Mulk Raj Anand and R.K. Narayan were made fellows long before me.
Do you read any vernacular work?
Not since Nirmal Varma in school. The state of translation leaves much to be desired.
Any IWEs you’ve liked recently?
Suketu Mehta was quite brilliant and, of course, there’s my daughter’s extraordinary Inheritance of Loss to rejoice over.
What has your daughter inherited from you?
We’re very close in our thoughts, preoccupations, tastes and experiences. We both draw from that shared well.
In Custody was your first novel to make it to the screen. How was the experience?
It proved that cinema was not the natural field for me: writing the screenplay was like obliterating the text rather than creating it.
You write a lot about the old, isolated and vulnerable.
I expect I have an affinity for the isolated and reclusive since I have those tendencies myself.
What do you think of literary prizes?
They give the winners freedom from financial uncertainty and draw attention to their work. I wish the attention wasn’t all commercial, though.
Why do most of India’s finest writers live and teach abroad?
Teaching at a university gives financial security and is a natural outcome of one’s writing and experiences.
What about contemporary India inspires you?
If I were younger and more in touch with present-day India, I know I would find a treasure trove of themes.
Occupational hazards in a writer’s life?
The constant struggle for a balance between the isolation required for writing and the need for a life in the world outside that feeds it.
