Indian Fiction:

So here’s the deal, ever since my first book has released online and is expected in stores soon, many fellow authors have popped up from my friend circle/extended friend circle/ social network. This is a good thing, indeed. For ages we had a limited stock of Indian authors we can call our own apart from the breed that bred outside India. And the ones that flourished here have a different genre. Here’s my personal, really democratically personal list of authors that caught my eye:

Khushwant Singh: He has crudeness about him that I immensely enjoy though I disagree with his comment, where he said that Indian writers in Hindi are not good enough. I wish I could gift him a “Dharamveer Bharti” someday and make him take back his words.

Shobhaa De: She is the diva, more of a jack of all trades and not actively present in fiction.

Sagarika Ghose: I won’t put her into the regular author category, though I loved her “Blind Faith” and hated her “Gin Drinkers”. She would always be the journalist.

Sudha Murthy: I must confess the only writing I have read by her is the Tata story from her and that was really inspiring, being a Mechanical Engineer I identify with her struggle. Her books somehow have an Enid Blyton feel about them (guessed from covers, of course!) I seriously need to buy one someday.

Arundati Roy: Someone please explain God of Small things to me!! I won’t comment on her latest comment. She somehow seems to be trying desperately to model herself to the lines of a distorted version of Suu Kyi. Anyway, no comments.

That covers my list of the older generation.

Next come the new-breed writers and of course it starts as below:

Chetan Bhagat: I give him the credit of revolutionising the young readers. But that’s about it. I enjoyed 3-idiots, liked the latest book too. But somehow something is amiss, still trying to figure out what!

The chick-lit : I don’t remember the names, but there are quite  a few and I do enjoy reading them.

Tuhin Sinha: Never read, but he has a prescence, coz I have heard the name! Some egoistic I am !!

Thats about it.

So I am really excited about the new bred Indians, who have a story to tell. I am one of them, so sure its a welcome change. But I am just worried about what happens next. Here’s what my observation says, either you hit the jack pot or you don’t. (Should I draw a flow chart?) Sounds fun!! So here it goes:

My point is I somehow still today admire the decency and privateness of JD Salinger, Emily Bronte etc. I accept that they lived in a different era and we are more of a open, media intruded society where what catches the eye, sells! But even after going through all the routes I prefer the last little red box of the chart above!
-(c) Dixy Gandhi.