I hate killing my characters: Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh talks about the Ibis Trilogy, his characters, the importance of history, India’s contribution to the Raj and more...

 

 

I have a notebook in which I make notes. Beyond that it’s all in my head. I am a completely disorganised person in some ways and if you see my workspace you would think it’s a disaster because it’s just chaos all around me. It is a strange thing — as things get clearer in my mind, my immediate circumstances become more and more chaotic.

 

When I was a student in Oxford finishing my thesis, there was a lot of pressure — and my room became so chaotic that the cleaners refused to clean it. They said it was too dirty. That was a low point (laughs)

 

 

It is not that I play favourites with my characters. It’s the characters who seduce the writer. That’s what really happens. With Shireen, for example, in River of Smoke when she first appears, I had no idea what type of character she would be… It is not a conscious thing.

 

 

Yes, it’s unbelievably painful to write the death of a character. It is really, really terrible. A kind of a horrifying thing because we live with these people for so long. I never want to kill characters. I never do unless it has to be the case. I hate it.

 

 

The word “mistri” is such a common word that we use. It is actually a Portuguese word. If you look at the longer Oxford dictionary, the word “mistri” figures in it. The word “mystery” is also one of the variant spellings. If you look in the dictionary, you will actually find it. The word actually comes from the same route as the word “master”. But that route is very interesting because it also leads to words like “minister” and not just in the sense of a government official, but also in the sense of ministering. There is a whole set of very interesting connections that these words, routes have. I love words, the etymologies of words. When I saw the variants spelling of mistri I thought I must have it. You do see the word spelled that way in 19th century English. 

Coming to “tuncaw”, that word exists. It was very commonly used by the British people. It just meant salary and they spelled it like that.

 

 

You know, it is a very paradoxical thing. India has always been engaged with the world outside. It is so interesting to think, here we are in Hyderabad, which has a large settlement of Turkish people, going back to the time of the Nizam. This was and still is such a cosmopolitan city.

 

I think it is in some ways very important to remember that India has historically had these very long connections with places around the world. So when we think of India as being completely shut off or self-contained, that is a mistake. We have to remember that India is a country that is very intensely engaged with many other parts of the world.

 

Today one of the unfortunate things that has happened is that India’s engagement is completely with the West. For ordinary Indians, when they think of abroad, they think of the US, Europe… We had such close connections with China, South East Asia, across this entire region, with Africa, especially East Africa, West Asia.

 

 

Flood of fire by Amitav Ghosh, Penguin

 

 

I think Shashi is right. We certainly have a case for reparations, but I will always remember what Gandhiji said, it is one of his most moving quotes. He said, “Our struggle is not for reparations, our struggle is to remember what happened so that it never happens again”. The wrongs of history can never be righted. They have occurred, we should move on. 

 

 

It is an interesting question. I think in many ways India is more colonised today than it has ever been in the past… We are sort of uncritically accepting of every idea that comes from the West, whether it is these new, liberal economic ideas, in politics, entertainment or visual landscapes in terms of advertisements. We have just become a dumping ground of the worst aspects of Western commerce, Western ideas. That is really sad. 

 

 

There was so much. For example, the one thing that I used in passing in the Flood of Fire is how Tipu Sultan used rockets. Between Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan, they pioneered rocket technology. Indians were very inventive. Inventing new weaponry, new tactics... It is important to remember those aspects of our past.

 

 

They certainly do and it is not just China, it is also Malaysia, Indonesia, East Africa. Indian soldiers were used to keep these places in suppression. Indians were really the agents of the Raj, the Empire. That historical memory is something we have chosen to forget, but the world around us has not forgotten it at all. 

 

 

The whole premise of democratic government is that there has to be freely voiced criticism of what goes on. If you don’t have that, then what is the difference between a democracy or a totalitarian government or for that matter a monarchy? Because we know in the 

Indian past our kings heard what their courtiers told them, they lived in this echo chamber where they listened to a group of people who would always say, “This is the best… You are the greatest.” That is why that system did not survive. 

 

Any system of modern governance is based upon information. If the correct information does not come back to you, it becomes like a system where the king hears only what he wants to hear. That system will simply grind to a halt. 

Any kind of responsive or agile government puts in channels of feedback. 

 

 

 

There are so many. Sonia Faleiro, Rahul Bhattacharya, Raghu Karnad, Kanishk Tharoor. We are very lucky, in the entire sub-continent, there is an upwelling of wonderful writing.