For Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid, a self-help book is an oxymoron. Having taken seven long years each to complete his previous books — Moth Smoke (2000) and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) — Hamid never thought that his third book would be based on this very oxymoron. What started out as a joke with a friend stayed with Hamid, to be completed six years later as his third novel.
Wittily written in the second-person narrative (Yes, “you”, the reader, is also the protagonist), How To Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia has 11 dos and one don’t. The dos are simple, easy to follow — moving to the city, working for yourself, avoiding idealists, even being prepared “to use violence”. The one don’t — falling in love — well, that may be a little tough. You know how matters of the heart are. But Hamid also suggests an “exit strategy”.
Recently in India for the promotion of How To Get, Hamid had a pretty hectic schedule with interviews and press conferences lined up one after the other. But the 41-year-old didn’t complain, and happily obliged journalists. In a face-to-face interaction with Moushumi Sharma at The Oberoi, New Delhi, Hamid talks about his latest book, love, The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Mira Nair, Bollywood and literature festivals. Excerpts:
Question: Your protagonist is depicted as a poor, sick boy from the village who takes the first step to becoming rich by moving to the city. Another rule that you mention “to get rich” is “to get an education”. Did you intend your book for any target reader then? What about, say, an affluent city boy or girl with good education. Is your book as much for them as it is for the poor folk from the village?
Answer: Well, the rules are part of the story. I wasn’t really trying to tell people how to get rich. That was not the idea. The book plays with the “idea” of being a self-help book to step out of poverty and get wealthy. The real story is something else. It deals with life and loss and love. So the story is meant for everyone.
Q: How did a self-help book happen?
A: The book is still a novel; it’s a novel that takes the form of a self-help book. It started when I was talking to a friend about how difficult it is for some to read novels, why we do it, that we do it to help ourselves. I told him that my next book would be a self-help book, and we both laughed. The next day I thought about it: sitting in a room and making up stuff, that’s what I do.
But why do I do that? Why do writers do that? It’s strange actually. So may be writing a book, a novel, is a kind of self-help for me as a writer. Even reading, for that matter, is self-help. So the joke became a bit more serious. The idea to get rich is just a joke. But the idea of fiction being a kind of self-help is what I have worked on here.
Q: Your third advice for getting rich is not to fall in love. You call it an impediment. Why?
A: You see, the book is based on a self-centred idea — to earn money. And love can make you less self-centred. You waste your time chasing someone, so you will stop thinking about money. But that’s actually easier said than done. Eventually you do end up falling in love (smiles).
Q: What was the intention behind writing the entire novel in the second person?
A: I wanted to play with the idea that the reader should be the character. You don’t “watch” a novel like you watch a movie. You absorb the words, get into the character so that the story stays with you. In my book the character is “you”, the reader is “you”, so that differences between the two blur.
Q: You do not mention any city in the book. The places where the story unfolds are anonymous. But you must have had some place in mind while framing the story?
A: I sort of based it in Lahore. But I thought it could be many places, like Delhi. And not necessarily in South Asia. It could be Mexico, Sao Paolo, Johannesburg, Bangkok. The story behind these emerging mega-cities is similar. If you take away the name, the language there’s a lot in common.
Q: Many reviews have claimed that your novel is a love story disguised as a satire.
A: It is actually. The idea to get rich is just a satire. At the heart of the story is love, while dealing with loss, family, parents, old age and death.
Q: Your second novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, has been made into a film by Mira Nair.
A: Well, my first novel, Moth Smoke, was adapted into a tele-film in Pakistan. Mira first contacted me in 2007. We had lunch together and I really liked her and her work. She is an incredible person. She came to Lahore many times and stayed with us. I think it’s not easy to make a film like this. It was possible because of the sheer force of her character. There were times when it seemed like the financing of the movie was going to fall apart. But eventually it did happen.
Q: How do you see an Indian filmmaker making a movie on a Pakistani man, even though your story is fiction? Do you think it would have been the same as a Pakistani filmmaker making a movie on the life of an Indian?
A: I don’t see it from the perspective of nationality. No doubt Mira is an Indian. But when she is directing a film, she is just a human being and she is making a story. I think it’s more about being a director than an Indian or Pakistani. Such collaborations are important because it helps us to come out of our shell. I don’t see why we should separate ourselves in terms of nationality or religion or language.
Q: What do you think of Bollywood? Do you like Indian films, music?
A: I’m not so much of a Bollywood person, but then, I’m an exception. My wife and sister love Bollywood, and so do most of my friends. You go to a wedding in Lahore and hear these Bollywood songs playing and people dancing to their tunes. I am not into Bollywood movies either. But if I would listen to music, it would be Kailash Kher, as I am fond of the classical kind. But if you ask about Bollywood music per se, I think it’s “manufactured”. For me real music is when a bunch of musicians sit together and start playing their instruments. But that said, sometimes there’s a Bollywood number that stays in your head. I remember the song Ole Ole which was a big hit in Pakistan. You could hear it in weddings, in cars at traffic signals. Even I found myself humming it all the time (laughs).
Q: What about literature festivals?
A: I think literature festivals are great. We have had the Lahore and Karachi Literature Festivals, and there are talks about the Islamabad Literature Festival too. But then, 99 per cent of the people can’t fly from Lahore to Karachi or vice-versa for a two-day talk on books. It’s great if people, particularly the young, want to meet authors and discuss about literature. Therefore, we should have more such fests in all major cities.
Q: Who/what is your biggest inspiration as a writer?
A: I don’t know, haven’t thought about it to be honest. I think it’s more of a compulsion for me. You know, I have a young daughter who plays house. It just comes naturally to her. In the same way, I play by writing. I never force myself to stop.
Q: Is there a fourth book in the making?
A: I definitely hope so. This is what I do and this is how I feed my family. But I am hoping to speed it up. My first two books took seven years, the third took six, so I am hoping to finish my fourth book in five years (smiles).