JAIPUR:
Mahesh Rao's 2014 debut novel, 'The Smoke is Rising,' was described by a Guardian reviewer as “a fascinating and involved portrait of bustling Indian urban life and of a city eager for the future, but always keenly aware of the past".
For another reviewer, the Kenya-born UK-educated author's second work, a collection of 13 short stories called `One Point Two Billion,' “traverses, with a kind of dizzying thoroughness, the length and breadth of the country“ and “combine atmospheric evocations of place with surgical examinations of emotion“.
At The Write Circle interaction held with the author in the city recently , Rao spoke to Rimika Singhvi, English professor at
Rajasthan University, about the process of writing, the structure, influences and themes of his works.
While he draws the frame of his work from classical sources, the central idea that fills this frame is derived from everyday life -familial anecdotes to gossip one overhears on a park bench.
As an author, he loves to conjure things out of thin air, and obvious in the way he transformed Mysuru, where he lives now, into a futuristic city in `The Smoke is Rising' which dealt with land acquisition. “This is an ubiquitous issue to the Indian metropolis, a striking example of the classic clash between tradition and modernity ,“ he says.
The best writing method, according to Rao, is to simply sit down and start writing.“Once you start, you can figure out your pattern and stick to the routine that works best for you,“ he says.
The programme was organised by
Prabha Khaitan Foundation
, a Kolkata-based NGO, along with
Shree Cement
and Siyahi, a literary agency , at ITC Rajputana.
Start a Conversation
Post comment