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Q &A with Vikas Swarup
NDTV Correspondent
Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup on whose novel Slumdog Millionare is based arrived in Delhi on the weekend.
Vikas Swarup wrote his first thriller, Q & A while posted as a political counsellor at the Indian embassy in London. The film rights to the book were sold even before it came out.
Five years later the book's triumph as Slumdog Millionare has taken him by surprise, even though the adaptation is a new avatar of the novel.
Swarup is now serving India's deputy high commissioner in South Africa but his writing career prospers, as he completes his third novel set in a foreign country.
Swarup will join the movie's cast in Mumbai for its premiere this week and is slated as a star guest at the Jaipur literary fesival in New Delhi.
J.K Rowling and the Bard
Kuhu Tanvir
The world has not had enough of J.K Rowling and she knows it. The writer of one of the most beloved children’s books series – Harry Potter – had stated clearly that she will not kowtow to international pressure and write another book about Harry, his friends and Hogwarts ever again. With the recently released Tales of Beedle The Bard, Rowling sticks, though barely by the skin of her teeth, to her determined statement.
A collection of five stories, The Tales of Beedle The Bard were originally meant to be handwritten stories as a thank you to those who supported Rowling and her prized possession Harry Potter through a decade of writing, rewriting, leaking, appropriating and whatnot. Fans across the world got a whiff of this partiality – after all who has supported Harry more than his readers – and demanded that printed copies be available for purchase. And now, here they are.
The five stories are: ‘The Wizard And The Hopping Pot’, ‘The Fountain Of Fair Fortune’, ‘The Warlock’s Hairy Heart’, ‘Babbitty Rabbitty And Her Cackling Stump’ and finally, ‘The Tale Of The Three Brothers’. Each story is followed by a note written by Albus Dumbledore, the most loved school headmaster children’s literature ever saw. As the title might remind Harry Potter enthusiasts and as Rowling points out in her introduction, this was the book of tales Dumbledore gave to Hermione Granger in the last Harry Potter book – Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows to educate her – a muggle born (of non-magical parentage) – to the folktales popular among wizarding families. Dumbledore’s notes which mention some names familiar to readers of Harry Potter (like Lucius Malfoy, father of Draco, Harry’s arch-enemy or Minerva McGonagall the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts) are the connectors Rowling provides her fans, at once fulfilling their desire to read something related to Harry or Hogwarts while keeping her promise to not enter into another Harry Potter book.
Rowling has provided an interesting blend of unusual story-lines and a folky flavour to these tales. Rowling makes it a point to retain the most essential feature of folk tales – a moral - which is overwhelming in some stories (‘The Wizard And The Hopping Pot’) but is presented in unique ways in others. True to the style she had adopted toward the end of her Harry Potter career, she makes at least one of these stories absolutely brutal. Before parents get a chance to read Dumbledore’s ‘warning’ in his notes that follow, enthusiastic readers would probably already have read the account of blood and gore that is ‘The Warlock And His Hairy Heart’.
Even within five stories there are some that’ll appeal to really young readers and some that Rowling’s not-so-young fans will find hidden meanings in. While kids are busy learning valuable lessons from Rowling, older readers can perhaps entertain themselves with some undertones that can be read in a few of the stories some of which are social while some may just be of a sexual nature. The socially aware subtext can actually even be used as a fun teaching tool to warn children against the biases that rule society.
Speaking of social awareness, it must be mentioned that Rowling has decided to donate a part of the proceeds of this book (and they are immense within days of the release) to the Children’s High Level Group that Rowling co-created to protect child rights. This feel-good factor is hardly the motivation half the world needs to go grab the new Rowling on stands now. So buy it if you want to help children, but mostly because it’s impossible to rest without reading the book that will be the talk of the town for many months to come.
First book, first Booker
Gauri Katyal
‘It is a surprise,’ says a jetlagged Arvind Adiga after winning the 2008 Man Booker Prize.
The youngest of the shortlisted writers, Arvind Adiga took home a 50,000-pound prize for his debut novel, The White Tiger.
“I had no idea it was coming. The thing is when you're a first time author and you're on the short list it’s just like winning. Having come to the short list itself is such an achievement,” the excited writer told NDTV.
Other noted Indian authors are equally excited about the win.
According to Anurag Mathur, writer of The Inscrutable Americans, “It’s terrific. Though I haven’t read the book, but it’s indeed motivating for other Indian authors. Since it’s his first book, I think a lot more people will start writing. It’s great.”
Arvind Adiga becomes the fifth Indian author to win the prized award. He is preceded by legends like Salman Rushdie, V S Naipaul and Arundhati Roy.
“The bookies have been proved wrong at the Booker. The favorites Larry Sebastian and Indian author Amitav Ghosh have been beaten. He was the youngest writer in the shortlist and one of the few to win the price with his debut novel. Apart from him, Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things was also a first time book that got the award,” said author William Dalrymple.
Sources from the publishing industry say it's quite unexpected - a first timer getting shortlisted and then outdoing a veteran like Amitav Ghosh. But it's definitely overwhleming for the country..Arvind being the fifth Indian to win the Booker.
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