I have a responsibility towards the society: Pathak

JAIPUR: Any Indian crime thriller fan is sure to have read the exploits of investigative journalist, Sunil or the Robinhood-like Vimal. The writer behind these popular characters, Surender Mohan Pathak, was in the city talking about his 'crime exploits' at the Write Circle. Hugely popular among his readers Pathak, shared many interesting anecdotes with the audience too.
It was nice to see the English-speaking, Birkin-sporting audience listening in apt attention about the author who has inspired a generation with his thrillers. And they had plenty of queries as well.
The author, in conversation with Sundeep Bhutoria, said that it was natural for him as a child to get addicted to books since there weren't many sources of entertainment in his initial days and one needed money to watch films. He decided to write a whodunit series since it had an instant impact on the audience and one cannot leave the novel once started. And the 'khoji patrakar' (investigative journalist) inside him found manifested in the form of Sunil.
When asked about real-life acts like a bank heist being inspired by his novels, the veteran writer clarified that he has never shown his characters as heroes and has always emphasized, at the end of his novels that crime never pays. "My intention is not to inspire people to get into crime. I have a responsibility towards the society," he said. The literati were in splits when the author said he once had a man from Gujarat knock on his door, after having killed his wife and being on the run.
The writer said he has taken inspiration for his writings from Urdu and Bengali writers such as Tarasankar Bandopadhyay. But he expressed regret that there is no next-generation writers in the devanagari script in the genre, whereas there are plenty of writers and publishers for crime novels in English.
The champion of pocket book series made a tongue-in-cheek admission that though he has written about the police-criminal nexus, he did it with lot of trepidation. The audience wondered about his experience in criminal cases and crime in general, since he has written more than 300 novels, Pathak laughed out loud before denying any such knowledge.
The writer's humour was in full flow when he said that in Western countries there is lot of planning before a crime is committed. But it is sheer daredevilry in India. "The person goes in with no plan, no escape route and no fear of getting caught. The risk is what gives him the rush and most times, he does not even bother to conceal his identity," he said. On a philosophical note, the writer revealed that crime writing has left a deep impact on him and he always sees a conspiracy in everything.
The event was held in association with Shree Cement, Prabha Khaitan Foundation, ITC Rajputana and Siyahi.