Why the truth makes for the most interesting stories?

If you have seen ‘Delhi Crime’, currently streaming on Netflix, you are already familiar with the works of Neeraj Kumar, the former commissioner of Delhi Police. It was, after all, a conversation on the Nirbhaya case between Kumar and director Richie Mehta that lead to the series being made. He introduced him to the investigating team and provided access to several legal documents.
The case, along with many others, feature in Kumar’s latest books ‘The Khaki Files’.In an engaging discussion on whether truth is indeed stranger than fiction, non-fiction authors Madhu Gurung and Neeraj Kumar contended that it is definitely “more interesting”.
Gurung, in her book ‘Tibet With My Eyes Closed’, chronicles the lives of displaced Tibetans building a new life in India through a collection of 11 short stories. Through gruelling on-ground research and travelling to far-flung areas in Nepal and India, she wanted to bring the changing face of Tibetans in exile, who now fear for their future, with many asking: “What would happen to us? Would we be forgotten if His Holiness is not there for us?”
But she says Tibetans must seek solace in the fact that “at one time no one thought the sun would set on the British Empire. And it did.” She says that her book allowed her to be true to herself as she couldn’t write what she didn’t believe in.
Non- fiction writers choose the language that they are most comfortable in. Kumar, whose book is also the base for the second season of ‘Delhi Crime’, mentions he chooses crime stories because he has spent an entire career obsessed with crime and criminals.
“As a police officer, you come across strange cases, and strange behaviours by people on both sides of law. Every police officer has stories to tell and you’d find them engaging to hear. Most of them cannot write well enough to be published,” he said.