The moment of a gesture

Chandrahas Choudhury has been travelling across the country, reading from his novel Arzee the Dwarf. DNA caught up with the young author after his reading in the city.
 
Q Tell us a little about how you decided you would be a writer.
I always knew I would write. I was drawn to literature quite early—I studied English literature at Hindu College, Delhi University, and then did an MPhil from Cambridge University. I finished studies in 2003, and worked for two years as a journalist with Cricinfo. I had all along been reading many magazines and newspapers on the Internet—The Guardian, New Criterion—I wanted also to be a part of the world that I had learnt so much from, and have made contributions to some of the newspapers and magazines I read.
 
Q Do you recall how you set about writing Arzee?
When I quit my job in 2005, I knew I wanted to write a book. Arzee’s bare bones were already there in a short story I had written some while ago. The story had some potential, and I had thought that I could develop it into a longer work, a novella, maybe. I wanted to work on something that was tightly plotted and ran fast. In this instance, both the pressure of the circumstances and the energy of the character’s mind offered me that chance.

Q How did the idea of a dwarf first strike you?
As Eudora Welty put it: “Every feeling waits upon its gesture.” I think every idea waits upon its execution too. While the work takes years, the inspiration comes in just the flash of a moment. I had seen this little man get across the road as I sat in a Mumbai auto—he was short, but also extremely handsome. And I wondered at how life must be for him—like his creator had played a joke on him, reducing his size that much, yet making him attractive.

Q Did you draw on your own experiences too?
I did, of course, in putting Arzee in different situations—but as you go along, you get under the skin of your character, and the character lives for you. Narration, point of view, direct conversation, controlling time in the narrative—these things had to be worked out too. In all, this work took about three years, and I worked through six drafts. I might have written twice as many words as actually got into print—it was important to leave things be, to not explain too much. As when Arzee gets up and looks for his chappals, then thinks his mum is missing, but finds her chappals and feels comforted wearing them…there is little more to tell in a situation like that.

Q Do you sometimes fear that you might have achieved your best already?
I felt most vulnerable when I quit my job and decided to write, staying at home and behind my desk and having to explain to my family what I was up to. I was poor then, and it was difficult to explain what I was attempting. Now, having done this much, I feel I have less to feel vulnerable about. I know there might be people about me making a big noise, ut as far as I’m concerned, I’d like to focus on the particular problems of the next book.
 
Q And what would that book be about?
I do have something I’m beginning to think about—but I’d rather not give the plot away! I’m going to attempt something very different, in tone.