Smoke on the water

July 27, 2011 By Gayatri Reddy

Not all authors add Hyderabad to their itinerary to promote their books, but celebrated writer Amitav Ghosh came to the city for his latest novel, River of Smoke, the second in the Ibis Trilogy because the first in the series, Sea of Poppies, which he released here had “A wonderful reception and a very eager, enthusiastic audience.”

Apart from a responsive audience, Telugu too could be another reason. In River of Smoke, the lead character Bahram Modi, a Parsi opium trader from Bombay keeps hearing the voices of boatsmen talking and singing in Tamil, Telugu and Oriya during his travels. Admitting that language is a factor that pulled him here, Ghosh explains, “In Singapore, in the 19th century, Telugu boatsmen were a major part of a group of boatsmen called Chulias.” And his current book has many Chulias in it.
The author’s city connection just doesn’t end with the language. In his earlier book The Calcutta Chromosome, which is about malaria, the central character Ronald Ross, did a lot of his research on the disease in Secunderabad.
Be it Ghosh, or J.K. Rowling who has written the Harry Potter series, when authors are writing their books, do they think in terms of series and trilogies right from the beginning? Or do the characters evolve, grow and become such a part of the author, that they are compelled to narrate their stories book after book? “Yes, very much so. With me, when I started writing Sea of Poppies, I felt that there were many books in this. The trilogy was an arbitrary number. These characters were so important to me that I wanted to live with them for a long time.”
Changing leads
In most trilogies the central character remains the same, but Ghosh’s lead characters keep changing. If Sea Of Poppies is about Deeti, a poverty ridden widow from Northern Bihar, then River of Smoke is about Bahram Modi. Why?
“If several parts of the book were to merely be a linear continuation, then it would be one book,” explains Gosh adding, “The reason why this is a trilogy is because from the beginning I thought of each book being different from the other with different sets of characters and concerns.” The author confides that as he starts each book he needs to feel free to construct it according to his interests of the moment. So while there is a certain kind of continuity between them, the novels don’t have to be read in a particular order.
Both books are about the opium trade, and like all his other works, the first drafts of these two books too were written on scrap paper with a pencil. “After I have scribbled enough and feel my scribbles have taken form then I write with a fountain pen on nice paper and when I am done there I move to the computer and start writing.” Just like how he can’t go straight to a computer and start keying in his story, Ghosh can’t sit and write wherever there is place either. His two desks, one in his home in New York and the other in Goa are where he can let his creativity flow. The lighting, ambience and atmosphere have to be to his liking.
Another thing that Ghosh seems very particular about is having multiple plots in his books. They are crammed with various characters. “There are so many thousands of stories arou-nd us. Everyday I come across so many different stories. Larg-ely one does this out of interest. I listen to some stories and I just know immediately that a certain story is gripping and I immediately want to write about it.”
Since people have figured out that Ghosh keeps an ear out for stories he says people come up to him all the time and tell him they want to share their life stories with him as it could just be what he needs to write his next book! Instead of telling them he is busy, the poor writer politely listens to them even if he doesn’t find their tales inspiring to write about.
Disciplined work ethics
After he does his research and decides on which story he is going to tell, a disciplined Ghosh gets down to writing religiously everyday from 9 am to noon. He admits that such discipline was difficult when he was in his 20s and 30s when he also needed to work to earn a living. “Those were great distractions, but when you are writing books like River of Smoke it’s a very extended act of conversation and everything in our society is designed to not let you concentrate. Every minute the phone is going off, your head is filled with constant clamour. How do you shut that out, it involves a very intense mental discipline.”
While the backdrop of the first book are the poppy fields of the Ganga where opium is grown, the second part is set in China where the drug is sold. In River of Smoke, Bahram comes alive and though the man is essentially selling drugs (opium) for a living, Ghosh makes him likeable. We feel sorry for him. Though he is essentially a drug dealer, we don’t think of him as a villain. This poor, unlucky-in-love ghar-jamai desperately trying to make money not just to be in the good books of his wife’s family, but also to help his half-Chinese illegitimate son Ah Fatt, gets the reader’s sympathy.
On drugs and his children
In real life what is Gosh’s take on drugs especially since he has two teenaged children? “It’s curious... I have two teenage children and I have been writing this trilogy on opium, so as you can imagine we have a lot of difficult, adult conversations. We talk about it in a very realistic way.”
Yes, Ghosh doesn’t advocate drugs in any form, but he feels the criminalisation of marijuana is stupid. “It’s fairly harmless; less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol which are widely available. This is the stand that the Dutch Government took and there were dire predictions that addiction to other drugs will rise, but it didn’t.”
When talking to children about drugs Ghosh feels it’s best to be realistic. “My children are extremely intelligent. It’s not like I can say to them if you touch marijuana you will immediately go to jail or that you will die on the spot. You need to have a rational argument about it.” Along with drugs like cocaine, heroine... Ghosh feels the usage of performance enhancer drugs and antidepressants like Prozac should be a cause of concern too. He doesn’t approve of the way kids are routinely prescribed and administers mind altering drugs when they act up in school in the West.
His kids may discuss drugs with him, but never his book! “My daughter is a great reader but I don’t think she has read my books and neither has my son. Some day they might,” he laughs, adding his son is more into sports than literature and might just become one of the few “Bengali phelwans as he loves wrestling.”
On Naipaul; his next book
What does Ghosh think was up with Nobel Prize-winning writer V. S. Naipaul when he commented that no woman writer would ever be as good as him? “Maybe he was on opium,” laughs the witty author. He says, “Naipaul says absurd things just to provoke people.” Coming back to the world of opium, how long do we have to wait for the final book in the series? “Maybe four years.” And who will the next lead character be? “That I can’t reveal,” answers Ghosh.

Till then people can enjoy River of Smoke which apart from being a captivating story, also makes the reader an authority on many interesting nuggets of history like how so many plants and flowers like chrysanthemums, camellia, wisteria and others that are seen here and abroad were actually smuggled out of China.

Not all authors add Hyderabad to their itinerary to promote their books, but celebrated writer Amitav Ghosh came to the city for his latest novel, River of Smoke, the second in the Ibis Trilogy because the first in the series, Sea of Poppies, which he released here had “A wonderful reception and a very eager, enthusiastic audience.”

Apart from a responsive audience, Telugu too could be another reason. In River of Smoke, the lead character Bahram Modi, a Parsi opium trader from Bombay keeps hearing the voices of boatsmen talking and singing in Tamil, Telugu and Oriya during his travels. Admitting that language is a factor that pulled him here, Ghosh explains, “In Singapore, in the 19th century, Telugu boatsmen were a major part of a group of boatsmen called Chulias.” And his current book has many Chulias in it.
The author’s city connection just doesn’t end with the language. In his earlier book The Calcutta Chromosome, which is about malaria, the central character Ronald Ross, did a lot of his research on the disease in Secunderabad.
Be it Ghosh, or J.K. Rowling who has written the Harry Potter series, when authors are writing their books, do they think in terms of series and trilogies right from the beginning? Or do the characters evolve, grow and become such a part of the author, that they are compelled to narrate their stories book after book? “Yes, very much so. With me, when I started writing Sea of Poppies, I felt that there were many books in this. The trilogy was an arbitrary number. These characters were so important to me that I wanted to live with them for a long time.”
Changing leads
In most trilogies the central character remains the same, but Ghosh’s lead characters keep changing. If Sea Of Poppies is about Deeti, a poverty ridden widow from Northern Bihar, then River of Smoke is about Bahram Modi. Why?
“If several parts of the book were to merely be a linear continuation, then it would be one book,” explains Gosh adding, “The reason why this is a trilogy is because from the beginning I thought of each book being different from the other with different sets of characters and concerns.” The author confides that as he starts each book he needs to feel free to construct it according to his interests of the moment. So while there is a certain kind of continuity between them, the novels don’t have to be read in a particular order.
Both books are about the opium trade, and like all his other works, the first drafts of these two books too were written on scrap paper with a pencil. “After I have scribbled enough and feel my scribbles have taken form then I write with a fountain pen on nice paper and when I am done there I move to the computer and start writing.” Just like how he can’t go straight to a computer and start keying in his story, Ghosh can’t sit and write wherever there is place either. His two desks, one in his home in New York and the other in Goa are where he can let his creativity flow. The lighting, ambience and atmosphere have to be to his liking.
Another thing that Ghosh seems very particular about is having multiple plots in his books. They are crammed with various characters. “There are so many thousands of stories arou-nd us. Everyday I come across so many different stories. Larg-ely one does this out of interest. I listen to some stories and I just know immediately that a certain story is gripping and I immediately want to write about it.”
Since people have figured out that Ghosh keeps an ear out for stories he says people come up to him all the time and tell him they want to share their life stories with him as it could just be what he needs to write his next book! Instead of telling them he is busy, the poor writer politely listens to them even if he doesn’t find their tales inspiring to write about.
Disciplined work ethics
After he does his research and decides on which story he is going to tell, a disciplined Ghosh gets down to writing religiously everyday from 9 am to noon. He admits that such discipline was difficult when he was in his 20s and 30s when he also needed to work to earn a living. “Those were great distractions, but when you are writing books like River of Smoke it’s a very extended act of conversation and everything in our society is designed to not let you concentrate. Every minute the phone is going off, your head is filled with constant clamour. How do you shut that out, it involves a very intense mental discipline.”
While the backdrop of the first book are the poppy fields of the Ganga where opium is grown, the second part is set in China where the drug is sold. In River of Smoke, Bahram comes alive and though the man is essentially selling drugs (opium) for a living, Ghosh makes him likeable. We feel sorry for him. Though he is essentially a drug dealer, we don’t think of him as a villain. This poor, unlucky-in-love ghar-jamai desperately trying to make money not just to be in the good books of his wife’s family, but also to help his half-Chinese illegitimate son Ah Fatt, gets the reader’s sympathy.
On drugs and his children
In real life what is Gosh’s take on drugs especially since he has two teenaged children? “It’s curious... I have two teenage children and I have been writing this trilogy on opium, so as you can imagine we have a lot of difficult, adult conversations. We talk about it in a very realistic way.”
Yes, Ghosh doesn’t advocate drugs in any form, but he feels the criminalisation of marijuana is stupid. “It’s fairly harmless; less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol which are widely available. This is the stand that the Dutch Government took and there were dire predictions that addiction to other drugs will rise, but it didn’t.”
When talking to children about drugs Ghosh feels it’s best to be realistic. “My children are extremely intelligent. It’s not like I can say to them if you touch marijuana you will immediately go to jail or that you will die on the spot. You need to have a rational argument about it.” Along with drugs like cocaine, heroine... Ghosh feels the usage of performance enhancer drugs and antidepressants like Prozac should be a cause of concern too. He doesn’t approve of the way kids are routinely prescribed and administers mind altering drugs when they act up in school in the West.
His kids may discuss drugs with him, but never his book! “My daughter is a great reader but I don’t think she has read my books and neither has my son. Some day they might,” he laughs, adding his son is more into sports than literature and might just become one of the few “Bengali phelwans as he loves wrestling.”
On Naipaul; his next book
What does Ghosh think was up with Nobel Prize-winning writer V. S. Naipaul when he commented that no woman writer would ever be as good as him? “Maybe he was on opium,” laughs the witty author. He says, “Naipaul says absurd things just to provoke people.” Coming back to the world of opium, how long do we have to wait for the final book in the series? “Maybe four years.” And who will the next lead character be? “That I can’t reveal,” answers Ghosh.

Till then people can enjoy River of Smoke which apart from being a captivating story, also makes the reader an authority on many interesting nuggets of history like how so many plants and flowers like chrysanthemums, camellia, wisteria and others that are seen here and abroad were actually smuggled out of China.