‘My novels are meant to provoke and move the readers’

Delhi showed you that you wanted to write. What has Mumbai meant to you?

Mumbai has made me. I have a typical Mumbai immigrant’s story — came here with virtually nothing and found my fortunes transformed as if by magic. I think of 2007,my first full year in the city,as one of the happiest of my life: I knew hardly any one here,but I never felt lonely. Each time I stopped at a south Indian restaurant for a coffee,the waiters would be talking in Tulu or Kannada,and I felt as if I were home,in Mangalore,again. I would gladly give up anything to have another year like that again.

Did the defensive reactions to The White Tiger in India influence this book?

India is one of a handful of countries where a man can write a book like The White Tiger without being sent to jail. Perhaps it is the only country in Asia where this is true. Because of the hysterical reaction from some in the media to The White Tiger — there were insane reviews published even in respectable newspapers — I would get letters from abroad asking,“Are you in danger?” And I would write back — ‘The only danger is of being chased around a bookstore by college students wanting me to sign copies of the novel.’

Masterji wanted a newspaper to write an article “Last Man in Tower Fights Builder”. Are you fulfilling Masterji’s wish?

Masterji is not the hero of the book,nor is he a spokesperson for me. The novel evolved out of real life. Back in 2007 and 2008,developers were making lavish offers of redevelopment to ancient buildings across Mumbai — they would offer up to 250 per cent the prevailing market rate if the residents agreed to sell their flats and move out. Often there would be one old man or woman saying “No” to this offer. This person just did not want the money. And tensions developed between him and his neighbours. I could sympathise with both sides. Of course,the old man had the right to stay in his home if he wanted to; but on the other hand,what about the needs of his neighbours? I was intrigued by the core issue—in a democracy,what is more important,the individual’s right to dissent,or the overall happiness of his society? Last Man in Tower dramatises such a clash — I have taken care to represent the views of all the three sides in the story (Masterji,his neighbours,and Shah).

“How many were forced out of their homes – what was being done to the city in the name of progress?” Is that your lament for modern India?

That’s what Masterji feels,at one point in the novel — it is not me speaking. I think the novel asks you to consider why exactly he is opposing Shah’s offer. Is it out of genuine idealism,or is it just selfishness — or even a kind of nihilism? Are people like Shah,the developer,the problem,or is it people like Masterji,who say ‘No’ to everything? I don’t know the answer,and the novel dramatises this ambivalence.

You wrote,in an article,that your biggest shock when you returned to India after more than a decade abroad was from women here. Does that explain the lack of compelling female characters in your books?

I think there are strong women characters in this novel — Mrs Rego,for instance,and also Mrs Puri.

The majority of readers in any country are women — if an author doesn’t appeal to them,he is finished. I think this is especially the case in India,because when I go to a book store in Bangalore or Mumbai I see only women buying novels.

The media has created a “contest” between you and Amitav Ghosh,since he lost the Booker to you in 2008. What have his books meant?

I respect Amitav Ghosh very much. I read his books back in New York in the ’90s. He was teaching at Columbia University when I was a student there,and my friends and I used to go to the gym to spy on him,because he came at the same time every evening. It was a great thrill to meet him in England during the Booker ceremony in 2008. Back when The White Tiger was published,I was trying to contact famous Indian authors,to send them a copy of the book; Ghosh was the only one who replied immediately. I shall always be grateful to him for this.

Having spent your formative years in Mangalore,how has city influenced you as a writer?

I spent the first six years of my life in Chennai,and the next 10 years in Mangalore. So both places have influenced me. Mangalore in the ’80s was a gorgeous little coastal town,and its beauty will always stay in my mind. When I am dejected,I close my eyes and I can see old Mangalore again — the ancient tiled mansions,the monsoon rains,the Arabian sea glittering in the distance — and it helps me write again.

Tell us about the books of your childhood.

R.K. Narayan’s novels and short stories were always around my home. In school we learnt the poems of Basavanna,Karnataka’s most famous social reformer; I also discovered Professor UR Ananathamurthy’s novels. When I was 14,I found Chakravarti Rajagopalachari’s commentary on the Upanishads,and I read it obsessively.

By 16,I was reading nothing but novels. George Orwell,Hermann Hesse,Isaac Asimov,Agatha Christie,George Bernard Shaw,“Saki” — they seem like old friends.