Aatish Taseer Interview - Rediff

http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/aatish-taseer-india-is-semi-literate-and-chetan-bhagat-is-the-best-it-can-do/20150205.htm

He might just be a symptom of the fact that in English, India is basically a semi-literate country and Chetan Bhagat is the best it can do.

chetan bhagat is an irritating turd. having read a bit of his writing i don't ever want to pick up anything that has his name on it, but can't avoid people who want to ask me constantly if i've read his books at social gatherings. i'd like to say what my nephew says about the patriots, the celtics or any other new england team -- i spit on the patriots! i want to say when i am asked about bhagat, "i spit on bhagat!". in that sense, taseer is spot on.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

He might just be a symptom of the fact that in English, India is basically a semi-literate country and Chetan Bhagat is the best it can do.

chetan bhagat is an irritating turd. having read a bit of his writing i don't ever want to pick up anything that has his name on it, but can't avoid people who want to ask me constantly if i've read his books at social gatherings. i'd like to say what my nephew says about the patriots, the celtics or any other new england team -- i spit on the patriots! i want to say when i am asked about bhagat, "i spit on bhagat!".  in that sense, taseer is spot on.

>>I have read only a sampling of Bhagat's work. It was maybe an article on why he moved back to India after a stint in Honk Kong. It had a somewhat defensive tone to it, but his type of work is not my cup of tea anyway. I have been meaning to pick up Aatish Taseer's works, but haven't had the bandwidth. From the samples I have read, he is definitely interesting. I turned a couple of my friends on to this guy and they seem impressed. I like what he says about the author needing a moral center, something he says Naipaul told him.

Kris wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

He might just be a symptom of the fact that in English, India is basically a semi-literate country and Chetan Bhagat is the best it can do.

chetan bhagat is an irritating turd. having read a bit of his writing i don't ever want to pick up anything that has his name on it, but can't avoid people who want to ask me constantly if i've read his books at social gatherings. i'd like to say what my nephew says about the patriots, the celtics or any other new england team -- i spit on the patriots! i want to say when i am asked about bhagat, "i spit on bhagat!".  in that sense, taseer is spot on.

>>I have read only a sampling of Bhagat's work. It was maybe an article on why he moved back to India after a stint in Honk Kong. It had a somewhat defensive tone to it, but his type of work is not my cup of tea anyway. I have been meaning to pick up Aatish Taseer's works, but haven't had the bandwidth. From the samples I have read, he is definitely interesting. I turned a couple of my friends on to this guy and they seem impressed. I like what he says about the author needing a moral center, something he says Naipaul told him.

ditto.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

He might just be a symptom of the fact that in English, India is basically a semi-literate country and Chetan Bhagat is the best it can do.

chetan bhagat is an irritating turd. having read a bit of his writing i don't ever want to pick up anything that has his name on it, but can't avoid people who want to ask me constantly if i've read his books at social gatherings. i'd like to say what my nephew says about the patriots, the celtics or any other new england team -- i spit on the patriots! i want to say when i am asked about bhagat, "i spit on bhagat!".  in that sense, taseer is spot on.

Why? Chetan Bhagat did his part for synthesis. Punjabi guy successfully married Iyer girl. Went into investment banking. Made money in the first world and still came back to India.

Hellsangel wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

He might just be a symptom of the fact that in English, India is basically a semi-literate country and Chetan Bhagat is the best it can do.

chetan bhagat is an irritating turd. having read a bit of his writing i don't ever want to pick up anything that has his name on it, but can't avoid people who want to ask me constantly if i've read his books at social gatherings. i'd like to say what my nephew says about the patriots, the celtics or any other new england team -- i spit on the patriots! i want to say when i am asked about bhagat, "i spit on bhagat!".  in that sense, taseer is spot on.

Why? Chetan Bhagat did his part for synthesis. Punjabi guy successfully married Iyer girl. Went into investment banking. Made money in the first world and still came back to India.

nothing personal. just find the writing irritating -- what little i read of it. haven't liked one techie/scientist turned fiction writer yet. that mathematician guy who writes is also not good.

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Hellsangel wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

He might just be a symptom of the fact that in English, India is basically a semi-literate country and Chetan Bhagat is the best it can do.

chetan bhagat is an irritating turd. having read a bit of his writing i don't ever want to pick up anything that has his name on it, but can't avoid people who want to ask me constantly if i've read his books at social gatherings. i'd like to say what my nephew says about the patriots, the celtics or any other new england team -- i spit on the patriots! i want to say when i am asked about bhagat, "i spit on bhagat!".  in that sense, taseer is spot on.

Why? Chetan Bhagat did his part for synthesis. Punjabi guy successfully married Iyer girl. Went into investment banking. Made money in the first world and still came back to India.

nothing personal. just find the writing irritating -- what little i read of it. haven't liked one techie/scientist turned fiction writer yet. that mathematician guy who writes is also not good.

I haven't read anything he has written but a movie was made based on his autobiographical book of his affair and marriage to an iyer girl. So much ado was made about her privileged caste and their language differences that I immediately concluded that he had the brain of a rodent living in a hole within a mud hut in rural india.

And anyhow, how is that considered interesting or relevant writing to anybody in the world? It is the stuff that belongs on tv shows such as "saved by the bell" or "Beverly Hills 90210" or "gossip girls." Due to the sheer immaturity and shallowness of the subject matter it can only be shelved under "young adult romance." It's certainly not the stuff I would've picked up as a teen and nor should an IIt grad like you.

There haven't been any good indian books since Nehru's "the discovery of India" and Roy's "the god of small things."Of the latter only the first half of the book was good. I hear about Rushdie all the time and tried to read "Midnight's Children" but somehow I never understood it and didn't have the patience to read beyond the first chapter. To me a book has to be simply written and easy to read and I need to walk away with something substantial. Nehru's book was the only that left me satisfied and it's a book you can go back to read passages from again and again. The writers George Eliot, Henry James and Wodehouse have that effect on me also.

Another book to keep in your library is Abdul Kalam's "wings of fire"  which I think is an important book of which I have read parts and intend to read in full at a later time. I can't think of any other good indian writers, I don't know if he wrote with assistance.

There is RK Narayan with his impeccable easy way of writing but he caters only to a tiny southindian audience and jhumpa lahiri, soporific and plain stupid - but she is worth mentioning as she helped set the bar very low for indina writers, they must kiss her for that. manil  suri is okay but wouldn't waste my time reading him now.

this guy taseer gives a good interview and I appreciate his frankness originality but overall I feel that fiction is unimportant and useless as the writers themselves are so vapid and boring. my life is so exciting compared to anything I read most of the time. shrug. stating facts, that is all.

pravalika nanda wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Hellsangel wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

He might just be a symptom of the fact that in English, India is basically a semi-literate country and Chetan Bhagat is the best it can do.

chetan bhagat is an irritating turd. having read a bit of his writing i don't ever want to pick up anything that has his name on it, but can't avoid people who want to ask me constantly if i've read his books at social gatherings. i'd like to say what my nephew says about the patriots, the celtics or any other new england team -- i spit on the patriots! i want to say when i am asked about bhagat, "i spit on bhagat!".  in that sense, taseer is spot on.

Why? Chetan Bhagat did his part for synthesis. Punjabi guy successfully married Iyer girl. Went into investment banking. Made money in the first world and still came back to India.

nothing personal. just find the writing irritating -- what little i read of it. haven't liked one techie/scientist turned fiction writer yet. that mathematician guy who writes is also not good.

I haven't read anything he has written but a movie was made based on his autobiographical book of his affair and marriage to an iyer girl. So much ado was made about her privileged caste and their language differences that I immediately concluded that he had the brain of a rodent living in a hole within a mud hut in rural india.

And anyhow, how is that considered interesting or relevant writing to anybody in the world? It is the stuff that belongs on tv shows such as "saved by the bell" or "Beverly Hills 90210" or "gossip girls." Due to the sheer immaturity and shallowness of the subject matter it can only be shelved under "young adult romance." It's certainly not the stuff I would've picked up as a teen and nor should an IIt grad like you.

There haven't been any good indian books since Nehru's "the discovery of India" and Roy's "the god of small things."Of the latter only the first half of the book was good. I hear about Rushdie all the time and tried to read "Midnight's Children" but somehow I never understood it and didn't have the patience to read beyond the first chapter. To me a book has to be simply written and easy to read and I need to walk away with something substantial. Nehru's book was the only that left me satisfied and it's a book you can go back to read passages from again and again. The writers George Eliot, Henry James and Wodehouse have that effect on me also.

Another book to keep in your library is Abdul Kalam's "wings of fire"  which I think is an important book of which I have read parts and intend to read in full at a later time. I can't think of any other good indian writers, I don't know if he wrote with assistance.

There is RK Narayan with his impeccable easy way of writing but he caters only to a tiny southindian audience and jhumpa lahiri, soporific and plain stupid - but she is worth mentioning as she helped set the bar very low for indina writers, they must kiss her for that. manil  suri is okay but wouldn't waste my time reading him now.

this guy taseer gives a good interview and I appreciate his frankness originality but overall I feel that fiction is unimportant and useless as the writers themselves are so vapid and boring. my life is so exciting compared to anything I read most of the time. shrug. stating facts, that is all.

>>>Bhagat's book based on the theme of his marriage was very puzzling. As Taseer says, it is more a reflection on the audience. Taseer is not strictly a fiction writer, from what I have read of him. Need to check his works out one of these days. BTW, RKN does have a following outside India, albeit a select crowd. My local librarian in So Cal used to wax eloquent about Malgudi. In any event, his genre is different. It is a self-contained, simple world in the mid- twentieth century. The Bachelor of Arts is one of my favorite works.

i haven't read any fiction in a very long time. just no time right now. i can understand your not warming up to rushdie. not everyone's cup of tea. but if you do want to read serious fiction by an indian writer, pick up anything by rohinton mistry. he isn't prolific like rushdie. he produces a couple of books in a decade if that and his canvas is very narrow - he writes about life in the parsi community. that's it. but it's good honest storytelling.

right now i am reading piketty's tome on income inequality. next up if i find the time, guantanamo diary.

taseer is not just a fiction writer. i think he is going to be great. i've read excerpts from stranger to history. he has an interesting life story.

pravalika nanda wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

Hellsangel wrote:

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:

He might just be a symptom of the fact that in English, India is basically a semi-literate country and Chetan Bhagat is the best it can do.

chetan bhagat is an irritating turd. having read a bit of his writing i don't ever want to pick up anything that has his name on it, but can't avoid people who want to ask me constantly if i've read his books at social gatherings. i'd like to say what my nephew says about the patriots, the celtics or any other new england team -- i spit on the patriots! i want to say when i am asked about bhagat, "i spit on bhagat!".  in that sense, taseer is spot on.

Why? Chetan Bhagat did his part for synthesis. Punjabi guy successfully married Iyer girl. Went into investment banking. Made money in the first world and still came back to India.

nothing personal. just find the writing irritating -- what little i read of it. haven't liked one techie/scientist turned fiction writer yet. that mathematician guy who writes is also not good.

I haven't read anything he has written but a movie was made based on his autobiographical book of his affair and marriage to an iyer girl. So much ado was made about her privileged caste and their language differences that I immediately concluded that he had the brain of a rodent living in a hole within a mud hut in rural india.

And anyhow, how is that considered interesting or relevant writing to anybody in the world? It is the stuff that belongs on tv shows such as "saved by the bell" or "Beverly Hills 90210" or "gossip girls." Due to the sheer immaturity and shallowness of the subject matter it can only be shelved under "young adult romance." It's certainly not the stuff I would've picked up as a teen and nor should an IIt grad like you.

There haven't been any good indian books since Nehru's "the discovery of India" and Roy's "the god of small things."Of the latter only the first half of the book was good. I hear about Rushdie all the time and tried to read "Midnight's Children" but somehow I never understood it and didn't have the patience to read beyond the first chapter. To me a book has to be simply written and easy to read and I need to walk away with something substantial. Nehru's book was the only that left me satisfied and it's a book you can go back to read passages from again and again. The writers George Eliot, Henry James and Wodehouse have that effect on me also.

Another book to keep in your library is Abdul Kalam's "wings of fire"  which I think is an important book of which I have read parts and intend to read in full at a later time. I can't think of any other good indian writers, I don't know if he wrote with assistance.

There is RK Narayan with his impeccable easy way of writing but he caters only to a tiny southindian audience and jhumpa lahiri, soporific and plain stupid - but she is worth mentioning as she helped set the bar very low for indina writers, they must kiss her for that. manil  suri is okay but wouldn't waste my time reading him now.

this guy taseer gives a good interview and I appreciate his frankness originality but overall I feel that fiction is unimportant and useless as the writers themselves are so vapid and boring. my life is so exciting compared to anything I read most of the time. shrug. stating facts, that is all.

>>.LOL@ 'young adult romance' - that's about the size of it. If you get a chance see if you can pull up Taseer's work on Sanskrit. Boji posted some samples here. It is absolutely brilliant. I am going to make a concerted effort to start reading him and will try to post my thoughts here when I do that. BTW, if you like RKN, try reading OV Vijayan. His would is not quite as pristine as RKN's, but he writes well.