The Indian diplomat, who received a six-digit sterling advance for his best-selling first novel, says he has no intention of quitting the foreign service because he hopes for a long and fulfilling career ahead of him as a civil servant.
The world-wide success of Vikas Swarup’s Q & A has prompted the inevitable question about whether the author might find it more satisfying to embrace a full-time writing career. But Allahabad-born Swarup, who is on a tour of the UK to promote his book, is adamant about staying on in the IFS, although he let it slip that he has actually signed a two-book deal and the world of fiction should expect another offering from him in the not-too-distant future.
Mr Swarup wrote his novel in the last six weeks of his London posting, where he served as a respected and popular first secretary at the Indian High Commission, but he says there is nothing of his UK experiences, or from his time as a ministry of external affairs professional, that appears in his work.
Indian sensibility
In an exclusive interview with Deccan Herald, he says: “There is nothing of the UK in the novel, it’s purely set in India. I am a diplomat, but I have written from the sensibility of an Indian living in India. There is nothing at all of my experiences as a diplomat that has come in except, perhaps, for one chapter where my protagonist gets employment with an Australian diplomat.”
The book’s plot centres around the fictitious life of a waiter from Mumbai slums, Ram Mohammad Thomas, who wins a billion rupees in a television quiz show based on the theme of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’, or, in India, Kaun banega crorepati.
“My English publishers — when they picked up the book, they didn’t pick it up on the strength of being an Indian book,” Mr Swarup said. “They thought it had a very universal theme, the theme is basically of the under dog winning.”
“My editor is on record as saying that though my story is set in India, it could have been set anywhere. We could have had a waiter from China winning ‘Who Wants to be a millionaire.’ Or a waiter from Mexico winning a similar show in Mexico.
“There are elements in the book that appeal all across the world, they appeal to all cultures and all communities because the themes are universal. “Underlying the book are basic themes of love and loss, friendship, betrayal and, as I said, the underdog winning. More than that, I think why this book has become such a hit throughout the world — it has been translated into 16 languages — is that it’s the first book to tap into the zeitgeist of the ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ phenomena.”
When he was posted to London, Mr Swarup admits he was an avid watcher of the English television show “Who wants to be a millionaire”, hosted by Chris Tarrant.
“I watched Chris Tarrant, but I never met him,” he explains.
“Of course had I been eligible, I would have participated in it also.”
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
