Devaki Nandan Khatri, Sarat Chan-
dra Chattopadhyay, Prem Chand, etc.
Nanaji (my maternal grandfather), who
ran an Unani and Ayurvedic medicine
shop in a small kasba (town) called
Bairagania, used to be the only person
from the area who knew English. My
father cited him to motivate me to im-
prove my English. Also, my private tu-
tor, Janak Babu, made me believe that
it was possible for a Bhojpuri-speaking,
Hindi/Urdu-medium student like me
to learn the language. After 10 months
with Janak Babu, I started reading
comics in English. Two years later,in 1988, I read my first English novel,
Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan.
The first book I actually bought myself
was A Strange and Sublime Address by
Amit Chaudhuri, for the princely sum of
`30 from a roadside bookseller.
At the time I lived in Patna, where
my father was posted. I decided that
I should first try my hand at writing
newspaper and magazine articles, im-
prove my skills and then progress to
longer forms. I approached a couple
of Hindi newspapers with submissions
but was promptly turned down. Oneeditor even mocked my Hindi. Gutted,
I decided to start writing in English.
A few weeks later, I arrived at The
Hindustan Times office to meet Daniel
Thomas with a handwritten article.
The genial and kind-hearted Daniel
published my first article after heavy
editing and my journey as a freelance
writer began. After a dozen articles and
reviews, I knew it was finally time to
plan my novel. Looking back, I realize
I did not know the first thing about
creative writing—naturally, I struggled
with the plot and characters. After
almost two years, I dropped the idea
of the novel and started focussing on
my studies. While I pursued a master’s
degree, I also prepared for the civil
services and banking exams.I
n 1997, when Arundhati Roy won
the Booker Prize, I was so fired up
that I decided to return to my novel
once again. I bought a notebook and a
fountain pen, the very same day, and
managed to scribble the first draft of
the first chapter of my first novel! In
the next few weeks, I progressed to
five chapters. There was no dearth of
ambition in me: I sent these chapters
to Mary Mount, a well-known editor
at Picador, London right away. She
rejected my submission, but advised
me to keep working on my writing to
improve it. I was thrilled and grateful
just to hear from her.
A year later, I found a job with a
public-sector bank and was posted
to Gurdaspur, Punjab. Homesick,94 february 2020
WHEN ARUNDHATI ROY
WON THE BOOKER PRIZE,
I WAS SO FIRED UP THAT I
DECIDED TO RETURN TO
MY NOVEL ONCE AGAIN.Reader’s Digest