Milan, Italy. January 1998. Abraham B Yehoshua was surprised to learn that the person staying next door was Salman Rushdie, who carries a price on his head, courtesy orthodox Iranian Muslims. “He didn’t look like a Booker of the Bookers award-winning litterateur, but resembled a Mafiosi flanked by gun-wielding commandoes, who were, however, protecting him from Khomeini’s fatwa. Notwithstanding the security, I could talk to him for quite a while. And despite his appearance I was pleased to learn that he had mellowed down a lot — Rushdie is not that arrogant man we have so far seen on the screen and in the books and articles he had penned,” observed Yehoshua.
Yehoshua was on a short trip to India. “According to you, who is the best Indo-Anglican writer?” he asked me as we travelled together through the roads of Mumbai. “Rushdie, who else,” I told him.
“But, what about (Vikram) Seth, do you consider him a good writer?” Not exactly, I replied. “Is it so?” he cried out. In fact, I told him, the world bears the misconception that India’s best writers are those who write in English.There are more talented writers than Rushdie or R K Narayan in Indian regional languages, who unfortunately do not get noticed as there are, save for one A K Ramanujan, no efficient translators. Yehoshua understood this. For, he is fortunate to have been widely translated into English, French, Italian, Japanese and Arabic by skilled translators. And he is the most celebrated literary figure in Israel after Shmuel Yosef Agnon who shared the 1966 Nobel Prize for literature with the German-born Nelly Sachs. Yehoshua’s Indian connection, or perhaps his decision to visit India recently, is as mysterious as he thinks India is. He has written 12 books and his eleventh book, Open Heart, was set in India. Several authors, including E M Forster, John Masters, M M Kye and Dominique Lapierre, have used the subcontinent for their plot, please realise that Yehoshua had not visited India before he wrote the book.
Still1,00,000 copies of Open Heart were sold in Israel alone. So how did he achieve it? “I read a lot about your beautiful country... and of course I used my fertile imagination. Also, when I completed the first chapter, I showed it to my son, an army man who once spent two months in India. After reading the manuscript my son said, ‘Dad, there is no need to waste money on an air ticket to India.’ And I completed the book.”
Fascinating India
The novel vividly portrays India’s beauty and filth, its charm and inefficiency. There are minute geographical details of Varanasi and the pathetic condition of hospitals in India. Since most sequences are set in Varanasi, Yehoshua visited the temple city. But he was in for a shock. “I discovered that some of the descriptions (in Open Heart) did not match with the life I witnessed in Varanasi. Lakhs of copies of the novel have already been sold and now I can’t change anything now,” he said. Then he added with a grin: “Probably I can change Varanasi according to my novel.”
Open Heart sold like hotcakes in the US. Yehoshua said that is where his biggest market is. “That is because my novels are a combination of American — or you can call it capitalistic — Western realism and eastern mysticism. Of course, lakhs of expatriate Jews in America are my greatest readers,” he said.
Hebrew played a prominent role in nation-making. “And, you know what, several Arabs, too, have started using the language with the same flair as us.” Yehoshua, who has been teaching English literature at Haifa University for the last 34 years, said his Arab students know Hebrew better than Jewish students do. Israel has produced many a good writer. 
“There are many impressive writers in our country. Most importantly, feminist writing has gathered pace for the simple reason that now the female population in our country is 65 per cent.
The probable Nobel laureate is of the opinion that change is inevitable in any nation. “But one shouldn’t forget the past. I admit that Israel imitates the West and its forms of governance. But one thing I like about India is that despite all the political turmoil, your country has been able to sustain a democratic form of government. This is absolutely praiseworthy. Israel has to follow India’s footsteps as that’s the only way we can ensure peace in our region, especially at a time when religious minorities like Oriental Jews and Israeli Arabs, who were silent all these years, have raised their voice now.”
Throughout our journey Yehoshua was admiring the Mumbai coastline. “See, who will say that India is a third world country? It’s better than our Tel Aviv. Am I right?” I told him his observation was not fully correct and asked him to visit certain Mumbai boroughs which are filthier than any African city. He retorted “I admit every city has two faces: one of prosperity and one of poverty.  But, my Indian friend, India is progressing, in case you haven’t noticed that.” Swiftly he changed the subject to racial ethnicity, which he thinks is a global problem. “A Sudanese student was telling me that Africa’s ethnic problems are much worse than those of Israel. “You are right,” I told him. “Look at Algeria. The country stands as a cruel testimony of racial and religious violence. In Algeria, Muslim fanatics are killing their own brothers and sisters. It’s a totally maddening world, I should tell you,” Yehoshua sighed.
In this turbulent age the role of literature is immense, I told him. So he continued, “it can teach masses to live in peace… Literature is the essence of human culture and development, and if effectively used, it can change the nature of the world for good.” When will he visit India next? “An Italian filmmaker has bought the rights of Open Heart. It will be picturised in India, and I will be invited to witness the shooting. See you then,” were his parting words.
(The author is publisher, editor of literary magazine, ‘Urban Voice’, Mumbai.)