I was reading a Financial Times review of Amitav Gosh and I suddenly realized that since the publication of Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie nearly a couple of decades ago, there has been an explosion of fiction and non-fiction writing on India, by writers from India on the world-scene.
I speak for myself in particular when I say that I can sense a writer's quality in the first 5-10 pages. And I have very little patience if I sense the writer is either not stringing his words together well or if he/she feels inauthentic (or labored). Clearly with a wave like this, there is to be expected flotsam and jetsam in Indian writing.
However a few stand out. I am using a Top 10 format to discuss which Indian writers have stood out over the past couple of decades.
10. Fareed Zakaria
I have been following this Yale graduates writing and speaking for about 10 years now. Clear minded, fair and very Bombay!
His new book the Post-American world has an interesting thesis about how the rest of the world particularly India and China are making giant strides. He is the counter-part to Thomas Friedman. And this thesis coming from someone of Indian origin adds a flavor to the thesis that is unique and interesting.
He is maturing with time. He also needs to get out of the NE corridor mentality (you know - those wine-sipping, latte drinking, tree hugging, Volvo driving, turnpike toll paying, liberal, Manhattan pundits!)
9. Suketu Mehta
His recent book Maximum City, about Bombay is a very well researched sensational book. I would say this is a counter-part to the much beloved Shantaram. Fast paced style. My thoughts about books like these throw light on the ethics of writing and authors. He befriends a whole bunch of people, does not tell them he is writing about them and then does it.
Ethics and writing - discuss!
8. Arundhati Roy
This writer became very famous with the God of Small things and won the booker prize (an interesting article on the Booker Prize in this week's Economist).
Now a hairless activist. Whatever floats her boat.
Virtually impossible to read style of writing - kinda like Rushdie
7. Vikram Seth
Mostly a hokey writer of miserably large tomes. But does have an ear for the music of words. An Equal Music stands out.
6. Rohinton Mistry
A fine writer who understands his craft. Author of the well received ' A fine balance'. The only crib with him is that there are more coincidences and tragedies in his work worthy of a Meena Kumari movie.
5. Shashi Tharoor
I kinda feel queasy putting Shashi Tharoor so high up on the list. His novels have been just about ok (The Great Indian Novel). I pick him and slot him here more for his newspaper columns. Fine style, an ear for the contemporary and always insightful (although I wonder if the man has a core - something he stands for - rather than just reflecting contemporary mores). Shashi Tharoor has a fantastic Twitter site.
He is a born twitterer.
4. Amartya Sen
Now we are entering the truly high quality zone. This Nobel Laureate is a fine purveyor of emerging-economy thinking. In his recent book 'The argumentative Indian' he dissects Indian Culture in new and interesting ways.
3. Salman Rushdie
Well if I have named this list, in Rushdie's footsteps, how come he is third on the list? That is because his followers have surpassed him...although he is the original.
Difficult to read. But no doubt he has the gift. Moors Last Sigh - a wonderful collection of stories.
2. Amitav Gosh
Read this man for fine writing. Read him for well researched works. Read his 'The Hungry Tide'. It is set in the Sundarbans - a part of India, I guarantee you do not know about, except as a paragraph in an 8th grade Geography text.
One can learn from him how to write.
I am all praise for this artist. My only crib is that sometimes his works almost read like non-fiction. Make up your mind, Mr. Gosh!
1. Jhumpa Lahiri
Purists will cringe at my selection of Jhumpa Lahiri. What? How about V.S. Naipaul? You mean, V.S. Naipaul does not make your list of Top 10, but this Barbara Cartland of Indian writers is your number 1?
Oh! The outrage :-)
Relax. When there is an original, she needs no defense. She is a terrific writer with an ear of the Indian (Bengali, in particular) Diaspora in the U.S. Her writing is so ephemeral that it melts into your consciousness before you have turned the page. Delicate strokes that sketches a character in 10 words that others will have to labor over a chapter.
Like O'Henry I think Jhumpa Lahiri is more a short story writer than a Novelist. In fact her work The Namesake was first a short story in the New Yorker and the short story was better than the Novel by a mile.
But I celebrate Jhumpa Lahiri as the shining star of Indian writers on the world scene. She has a firm hold on what it means to be an émigré in an alien culture, and that combined with her skill as a writer makes for a vintage that will stand the test of time.
I speak for myself in particular when I say that I can sense a writer's quality in the first 5-10 pages. And I have very little patience if I sense the writer is either not stringing his words together well or if he/she feels inauthentic (or labored). Clearly with a wave like this, there is to be expected flotsam and jetsam in Indian writing.
However a few stand out. I am using a Top 10 format to discuss which Indian writers have stood out over the past couple of decades.
10. Fareed Zakaria
I have been following this Yale graduates writing and speaking for about 10 years now. Clear minded, fair and very Bombay!
His new book the Post-American world has an interesting thesis about how the rest of the world particularly India and China are making giant strides. He is the counter-part to Thomas Friedman. And this thesis coming from someone of Indian origin adds a flavor to the thesis that is unique and interesting.
He is maturing with time. He also needs to get out of the NE corridor mentality (you know - those wine-sipping, latte drinking, tree hugging, Volvo driving, turnpike toll paying, liberal, Manhattan pundits!)
9. Suketu Mehta
His recent book Maximum City, about Bombay is a very well researched sensational book. I would say this is a counter-part to the much beloved Shantaram. Fast paced style. My thoughts about books like these throw light on the ethics of writing and authors. He befriends a whole bunch of people, does not tell them he is writing about them and then does it.
Ethics and writing - discuss!
8. Arundhati Roy
This writer became very famous with the God of Small things and won the booker prize (an interesting article on the Booker Prize in this week's Economist).
Now a hairless activist. Whatever floats her boat.
Virtually impossible to read style of writing - kinda like Rushdie
7. Vikram Seth
Mostly a hokey writer of miserably large tomes. But does have an ear for the music of words. An Equal Music stands out.
6. Rohinton Mistry
A fine writer who understands his craft. Author of the well received ' A fine balance'. The only crib with him is that there are more coincidences and tragedies in his work worthy of a Meena Kumari movie.
5. Shashi Tharoor
I kinda feel queasy putting Shashi Tharoor so high up on the list. His novels have been just about ok (The Great Indian Novel). I pick him and slot him here more for his newspaper columns. Fine style, an ear for the contemporary and always insightful (although I wonder if the man has a core - something he stands for - rather than just reflecting contemporary mores). Shashi Tharoor has a fantastic Twitter site.
He is a born twitterer.
4. Amartya Sen
Now we are entering the truly high quality zone. This Nobel Laureate is a fine purveyor of emerging-economy thinking. In his recent book 'The argumentative Indian' he dissects Indian Culture in new and interesting ways.
3. Salman Rushdie
Well if I have named this list, in Rushdie's footsteps, how come he is third on the list? That is because his followers have surpassed him...although he is the original.
Difficult to read. But no doubt he has the gift. Moors Last Sigh - a wonderful collection of stories.
2. Amitav Gosh
Read this man for fine writing. Read him for well researched works. Read his 'The Hungry Tide'. It is set in the Sundarbans - a part of India, I guarantee you do not know about, except as a paragraph in an 8th grade Geography text.
One can learn from him how to write.
I am all praise for this artist. My only crib is that sometimes his works almost read like non-fiction. Make up your mind, Mr. Gosh!
1. Jhumpa Lahiri
Purists will cringe at my selection of Jhumpa Lahiri. What? How about V.S. Naipaul? You mean, V.S. Naipaul does not make your list of Top 10, but this Barbara Cartland of Indian writers is your number 1?
Oh! The outrage :-)
Relax. When there is an original, she needs no defense. She is a terrific writer with an ear of the Indian (Bengali, in particular) Diaspora in the U.S. Her writing is so ephemeral that it melts into your consciousness before you have turned the page. Delicate strokes that sketches a character in 10 words that others will have to labor over a chapter.
Like O'Henry I think Jhumpa Lahiri is more a short story writer than a Novelist. In fact her work The Namesake was first a short story in the New Yorker and the short story was better than the Novel by a mile.
But I celebrate Jhumpa Lahiri as the shining star of Indian writers on the world scene. She has a firm hold on what it means to be an émigré in an alien culture, and that combined with her skill as a writer makes for a vintage that will stand the test of time.
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