A recluse, that he is, he hardly steps out for discussions. He is not your regular dial-a-quote author, who will comment on anything and everything. He does enter the public sphere, not as a commentator, but as a person who cares. He cares for things that matter to mortals. And he is somebody, who can say it all in a no-holds-barred fashion. That is the reason why the auditorium, where every reader’s beloved author Vikram Seth was in conversation with journalist author Sam Miller, was packed to the gills. From lexophiles, students, artists to journalists and personalities worth their salt thronged the M.L. Bhartia Auditorium at the Alliance Française to have a piece of Seth.
The idea was to kickstart Alliance Française de Delhi’s literary platform “Written Word, Etc.”, where the aim is “to encourage a discovery, unencumbered by genre, of all the written oeuvres, ranging from living legends to new and emerging talent”. Seth’s camaraderie with fine wine is well-known and here too he enjoyed his red wine as he captivated the audience with the discourse. A bottle of whiskey, a nightgown (which he wore before he settled down post his rather unplanned visit to the loo), books gave the speakers a nice company. He recalled how a Hindi newspaper in Jaipur splashed a story in which he was accused of drinking in broad daylight at the literature festival.
He chuckles, “I like Jaipur. The fest is multi-faceted. I was denounced for drinking on stage,
but the very next day, at a book launch session with Amitabh Bachchan, the audience demanded a recitation of Madhushala by revered Harivansh Rai Bachchan.”
He went down memory lane and spoke about his naani who wanted him to converse only in Hindi as he was going to have lots of English when he’d go to England. “Would you believe that I reached England and I could not utter a word in their native language,” says Seth. While he chooses to be tight-lipped about the sequel to his 1993 bestseller A Suitable Boy, all he reveals is that A Suitable Girl is not a historical novel and is set in the present.
“The sequel will bring up the narrative to the present day. It is difficult to say in advance what format the novel will follow. But it would take off from where A Suitable Boy ended,” he adds.
He says his memory isn’t very sharp contrary to the popular belief. He also confesses that “it is not necessary to be consistent” which has been his motto for life. But why doesn’t he write in a different genre? Seth replies, “I’d love to write short stories, but I’m not capable of doing that. If I am bored writing, I am sure the reader will be bored too.”
Before the curtains were drawn, he divulged that he enjoyed reading Chetan Bhagat’s books. “He knows how to tell a good story. One needs to grip the reader’s attention and Chetan is really good at it,” he sums up.