Most Indian born English authors, pulp fiction writers and highbrow ones alike, when interviewed, invariably say that they, during their formative years read copiously. They say they read Jaroslav Seifert, Vicente Aleixandre, Heinrich Böll, Miguel Angel Asturias, Giorgos Seferis etc. and -pay attention ladies and gentlemen, this is the important point - also a lot of usual rubbish, like Sidney Sheldon, James Hadley Chase, Harold Robbins etc.. Having said that they apparently smile sheepishly, duly ashamed for having read such rubbish. This is what their interviewers tell us. Let me tell you. I ONLY read rubbish. I have not heard of all the other authors I mentioned heretofore, before this evening. As far as English goes, I started with Enid Blyton, went on to Alfred Hitchcock and Franklin Dixon (Hardy Boys) and then on to Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner, Desmond Bagley, Alistair MacLean etc. as long as I was in school (that means Class 10). By then Sidney Sheldon had started, and I started on him too. I ploughed through Harold Robbins, Irving Wallace, Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follet, Frederick Forsyth, some Leon Uris, Henry Denker (a mostly unknown but excellent author, one of the best I have ever had the good fortune to read), and lately a little bit of John Grisham. Robin Cook of course and Dan Brown (though Cook tends to become a little monotonous with Drs. Stapleton and Montgomery chasing around abattoirs and finding bodies of people strung along with those of cows every few pages and Brown packs in so much thrill in every line that it sometimes becomes overwhelming) These authors have educated me. They have taught me a lot about a lot of things. Most of my knowledge comes not from my school and college and my work experience. It comes from the works of these people. Knowledge about medicine, languages, history, technology, economics, law, international relations, geography.......and for science I have considered Isaac Asimov, that irreverent Russian born American atheistic Jew my ultimate Guru. So now you know, all of you who praise N Ramdas Iyer for his encyclopedic knowledge, whom I owe it to.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 14:41:30 +0000
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