Who is Shashi Tharoor, the person?

Well, I am a person engaged passionately with the world I'm in, and my reactions to it are expressed both through the UN and through my writing. In both my worlds, I address the same set of concerns... we as a human race, where we are going, how we get along with each other. 

Do you think of yourself as Shashi Tharoor, the author or Shashi Tharoor, the UN Under-Secretary General? 

I think of myself as Shashi Tharoor, the person who writes when he can, but for a while has another title. But titles are transient. I have spent 27 years with the UN, and I am devoted to it. I have given a full commitment to the UN through my life and work. But India is also fundamental to who I am, and I don't see a contradiction between them two. In fact, India and the UN are both about different people, having different languages, customs, colours, costumes, living together and dreaming the same dreams. Indian-ness and internationalism are entirely compatible.

How far do your two different careers overlap?

Well; so far there is no overlap. I quite consciously keep them apart, and for a very good reason. As a UN official, I have to maintain a diplomatic discretion. But as an Indian, I feel free to write about and criticise my own country. There is no other country I write about and criticize, as this is my own country and I care about it. Also, writing about India is an escape from my daily work as my books have everything to do with India and my work has nothing to do with it. 

Which do you prefer writing, fiction or non-fiction?

Well, I enjoy both very much, which is why I write both. At the moment, with four works of fiction and five of non-fiction, the balance is slightly tilted towards non-fiction. Fiction demands a space inside your head, to create an alternate universe with people in it who are as real to you as the people you know.

Is writing an inspired process for you, or is it a conscious effort?

For me, it is principally the former... in my fiction, I have never plotted out the charts in advance. The discovery of what my character will do is part of the joy of writing. That said, writing is a craft as well, as the finished product has to give joy to the reader. 

Do you believe that living outside India gives you a better perspective in writing about it?

I don't know about better perspective, but it does give me a different perspective. Though I couldn't write about it unless I'd grown up here. There are NRI writers who have never lived here, but write about it because of their ethnicity... but I feel that you can’t feel the country's pulse unless you've lived it, felt it, breathed it. No one can. Distance does give you the ability to ‘see the woods as well as the trees’. It gives you an overall picture. And that has worked for me, as I write about the larger themes of India.

Where do you see India in the future?

I would like India to make the twenty-first century its own. For that, every Indian should have enough food for nourishment, decent employment, and something to turn to in misfortunes... those are the basics, I think. Of course, that is not to say that the bigger things and the larger aspirations should be ignored... that is great. But they will only come about when the smaller things are fulfilled. 

How do you choose your subjects? 

Each book suggests itself differently. These are the stories that society tells itself, about what our country is and who we are. But there is a set of unifying themes in my books. The very first book told itself... The Great Indian Novel was everything I wanted to tell. With the first novel, you don't consciously choose a subject. Bollywood was about cinema as a metaphor for Indian society. India: From Midnight to Millennium was actually suggested to me by David Davidar of Penguin, I took it as a challenge and wrote it. It was the subject matter of this book that suggested Riot to me. 

What made you join the United Nations? 

I was always interested in International Affairs, and if it were not for the Emergency, I might have joined the Indian Foreign Service. So this was another way of serving the world, and, I hope, indirectly serving my country. The UN, I believe, represents the highest aspirations of humankind for a better world. 

What do you love most about your job and what do you dislike?

The people - I meet people from every corner of the world, and we have a great ability to work together for the common cause in spite of all the differences. I dislike the meetings - far too many of them. Sometimes I have meetings for eight hours a day! l have to do all my other work after that. 

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