Writer, orator,diplomat,politician- Can you ever bracket him? On that lucky day, when we got the chance of our lives, we chose to interview Shashi Tharoor, the writer.

Sir, you’ve had a glittering career full of professional achievements – and hope it continues. But what do you think is your biggest personal achievement?

My twin sons.(Laughs). On a personal front, I speak with pride, of their success. They’re both in New York – Ishan is working on a novel, and Kanishk is a journalist – both turning out to be very good writers. What more personal accomplishment can you ask for.

Speaking of that, where do you see your writing career going?

At the moment its going nowhere because I’m not getting enough time to write!!

I’ve been a columnist for newspapers in India and abroad, and that’s all I’ve done for a while. I’m currently working on a book about our nation and its place in the 21st century world. Now that book, like any other, requires application of your mind in some way, and sadly, I just have not been able to spend much time on it. So, I have to admit that it’s a bit of a struggle. But, I never want to be a former writer. One day, I’ll get used to being a former minister, but not a former writer.

Your last novel, ‘Riot’ was published almost 10 years back. Can your readers expect a work of fiction anytime soon?

Not immediately, because fiction requires not just time, but some space inside your head too- A space to create and inhabit an alternative moral universe, one whose realities have to be consistent in your own mind. And you can’t allow the spell to be broken by intrusions of reality too much. You can’t easily write a fragment of a novel and return to it eight weeks from now. You simply find you have to reinvent the novel each time you do that. A politician like me has to travel day in and day out, bring work home, stay away from home for a while – those kinds of interruptions are deadly for writing fiction. And I found that an enormous struggle.

So, if I write now, I’d say its more easy to, or I am more likely to write non-fiction. Because non-fiction, its interruptible. Your life is non-fiction. (smiles). Like somebody once said, “I didn’t realize I’ve been speaking in prose all my life”. So even if I interrupt writing (non-fiction), and I’ve been doing it for a while now, I feel I can go back to it at a later point.

Sir, Would you like to speak about your fondness for PG Wodehouse, which somehow reflects in ‘The Great Indian Novel’, perhaps the most celebrated of your works?

(It reflects) Only in sections. (Laughs)

I love Wodehouse – his tremendous escapism, tremendous humor and tremendous sense of alternative reality. And I love his style- his use of language. The ability to make people laugh- its such a gift. Hilarious situations, very cleverly contrived comical plots, and great writing – all of it come together in his books.

As for ‘The Great Indian Novel’, I was once reading a translation of the Mahabharata by the Calcutta professor P Lal who uses a very racy and modern style. I must say that I was struck by the immediacy of the narrative. I said -“I’m reading a 2000 year story that reads as if it could’ve been written yesterday.” And then I thought –“Hey, what if it were written yesterday? What would a contemporary Veda Vyas write about the great events of his time?” So, it started as a sort of playful experiment, taking the frame narrative of the Mahabharata, and some of its style and digressions, its philosophies and situations, and applying them to a retelling of a subject which had fascinated me most- 20th century Indian political history. I think it has really worked – the book is now in its 42nd edition, the new generation is loving it. Readers who weren’t even born when it was written tell me how enjoyable they find it. So what could be more gratifying!

We hope you enjoyed your brief stay at IIM Calcutta. Do you have a message for us?

The message is to be the best you can possibly be. Whether you become a manager, or a professor or a writer – it doesn’t really matter what you are; what matters most is how good you are at it. The worst thing you can do is let yourself down. Do well in your life, and do something good for the country. Best of luck!!

Sir, it’s a privilege to have you in our midst today. Thanks a lot for your words and your time