KNOW YOUR AUTHOR: Vikram Sampath

Continuing with our regular trend of introducing to our readers their favourite author, we have today Vikram Sampath the writer who took a different path of story telling through his books 'Splendours of Royal Mysore' and the recently released critically acclaimed book 'My Name is Gauhar Jaan.'

 ‘'Splendours of Royal Mysore: the Untold Story of the Wodeyars' & ‘My Name is Gauhar  Jaan’ both books are historical, why is this fascination towards writing historical or period dramas?

History has been a childhood passion for me, though I must confess that I quite hated it as a subject in school, with the cramming of all those dates and names of kings and queens J But I just feel that history, in particular Indian history, has so much drama, so many stories, which, if told well can be quite fascinating. Along with that the entire journey involved in writing a historical is something I find enchanting. The research that goes behind this almost makes one feel like a Sherlock Holmes ! You enter a dark, detective tunnel not knowing if there is light at the end of it at all and along the way you pick up nuggets that can enrich your narrative. It is quite a thrilling and intellectually enriching and fulfilling process for me!

From being a BITS-Pilani graduate to being a hotshot writer, how did the transformation happen?

Haha, well, there was never really a conscious ‘transformation’ as such. Though like all “good” students in India who were expected to study Science and branch out into one of Engineering or Medicine, I did take to Science and quite enjoyed it as well.

But all along, my parents had ensured that books remained my constant companions in life. The reading bug thus bit me quite early. Being a single child also resulted in books and music becoming my siblings and friends in a way! I think that to be able to write well it is very essential to read a lot, a wide range of genres and authors. It is only then that one can assimilate these and create a unique style of your own.

Coming from a multi-lingual background myself, language was always a plus point for me and I had a flair for it from childhood. I remember how my essays in school would be read out to the rest of the class as ‘model essays’! So, reading and as a consequence, the natural transition to writing, was quite effortless.

Have you ever aspired to be a historian in your growing up days?

Never really, though as I mentioned earlier, history has always been a very pleasant addiction for me. It is sad that the way history is taught in our schools and colleges is so uninspiring, where young people are not encouraged to think beyond some stated facts. So I don’t think I ever thought of pursuing the subject academically. I sometimes wonder if I would have had the same passion to write books on historical themes if I was academically trained in history.  Even now, I find it odd when people address me as a historian, though I think my books at least have made me earn that epithet!

How was your growing up years? How did your family react to your decision to become a writer?

Growing up years was great fun! I did my schooling in Bangalore, at Sri Aurobindo Memorial School and later Bishop Cotton Boys’ School. I was counted among the ‘good’ students of the class, who topped exams and the rest. But then I don’t think I was that typical nerdy, geeky first ranker who just sat and crammed all day! Fun, Sports, music, break-ups (!)—they were all an integral part of my growing up years.

My family has been solely instrumental for inculcating several of my interests, be it in literature or in Indian classical music. I started training in Carnatic classical vocal music quite early in life, when I was 6 years old or so. Music instils a kind of discipline in you which is tough to quantify tangibly. My parents and my grandmother always ensured that I got some of the best books to read. They supported those long years of my research travails without a whimper. Every school vacation would see me headed to Mysore and since this was a completely self-initiated and self-funded project, but for my parents it would have been impossible. My grandmother would help translate reams of Kannada literature related to Mysore, as those days I wasn’t too familiar with the language.  Thus they have been pillars of my strength and I owe whatever success I have had in the literary field to them entirely.

What kind of research did you do for your novels and what were your sources?

This is always a tough question to answer! In India we woefully lack in documentation and we as a nation, as a society have very little regard for our past. So for a modern, unbiased chronicler of today who has no political or ideological agendas to pander to, it is always a herculean task to take a balanced view of the past. It was a famous American historian who had once commented that all works of history are but interim reports! I think understanding and assimilating that philosophy is very essential for a historian. At the same time it is humbling especially when you think you wield the power to judge people of the past through the power of your pen.

My research for both my books have been through field trips, interviews, falling back on primary and secondary sources in English and other Indian languages, newspapers of the times and so on. But then the entire suspense involved in the process where you don’t know what you might possibly stumble upon in the course of your search makes the whole process very enjoyable, and one needs to love the journey a lot to overcome the terrible bouts of depression that one can get into, especially when faced with dead-ends!

For the book on Gauhar Jaan for instance, the task was more arduous because she was a forgotten diva. It was quite an effort to resurrect her from her grave, literally. Along with speaking to musicians and scholars who I thought might know something about her, I had to hunt for documents related to her life and times, her court case papers from the High Court, her mother’s book of poems which I procured from London, accounts from Germany—almost all over the world!

Of course, the research journey gives you an opportunity to travel a lot, meet a lot of new people and make friends in the process—all of which I love doing!

How did the idea of exploring the history of Mysore germinate? What were the hurdles you had to face while writing ‘Splendours’?

I never consciously decided to become a writer and almost always mention that I was an author by accident. I was about 12-13 years old when the famous tele-serial ‘The Sword of Tipu Sultan’ was being aired on Doordarshan. The serial portrayed the king and queen of Mysore in very poor light and this had led to a lot of unrest and disturbances across Karnataka. So it was more out of childish curiosity to know the truth behind this falsehood that I started on my little voyage of discovery---never for once ever dreaming that I would one day write a book on that subject! Over 15 long years of research, I managed to expand the scope of my research to not only the king and queen who had hooked me initially but to the entire dynasty of the Wodeyars of Mysore, covering over 600 years of history therein. That was when several people suggested that since there was not a single book that had presented this history in a modern light, one that portrayed the political, social, economic and cultural history of Mysore, its rulers and people, I should write something on it. The rest, as they say, is history!

The hurdles were certainly there. Not always do librarians and palace archivists take a little boy coming to their venues seeking for information too seriously! So it was a challenge to convince them of my genuine interest in the subject.  The canvas that I had chosen to paint for this book was vast—it covered 600 years of a state’s history and was in a way the story of a modern Karnataka in the making.  So the plethora of characters and events were mind boggling and it was a challenge to sieve through, without compromising on the essentials and at the same time trying to maintain reader interest. Also it is a fact that the South of India is so poorly represented in discourses of national history. I was therefore very keen on getting it published through a national level publisher so that Mysore’s story crosses the parochial borders of Karnataka and gets heard on a national platform.

What made you write about Gauhar Jaan whom most of the world had long forgotten or didn’t know about?

It was in the course of the research of my first book on Mysore that I first came across the name of Gauhar Jaan in the palace archives. Gauhar spent the last two years of her life in Mysore and in fact died there in 1930. The name seemed to have a certain ring to it that attracted me to her instantly. I think Rekha and her wonderful role in Umrao Jaan was what I was always fascinated by and Gauhar’s name had that ring to it that reminded me of this! I wasn’t aware of her music per se, though as I mentioned earlier Indian classical music has been a passion for me since childhood. The fact that Gauhar was the first Indian and woman to record on the gramophone drew me to her life and thus began the journey of rediscovering her.  The few snippets that I gathered about her life seemed to indicate a stormy and eventful life. For someone who was a celebrity in her heyday all over the country, the fact that she had resettle from distant Calcutta to Mysore, and that too at a measly pension sum, seemed to indicate that she had gone through a lot in life. She was perhaps totally frustrated and exhausted by then. I was seized by some strange and inexplicable obsession to unearth more details about her life and that began the journey of rediscovery.

It was a difficult task balancing my regular office work and travels for research and subsequent writing! Documenting the arts in India is perhaps one of the biggest challenges for a researcher. There are undoubtedly several musical treatises that have survived since ancient times. But we know so little about the nature and content of early performances, and more importantly about the lives of yesteryear musicians, that their personal lives and the challenges they faced have been completely lost. Music therefore seldom has a history and survives largely through anecdotal memory.

It was no different in the case of Gauhar’s life. For someone who was a celebrity and a rage across the country, whose pictures appeared on postcards and matchboxes manufactured in Austria, who was India’s first voice to be etched on the shellac disc—is today almost forgotten and unacknowledged, even by Hindustani musicians. She walks the alleys of Hindustani music and its annals as a pale shadow! It is largely raconteurs and spicy gossip generated with little substantiation that is passed off as meaningful research.

Have you met the descendants of Gauhar Jaan while doing your research on her?

No sadly there aren’t any known descendants of hers. She was a courtesan (tawaif) and hence one doesn’t know if she had a definite lineage. I in fact even tried hard to locate her grave in Mysore, but this great singer now rests in an unmarked, unnamed grave somewhere.

What has been the response to your books so far?

It has been quite overwhelming. ‘Splendours’ did a lot of brisk business even up North and that was heartening to note that there was a readership for South Indian history outside South India too. The book was also launched abroad, in London and Chicago, and caught the attention of the Indian Diaspora there.

‘My name is Gauhar Jaan’ sold out in just 2 months of the main launch and is currently in its third print in less than 9 months. Feels heartening to note that the life of a classical musician too has a market! Calcutta was a very special launch since it was Gauhar’s home-town. The fact that the Taj Bengal came forward to sponsor the evening and host it at their ball-room made it more special. We had several Bengali zamindari families who came dressed in traditional attire, including members of the family of the Ghosh’s of Pathuriaghata who were Gauhar’s patrons in her penury days. That added a touch of nostalgia; as also did the fact that an actress came dressed as Gauhar Jaan! Chennai too was a revelation and the Madras Book Club that hosted the launch was surprised to find one of its largest gatherings ever for a book-release function. I knew the city was very passionate about Carnatic music but was pleasantly surprised to see a book on a Hindustani musician too elicit so much positive response.

Of course the biggest surprise was when I was invited by Smt. Sonia Gandhi who had read the book and had good things to say about it in my meeting with her at her official residence at 10, Janpath.

I have been receiving several mails of congratulations from music lovers, readers and collectors from all over India and even abroad. Makes all the effort feel a lot worthwhile!

While every author in India is going in for stories that reflect today’s world, what was your idea behind exploring historical? Was William Dalrymple ever been your inspiration?

I know, I am asked by many of my friends if I would ever contemplate writing a fictional account of my years at BITS-Pilani or my years of MBA and the like! But no, the driving force and inspiration for me in my literary pursuit is different. I feel the past has great lessons to offer, it helps us remain rooted as a nation, as a people, offers us a mirror of sorts where we can identify ourselves and understand our present and future better and along with all this it also has lot of entertaining stories to offer. Hence my dalliance with historical themes would continue I guess. Of course William Dalrymple and Ram Guha have been great influences, as has been Arun Shourie whose incisive and critical analysis of social issues is something I find fascinating. Dalrymple’s narrative style in non-fiction has created a new milestone I guess in the art of history writing.

Tell us more about the writing experience of ‘Splendours’ and ‘Gauhar Jaan’, were there any particular situation in both your stories that you found to be very difficult to write?

For the Mysore book as mentioned, trying to create a coherent narrative that spans six centuries and at the same time one that doesn’t create reader ennui was difficult. I would like to believe that I have overcome that and people liked reading it J Gauhar Jaan was a more difficult task right from the beginning. While procuring information itself was a huge task, putting it all in perspective was harder. I was dealing with the era when recording technology first came to India in the early decades of the 20^th Century. And when it did come, it was women of the courtesan community in both the North and South of India who took to it readily. But shortly thereafter a virulent campaign against them called the Anti-Nautch movement ensured that performing women were all banned and branded as common prostitutes. Ever since the memory of these women has been consciously sought to be obliterated in the larger national consciousness. So as a biographer of a celebrated singer and tawaif like Gauhar Jaan, it was necessary that I kept the gender sensitivity intact. I have always maintained that not being a woman myself was a major handicap for me in this project J Delving into the psyche of someone as flamboyant as Gauhar is a tall order for any man and I think I have only partially succeeded there! I guess at the end of the Gauhar Jaan book, I have transformed into quite a male feminist of sorts!!

You have earned a lot of awards and recognition for your work till date; will you ever try to write a contemporary book?

Serendipity really rules my life and it is usually happy accidents that have chartered the course of whatever I have done. Things that I have planned out meticulously have seldom manifested! So while I don’t think I would be writing a ‘contemporary book’ (by which I think you mean on contemporary theme?) one never knows what the future has in store. At least I am not averse to anything. More than me going behind the subjects of my books, it has been the other way round and I do wait eagerly for the next idea to come looking for me and seize me into manic obsession!

Are there any plans of turning your books into a movie as it gives a good chance to explore the possibilities over the silver screen?

Well, the story of Gauhar Jaan is certainly something I would love to be immortalized on the celluloid. Currently I have received a couple of offers from mainstream film-makers to adapt it to a movie. I have just been wary so far because I think the subject needs a sensitive portrayal; else it just runs the risk of being cheapened and sensationalized.

Who are your favourite authors and which is your favourite book?

Too many to name! Will try and attempt a few here. William Dalrymple’s ‘The Last Mughal’, Ram Guha’s ‘India after Gandhi’, Arun Shourie’s ‘The World of Fatwas’ are all time favourites. But I have enjoyed reading ‘Love in the time of cholera’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jaishree Misra’s ‘Rani’, ‘Emperors of the Peacock Throne’ by Abraham Eraly, ‘Love Story’ by Eric Segal to name a few. Shashi Deshpande is a favourite author for her sensitive portrayal of feminist themes. Ruskin Bond, R.K Narayan and Roald Dahl too have been childhood favourites. Namita Devidayal’s ‘Music Room’ was something I enjoyed immensely as it touched a chord. Currently been reading Suhayl Saadi’s fascinating books ‘Jospeh’s Box’ and ‘Psychoraag.’

Do you think India has become a huge market for reading books? If yes, then what has influenced this change?

Yes, quite certainly. I think there was always a captive readership for books—especially in Indian languages. If we are talking of how things have changed now, it might just be with regard to the increased readership for English books thanks to an increasing number of English educated people, especially youngsters. I think modern technology like the Amazon Kindle and so on will just help in pushing the envelope more for books and that is a good thing to happen!

What’s your take on Indian writers using colloquial language in their books?

Well, personally I am not a fan of this conscious attempt at dumbing down in the name of making literature accessible to a larger audience. It has become a trend these days for many IWE (Indians Writing in English) to harp around hackneyed and stereotypical themes; unnecessarily plug in a lot of sleaze and four letter words to make their work appear ‘cool.’ The formula might have worked for one (or some) author(s), but the flip-side is we now have a whole breed of them who think that is how literature needs to be presented and that is what makes a work a ‘Best seller’. The pre-occupation with market forces and over-the-top marketing and shrill PR exercises that are happening these days for books is something I find quite scary at times! While there is nothing wrong per se in sprinkling some colloquial language in the work to be able to ‘Indianize’ English, the fall back on superfluous themes and writing styles does more harm to literature and readers, in my opinion.

What is that one thing about you that your fans don’t know about?

Now that is a tricky question J I don’t know what to reveal and what not to (not that there are too many skeletons in the cupboard anyway and what you see is largely what you get!). I think a lot of people wouldn’t know (given the supposedly calm demeanour) that I have an awfully horrid temper, which I am trying hard to control these days! Also, tend to get extremely possessive of my close friends and only those who have endured that know how stifling that can get! J

What are your future projects and when is your next book expected to release?

As of now I haven’t yet zeroed in on any particular theme though there have been a couple of topics that I have been thinking about. I might want to make a departure from music and biography to something totally different, of course within the larger perimeter of historical themes. As I said, I am waiting for the next topic to come and possess me!

How is writing as a career? Do you recommend aspiring writers to take up full time writing?

Like all careers, I think it does have its pros and cons. Several publishers are looking for new and fresh voices and therefore it’s a great time to be in the field, especially for young and aspiring authors. On the one hand while a lot of Indian writing is gaining international attention, especially with so many Indian authors winning global awards in the post-liberalization era, there tends to be certain themes (which sometimes is anti-India or rather one that takes a cynical view of her) alone which are encouraged. It is still so tough for Indian authors to get a literary agent abroad.

Writing can be enriching, in some cases it can also be very lucrative, monetarily. But I think India and Indian publishers are still to wake up to realizing the fact that it is the author who is central to this entire business of publishing and his or her interests are what are paramount.  It is sad that the most creative link in the whole supply chain of the book business is the one who is short changed most often! But I am sure this would change in the coming days.

The beauty of writing is that it can happily co-exist with any other profession too and hence I don’t think that one needs to take it up ‘full-time.’ Writing can be a happy stress-buster, even as one carries on with the drudgeries of a boring day-job (like I do!)

What is your message to our today’s youngsters?

Read more, read a wide, wide range of books because nothing else can open the windows of your mind as a book can.

How do you describe yourself in just one word?

Enigmatic

Last not the least a question I like to ask every author I interview, have you read my book ‘Knocked Up’? If no then when do you intend to read it J? If yes then what are your comments?

I have read such wonderful reviews of the book. But sadly haven’t yet got down to reading it since I have been out of India for the last 4-5 months on my Visiting Fellowship for research, at Berlin. Hoping to rectify this immediately on my return to India!