The language of imagery is very strong in your narrative. How difficult was it for you to let go of the characters after the book was over?
The characters are always alive for me, living in some alternate reality. But once the book is done, the intensity of engagement with the characters goes away bit by bit.
You have donned the hats of author, editor and journalist. How challenging have these jobs been and which is the most difficult one?
I’ve never been a journalist in the real sense, I’ve only written travel stories and literary stories and essays, so it is another kind of writing. Editorial work is very complex because you have to get into someone else’s mental and linguistic world and work with them. Writing is difficult in a different way but I prefer it — I have only myself to fight with and answer to.
There is a mass market for pulp fiction whereas the space for literary fiction is very small. Why so?
The market for literary fiction is small everywhere in the world. Mass market fiction or pulp fiction is always written to appeal to a wider audience.
Atlas of Impossible Longing(2008) was about destruction of nature set around plateaus and rivers, The Folded Earth(2011) revolves around the hills,Sleeping on Jupiter(2015) has the sea depicted as a character. Why this closeness with nature? Is your decision to live in Raniket also a choice made to live closer to the elements?
Yes, I do live in a place that is surrounded by forests. I spent my early childhood in small places, even in tents, and maybe being in the wilderness is in my system. I don’t feel happy for long in big cities.
Is your likeness to imaginary places, like Manoharpur, Jarmuli and Songarh, a form of escapism or your attempt to be politically correct?
What is politically correct about imagined places? I like making up my places just as I like making up people. It gives me a great deal of flexibility and allows me to depict exactly the place I have in my mind.
What is your take on a sexual predator like Asaram Bapu shown as a saint in Rajasthan school books?
I haven’t seen these textbooks and my own book has nothing to do with Asaram.
The impact of religion on choices made by people is strong in your narrative. In India, religion is marketed like a commodity. Often it preys on unsuspecting people. ‘Devout men and women’ seem to hold sway in Indian politics too, some claim to be a champion of the religion their represent espousing nefarious ideas.
As in any society the world over, India too has religious people of different kinds. My book depicts a wide range of responses to religion, from the deeply devout and spiritual to the indifferent or depraved.
Sleeping on Jupiteris a book about lost innocence, and about displacement, violence, friendship, survival, rejection and pain. What is it that interests you in the dark side of human nature?
Sleeping on Jupiter is to me as much a book about the complexities of friendship, often between unlikely people, and this has been a theme in all three of my books. I don’t think I’m especially given to exploring dark or macabre sides of human nature.
Your perception of violence is very detached and authentic… more of an odd mix, which makes the narrative gripping. Was it a conscious decision to represent this through the eyes of a child inSleeping on Jupiter?
Yes, of course.
Indians seem to be fed with conservative hostility nowadays, be it a book, film, documentary or even a cartoon. Why is a plural society like ours turning more communal socially and politically?
I don’t know the answer to that.
How much of background work went into writingSleeping on Jupiter?
Most writers of novels have to do a mix of reading, talking to people, and travelling in order to get things right in the book, and I did the same.
What makes a writer successful?
It depends what you mean by success. I am very happy when I manage to finish a book and bring it to a shape that at least resembles what I had in mind when I started it. What happens to it after it is published is beyond anyone’s control.
Tell us more about your interest in pottery and painting?
I’ve been doing pottery for years, since I was a college student. I’m not a studio potter, far from it, but painting and pottery give me pleasure.
What was your initial reaction when you got to know about being shortlisted for the Man Booker longlist?
Disbelief.
What are your chances of winning the award?
How would I know?
Any advice for budding writers?
They’ll find their own way; I don’t think anybody wants advice, certainly not young people.
