Serial blogger and irreverent tweeter, Sidin Vadukut, is the author of the epic, best-selling Dork trilogy (we were just paid to write that). He casually chatted with us about his weight and other weighty matters, at The Hindu Lit for Life 2013.
Plans after Dork trilogy
“I started a podcast on the Indian Constitution on my blog, and a few thousand people tune in to it. I have just finished the 7th episode,” says Vadukut. His next book will dwell on numerous aspects of Indian history from the Indus valley civilization to the present day. He is enamoured by the myriad myths and legends surrounding Indian history (including weird tidbits like calorific value pre and post the Mughal era). For instance, approximately 1.3 million soldiers fought on the battle grounds of World War I. He plans to visit Neuve-Chapelle in France where there is an official memorial for approximately 8000 Indian soldiers who died there. Vadukut is currently based in the UK, where he enjoys doing 10-km-runs, goes for “bed and breakfast with the Missus” and comfortably sits in the British Library’s “best chairs that are designed for writers.” (It’s freakin’ unbeleeeeeevable, he says)
Researching India
“Oddly enough if you want anything on Indian history up till 1947, the best archives are in the UK and not India,” he states straight-faced. He cannot contain his excitement when he explains the when he glimpsed the original documents and reports from 1857. “London is the place for a writer with an easy access to any information” (he closes his eyes and shrugs.) Vadukut is a fast writer and “wastes time” only till he gets started.
He makes a jar full of coffee, locks the door and gets cracking. It took him just around eight weeks to finish each of his Dork series. Speaking about the importance of humour in mainstream journalism, he says, “Everything is not a question of life-and-death. There is a trend of growing satire news websites like Faking News, which make shrewder observations of our political set-ups than print or television.”
Vadukut also supports the mushrooming of new writers and publishers and reproves people for being so judgmental about what they read. “Why are people so obsessed with how good or bad our books are? Where is the heartburn when you are reading the newspaper or watching TV? Are newspapers fundamentally masterpieces? Of course they are not.
But somehow books are supposed to stand for some higher values.” Vadukut also slams the hypocrites who ask for youth participation in the Olympics but send their own kids to engineering schools. “Twitter has a fantastic community with a tremendous sense of humour. We should aspire for such a community nationally,” signs off @sidin.
Title: THE DORK SERIES
Author: Sidin Vadakut
Publisher: Penguin
Price: Rs. 199 each.
Sidin Vadukut is also the editor of Mint Indulge and a columnist for Mint Lounge
