Outlook – July 28, 2019

‘Those in the centre of the nati onal debate must speak out’

Amish, the author who made mythology

cool, is a bestselling Indian writer in

English whose books have sold five mil-

lion copies. His new book, Raavan, the

third in his Ramachandra series, after

Ram and Sita, is the darkest and deals

with a complex character. Amish talks

about villains in our stories, how India

is not proud of its culture and extr-

eme religious positions with Satish

Padmana bhan. Excerpts:

There have been so many retellings of

the Ramayana and yet its power rema­

ins intact. How were you swept by it?

I had heard these wonderful lines—no

Indian reads or hears the Ramayana for

the first time. We are just born with it.

We are a surviving ancient culture and

these stories are in our genes, helping

us explore them, learn from them, cele-

brate them. One reason why our culture

has remained alive is our tradition of

retellings—keeping the soul of the old

but adding something new. We have the

ideal mix of rigidity and flexibility. I

learnt much I write today from my

family. My grandfather was a pandit in

Kashi; my parents are deeply religious.

Your new book Raavan is one of the

darkest you have written. What kind

of research goes into it?

I don’t do research for a particular book.

Whenever I am not writing, I keep

AMISH INTERVIEW

SURESH K. PANDEY

92 OUTLOOK 29 July 2019