'No Gate Can Withstand The Crush Of The Hungry'

Gunter Grass, the 1999 Nobel laureate for literature, in conversation with Subhoranjan Dasgupta

Gunter Grass'

Fifteen years have passed since you left India. You left with a certain idea and image of the country. To what extent has that idea changed in between?

Would you compare your relationship with India to that of a 'broken love'?

Mr Grass, you are a stern critic of globalisation, why? Further, what sort of a role do you envisage for India and the developing world in a globalised scenario?

What does this globalisation involve?

What shocks you the most about India?

What fascinates you most about India?

You have professed a deep admiration for Gandhi, the man and his politics. What do you find so admirable in him?

You had begun writing a play on Subhash Chandra Bose. In fact, you wanted to stage it in Calcutta. Have you finished writing it?

You still have many friends and admirers here. Do you have anything to say to them?