Hari Majestic is a responsible family man in Zac O Yeah’s Tropical Detective (Pan Macmillan). The third book in the series following Mr Majestic! and Hari A Hero for Hire , sees Hari involved in all manner of crimes and criminals from an ATM robbery to idol-smuggling and assorted goons including Deadly Appa and Ripper. With his friends Gaadi, Doc and Triplex offering not particularly useful advice and wife Diamond understandably worried and annoyed, Hari has to rely on his wits, luck and filter coffee to solve complicated crimes that take him on his first overseas trip to Gothenburg. In this interview, Zac attempts to crack the Hari code. Excerpts.
Why did you choose to send Hari abroad?
This is a very complicated question. The simple answer is that Hari has been working hard in the two previous books, dealing with so many bizarre foreigners coming to India. He never had a chance to holiday in a foreign country. So I felt he deserved a trip abroad. I was also curious about how he would react if he went to a foreign country – what he would see, rather than what I would see, and how he would experience it all. Most of the book is set in Bengaluru and he only goes abroad towards the end. The more complicated answer is that I wanted to look at what it means to be a foreigner in a foreign country, and the various repercussions of that.
How did Hermann Barsk come to make a guest appearance in the novel?
This is a very complicated question again. Essentially I was missing him. He was a great hero in Once Upon a Time in Scandinavistan; but I could not have written a sequel to that book. It is a ‘once upon a time’ kind of story, set in a strange future and all that. I wanted Barsk to get one more moment in the limelight. Incidentally, last week I met a fan of that novel and he was asking so many questions about it. So I think that book is still relevant for a whole lot of people and the way it changed their way of thinking. So in Tropical Detective , which is set in the present, we meet Barsk as a slightly younger person. He is still an old bugger, but not as old as he was in Scandinavistan . We meet him ten years before Scandinavistan .
The fun with names continues with Hari's twins being called Ondu and Eradu…
Such complicated questions you ask! I’m trying to learn more Kannada and I’m not very successful, since I can’t remember anything. But what little I learn I try to put to good use. I have, for example, learnt how to order one beer, or two beers – the latter is useful just before closing time. So I thought Hari’s daughters could be named one and two, or Ondu and Eradu. And the words sound beautiful. Lots of Kannada words have a very melodic feel.
Is this the concluding book in the series?
I have an idea for a fourth book, but right now I have to focus on finishing a non-fiction masterpiece, so Hari might need to take a break. If I get a lot of fan mail demanding that Hari Majestic return and save the world once again, then I guess I will give him one more book.
Is there a graphic novel of Hari Majestic coming out?
There might be. He was featured in an anthology called The Bangalore Graphic Novel which was published last July. So some work has already been done. Ideally, there should be tee-shirts and coffee mugs too with Hari on them.
Writer Zac O'Yeah walks through his favorite Majestic area in Bengaluru
How much has Hari changed?
He grows with every book, and develops remarkably. He was quite naïve in the first book in the series and now he is almost a philosopher. He realizes, I think, that life looks very different depending on which point of view one has, and so in the new book he has started reflecting on matters and everything is not purely utilitarian, like it was in the first book about him. Also in the second book he went through major traumas and life-changing events, so obviously he is now a very different individual.
Why did you choose to have ex-CIA and MI6 agents run riot in Bangalore?
Why not? It is a pensioner’s paradise, so it would be a logical place for ex-Cold War agents to retire…
Beatles singing at Koshy's is priceless. Do you think it could happen in an alternate universe?
I’m not exactly sure what John Lennon did when he visited Bangalore but it is rumoured that he was drifting around here sometime after the Beatles break-up. It was a very low profile visit, so not many know about it though it is mentioned in some books. But if he didn’t go to Koshy’s, and hum at least one bar there, he didn’t really visit Bangalore.
What are Hari's views on social media considering he is active on Twitter?
It doesn’t exactly improve his life. It almost ruins it…
