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Nineteen-year-old Harvard fresher Kaavya Viswanathan was an achiever,
almost an over-achiever. The attractive daughter of doctors was a
straight As student. So it came as no surprise when she was accepted
at Harvard, nor was it so extra-ordinary when she told her counsellor
that she had written a novel.
What was surprising, though, that when How Opal Mehta Got Kissed,
Got Wild and Got a Life was published and made plenty of ripples
in teen literature and plenty of riches for the sophomore - Kaavya
signed a two-book deal with a publisher (Little, Brown & Co)
for some half-a-million dollars and there was even a film deal with
Miramax in the offing - Harvard's magazine Crimson revealed that
entire passages of the novel had been lifted from the works of Megan
McCafferty.
At first Kaavya denied the charges but, subsequently, admitted
to “unintentional and unconscious” plagiarism. McCafferty's
refusal to accept Kaavya's apologies was followed by more claims
of passages from Opal Mehta having been plagiarised from the works
of a whole slew of writers, which included Salman Rushdie. (Rushdie
was magnanimous and blamed the publishing industry for putting such
pressure that the teenager was reduced to quick measures.)
Little, Brown & Co. had earlier decided to republish the novel
with the offending passages omitted, but after the fresh plagiarism
claims, the company recalled all copies.
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