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Greatest Indian Novels: Interview with Irwin Allan Sealy
Greatest Indian Novels: Interview with Irwin Allan Sealy
1. The Trotter-Nama has been nominated as one of the greatest Indian novels of all time. Do you agree?
You mean there are others?
2. Eugene Trotter from The Trotter-Nama made an appearance in Red. How do you keep in touch with your characters?
They flit in and out of the mansion. Eugene keeps reappearing (not just in Red, didn't you spot him in The Brainfever Bird?) but really they're a fading crew. I miss the real people I knew.
3. How did you move from writing longhand to the computer? Does the medium make any difference to the writing?
With the greatest difficulty; now it would be a wrench to go back. Yes, writing emails has changed the way I think and write and even spell.
4. You're a writer who moved to Dehradun. And, we hear, you're a tech-junkie. That seems like an odd combination. How do the two co-exist?
A sadhu with a laptop looks like a tech junkie, while Miss Divya checking her mail in Café Coffee Day is just going about her business, right? By the way, my Doon connection predates my writing.
5. What were your biggest influences while writing The Trotter-nama?
Tristram Shandy and The Tin Drum.
From HT Brunch, June 22
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