Indian English Fiction

Hiya folks! Missed my Monday deadline. Not because I was busy. Au contraire I was waiting to finish the book I was reading. It is not easy to say anything when you have nothing in particular to say; though I am well aware that it is an art at which many excel. Needless to say it is not an art I have mastered. Not yet anyway.( I hope to) I have always envied people who can trot out banal chit- chat and and are able to converse on any topic under the sun while I labor in vain and end up with hmms and ahhs like a moron. 

But I digress. Classic ageing symptoms. So as I was saying I was waiting to finish the book I was reading before writing this blog. That's because I'm a late entrant to the scene and I did not want to display my ignorance to all and sundry. I've still a few pages left and my ignorance is still pretty much intact but I can say what I think right? Free country and all.

Indian English Fiction has come of age. When I was in college I felt deeply the dearth of Indian writers writing fiction - the kind we like to read. Not high brow stuff which has you scratching your head if you happen to be a simpleton like me; but stuff we enjoy reading. The pulp variety. Thrillers, romance, adventure. Fiction fiction. The kind that doesn't win awards. Only entertains. 

I am pleased to say we have a host of writers aiming to do precisely that- entertain. I used to read Dan Brown, Baldacci, Child, Archer, Follett mostly. So I was unaware how the market for Indian English fiction has exploded. Recently I finished Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi and I must confess I was pleasantly surprised. He manages to make a cocktail of history, theology, mythology and give us a thriller with shades of Dan Brown. To learn and explore my country through his eyes was a revelation. I turned eagerly to his first novel Rozabal Line which puts forward the astonishing theory that Jesus did not die on the cross but in fact came to India and married a second time ( his first wife being Mary Magdalene) and his descendants might even be Kashmiri Muslims. He has take pains to substantiate this with a staggering amount of research which makes one dizzy as the novel zigzags between different time periods. I'm sorry to say this was not as well put together as Krishna Key and he rather spoils all his erudite commentary by dealing with past life regression in Bollywood style where the soul has the same face and gender through the ages and Karma is explained in childishly simple terms: Tit for tat! Yes. A bit too much for even a simpleton like me. 

Chetan Bhagat does not need my mention; he is indisputably the crowned king of Indian pulp fiction. I believe he has ventured into script writing too- Kick ( Bollywood movie- Salman starrer) has been written by him. I've read Anuja Chauhan. She's slightly risque, funny and highly entertaining. Those of you who went through the M& B phase or are still in the throes of it, will enjoy her books. She has plenty of Hinglish interspersed with quite good English and I will be eternally grateful to her for letting me know it is "Anyway" not "Anyways" like they use with abandon on TV serials.(These days I am constantly being updated on English language- usage, spellings etc. It's heartening to know I'm not always wrong) Amish Tripathy is another writer with the Meluha series. I couldn't relate to the idea of Shiva as a human speaking equivalent of modern English. I think Sanghi handles theology better.I must say I haven't read Ravinder Singh or Durjoy Dutta or the Gen- X writers. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. But the vacancy I felt so acutely in my college days has been filled. And how! 

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Go ahead read what Indian English fiction has to offer today!  Enjoy! 

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