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The Shashi Tharoor Chat

Rushdie and Prem: No, there isn't much money in writing fiction, unless you're Vikram Seth (or now Arundhati Roy). But I've been fortunate in not having had to write for a living: I always wrote, from my student days, as a sort of sideline, and I had career and professional commitments (and thankfully, an income with them) so that my writing never needed to be tramelled by commercial considerations. There was a time when I might have said that I could have lived in India on what I made from the West, but what with the prices I've seen on my current visit I'll eat my words (and if I was trying to live on my writing, that's all I'd get to eat!)

Taroorji: Could we have another frank answer? HOW exactly do you write.. I mean, could you describe your writing process.. whether you prefer to write in the morning or evening, on computer or by hand, how long you take to finish one piece, for example a column.. stuff like that?

Shashi: Do u have an electronic mail address that we could communicate to u at? It will be greatly appreciated (by me at least) if u are willing.

Mr tharoor please answer one of my question on how do see sachin as a captain

Cheers: I have a whole chapter on NRIs which focuses largely on the expatriate Indian syndrome in the US and similar places, so I'll leave you to my forthcoming book, rather than respond in a few lines to something I've dealt with better in 30 pages! Ravi Iyer: Yes, I'm bullish on India, which is not to say I'm blinkered. There's a lot we have to overcome, from political paralysis to corruption, and taking in some low-level bureaucratic inertia on the way. But we have tremendous strengths: energy, dynamism (often impeded by the system but very much there), skills, a great will to work and to achieve, an astonishing capacity to save and invest, and perhaps, above all, the freedom to express our views, change our leaders, determine our own fates. Sure, we can blow it too, but right now I'd bet on things getting better, even while some things may undoubtedly get worse alongside.

Mr Tharoor, How do u see Sachin Tendulakar as a captain don't u think it is too early for him to handle such a big a responsibilty

Mr tharoor please answer one of my question on how do see sachin as a captain

About how you write...??

MR Tharoor, What prompted u to compare the characters of Mhabharat to that of Indian politicians

MR.Tharoor, What is ur opinion of the current indian team do u think it is capable of facing the west Indians after great players like Kapildev ,sunil gavaskar,&others

In your novel The great Indian Novel do you think you took the joke too far in the caricatures of some of our leaders, specifically Indira Gandhi, at the time of the Emergency, looked quite vengeful to me ...Your comments

What do you think of the US role in the removal of Boutros Boutros Ghali ? Should any one country be able to use their influence that way ?

Shashi : What do you think is your failure as a writer?

Shashi: I disagree partly - the only thing Indians lack is the will to achieve. The will to work is there and so is everything else u listed in ur response to Iyer. What Indians need is a Management 101.

Tharoor: What is your vision for India in the year 2000AD? Do expect the Indian cricketers to be the world's number ones?

ST>> Everyone's been on about The Great Indian Novel, I'm curious about the other one. Show Business. Is it Amitabh Bachchan you got lying in a coma on that there hospital bed?

Or maybe Management 301.

Ranj: Every time you say please answer one of my questions, I find I've already answered at least two! SO let me pass on Sachin -- it's too early to tell. It took Azhar about six years to become a good captain, and as soon as he had we fired him, so Sachin has a while to go, I think. Beetha: About HOW I write: I do it on the computer, because I have so little time to write that if I wrote by longhand, I'd never find the time later to transcribe it. I tend to write pretty fast (and no doubt unkind critics will say it shows). My habit is usually to start each writing session by looking over the previous day's work once, make changes if necessary (not very often), and then move on, not looking back, so my novels unfold incrementally, as it were. With my columns, I do my damnest to write them in one sitting -- sometimes an hour and a half for an 800 to 1000 word column, sometimes as much as twice that time. But because of my work I can't write to a fixed or predictable schedule. With all my books I have known bursts of frenzied writing on weekends when I've woken up and written pretty much straight through from 7 am to midnight, pausing only for meals and tea, and when days like that go especially well I can end with 25 double-spaced pages each day. But you can't do that every day, and one of the reasons I've been able to do it at all is because there stretches the prospect of at least five busy working days ahead in which the book might be completely neglected. So you see that my working methods are not to be recommended to any sane writers out there.

Tharoor: Don't you think some of the Indian English novels set in India are great hits in the west? Why is it so? Are westerners so interested in the Indian culture and tradition?

Two cheers!! Rediff. for this Chat. One cheer reserved by my skeptic personality.

Wow!!! I am im pressed! Did I tell you that you were a genius? Or was that somebody else?

Hi Shashi, sorry I am late. I was busy catching up with the political developments. It is wonderful to have you with us tonight.

Mr. Tharoor, Have you seen this analyis of your book? Here

Shashi (and all other Keraliites on this chat!): On the lighter side - A mallu friend of mine once told me that if u find a mallu and a snake together, kill a mallu first!! comments !!

Hi, Nikhil. I used to love YOUR writings when you used to write for Illustrated Weekly. I am sure Mr Taroor will agree with me... don't you Mr Taroor?

Have you seen the Granta tribute to India? I was very disappointed by its content, its spread. There are so many Indians like yourself doing great stuff, so it amazes me that Ian Jack had to fall back on the tried and tested.

RANJ: The Emergency has always been a endless source for political polemic in our country. Politicians are often compared by their critics or admirers to Yudhishtir, Drona (Mrs Gandhi called Morarji that for "lending a moral facade to an indefensible case" -- I think it was on the privy purses issue), etc. So I was actually acting in a well-established tradition. PREM: No, Amitabh Bachchan appears as a character in the book who nearly bangs his head on Ashok Banjara's doorway. Come on, man, you know the rules of fiction, surely, since they;re not that different from the Laws of Cricket.... RAVI: Thanks for repeating your query, but No, I don't think I took it too far, or I wouldn't have published it.

ST>> *grin* No comment. Another question - given that in the 40-odd years after the "war to end all wars" got over there have been another 100 or so wars little and small, how valid do you think the UN is as a peace-keeping body? Or is that a no ball? :}}}}}

Mr Tharoor, is it true that Krishna Menon scuttled our chances of having an Indian secretary general by insisting on John Lall on the UN instead of someone who was more popular (B K Nehru?).

What do u think of Jagmohan Dalmiya as chair of ICC?

Yes Shashi: The business case for the UN??

ravi>> it is president, actually. they abolished that "chairman" label...

Your characterisation of Krishna Menon as Krishna in your book was poorly constructed in my opinion .. Any specific reason why? was it deliberate ?

What do you think of Arundathi Roy? I have just read 20 pages of the God of Small Things and there is real promise there. Though I thought India Today went over the top.

Shashi: I guess no chance of getting the electronic address.

It's a bit wobbly, Ravi. Dalmiya's chair, i mean. The fourth leg is slightly shorter than the rest!

Talking of Indian writing, Ian Jack tells Outlook that there is no Indian language writing worth a look at it (or something to that effect). I find it amazing.

that he should say something like that. Ananthamurthy is still in top form, so is this guy calledf Ravi Shanbhag, not to speak to Paul Zachariah in Malayalam, and of course the MASTER, O V Vijayan. Do you agree?

BEETHA and NIKHIL: Yes, I think Nikhil did a great job at the Illustrated Weekly. Nikhil, thanks for checking in: it's been fun, but I think my hour is up and I'll check out after my next response. PREM: No, I believe the UN is still the one indispensable world organization we have. Sure there are wars going on, but the UN can only stop those wars where it has a mandate to do so, which means the parties are willing (or persuadable) to stop. Govts elsewhere are willing to send peace-keepers and the rich Govts are willing to pay for it. Within those limitations I think we have a pretty good track record. In places like Namibia, Mozambique anbd EL Salvador, we've achieved nothing less than the transformation of the politics and society of these countries, at comparatively little cost.

Hey, Nikhil, nikhil...!? Have you dissappered> Cheers and me wanted you to stay online so much...

Thank you for coming. We are honoured to have you on the Rediff Chat. I hope you enjoyed this session and we do look forward to having you another time, perhaps when your book is out in August.

ST>> Hey, thanks - now I got an answer to give people when they ask that kinda question. :}}} Thanks for taking the time to log in, hope to see you on again soon...

Dr Tharoor, any chance of taking over in circa 2015. You will be only 59 then!

Well, since this seems to be the 'thankyou' time, I will also pitch in. Taroorji, it has been simply, simply, extremely, extremely, remarkably, remarkably, wonderfully, wonderfully nice having all those frank answes! Er, by the does this mean you are leaving..!? Really? Oh, no!!!!

taking over as in taking the SG slot! No, I know you would like to pass that one. I sure wish you do. You were the brightest guy in the generation. Hell,you were the yardstick against we measured our achievements. AQnd hell, we never matched up.

RAVI: I'm a bit mystified by your query, because Krishna Menon appears as a character called Kanika in the novel, not very much disguised. Krishna in my novel is a walking metaphor for the spirit of an older traditional rural India -- nothing he does, by the way, bears the slightest resemblance to anything in Krishna Menon's c.v -- whereas Kanika is very clearly described. So I guess you need to do some re-reading before you call any of my allusions unconvincing! EVERYONE: Sorry to end on this peevish note. I've actually enjoyed interacting with all of you. Wish there was more time to answer some of your questions. Yes, I must agree with Sister Carrie that there's a lot of amazingly good writing going on in Indian languages -- I've only read them in translation, but I agree with those she's listed, plus Vaikom Mohammed Basheer in Kerala who recently passed away, and a host of excellent Bengali writers, many available in good traslations from Penguin. I have been urging my European publishers to publish more translations (into German, French etc) of Indian books in languages other than English, since once they're translated it won't matter what the original lingo was. I think this will be happening more and more. ... Good luck to all and best wishes -- Shashi