Ashwin Sanghi is not currently sniffing around for conspiracy theories in Delhi. He is, in fact, working on a novel set in the south of the country. “Why do people like me write thrillers? It’s because we lead utterly boring lives!” he joked.
The Mumbai-based author of page-turners proved to be engaging company as he opened up about the processes of writing unputdownable books. “Growing up, my mother would say I’m a bloody good liar! And we storytellers are liars — we spin yarns,” he confessed.
It was his maternal uncle who encouraged a love of reading in the young Ashwin, for his was a family that wasn’t much into reading books. “During his lifetime he sent me around 400 books, because I was brought up in the typical Bania/Marwari tradition where book-keeping is more important than book-reading. And that, if you have to read at all, you should read the balance sheet!”
Sanghi’s success story began with ‘The Rozabal Line’ which, like many other bestselling debuts, endured a long gestation period. “It was rejected because I was a lousy writer! It was utterly disjointed, going through six rewrites.”
That first foray into fiction came after a visit to the Roza Bal shrine in Srinagar whose backstory obsessed him – to such an extent that his wife was left exasperated. “She told me, ‘You’re an utter bore – only if I go and lie in the tomb would you give me attention!’”
But amid all his research, she did see the genesis of a great story. “Very often, you don’t go looking for a story, it’s the story that finds you,” Sanghi said.
That first book was published in 2008, launching Sanghi on a successful career. “I’ve never looked at the process of writing as an art, for me it’s a craft. I’m a bad writer but a good storyteller – and I would describe my writing as 70% entertainment, 20% education and 10% enlightenment.”
Sanghi spoke proudly about how multiple narratives have enriched India’s storytelling traditions. “We’ve had a glorious tradition of being able to tell stories from our own perspectives. It’s amazing that we can narrate the same story in hundreds of ways. Successive generations have layered those stories with their own sensibilities, their own worldviews.”
Sadly, there was more freedom when he wrote ‘The Rozabal Line’ than there is today. “We’re reading and writing in an environment in which it’s easy to take offence. But one version of the truth doesn’t make another version any less.”
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