very slowly. But I really enjoy writing, and theresponse I get from my friends.
Autobiographical? My parents were Gujaratis who lived in Calcutta and were in thefreedom struggle; Paresh is the same age as me, but thats all. Im moreinterested in the times I live in but not the events of my life. Its the same framebut different characters. Para, the fighter pilot, just came in through the window one dayand worked herself into the novel.
Nor is he afraid of his take-off on one of Bengals holy cows: I take off oneverything, including Subhash Chandra Bose. Holy cows are not particular to Bengalis,every state has its own share, including Gujaratis. Bengalis, moreover, have a great senseof humour and irreverence. Look at their Bauls, they take off on just about everything andeveryone.
Straight narrative is fine, but its not the song I want to sing. The form Ichose, a kind of fractured narrative, is what works best for this novel.
Why such a curious title? Because it invites curiosity. Besides, here are two menwho take a machine like a jet engine and create something as human out of it aslaughter.