My book is about the nothingness between big events says Amit Chaudhuri

"In the beginning English seemed an alien language," celebrated Indian English author-academic and Sahitya Akademi award winner Amit Chaudhuri said while discussing his latest novel, Odysseus Abroad (OA), with poet, novelist, journalist and DNA editor-in-chief CP Surendran as part of the special Mumbai curtain-raiser to the ninth edition of ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival (ZJLF), organised by Avid Learning, in collaboration with British Council and Penguin India.

Chaudhuri said his work wasn't autobiographical. "I'm asked this after every work, but I beg to differ," he said, explaining: "A regular autobiography maps big events in a person's life. I'm always interested in the mundane nothingness that fills the space between these big events. Day dreaming over a cup of tea, strolling about aimlessly, or shitting can all seem unimportant for most, but for me they're not."

He was surprised when Surendran asked him whether he was wary of falling in love/lust with a feminist just like his character Ananda in OA. "I don't know," he replied, but admitted: "As testosterone-driven creatures, I think men are seldom particular about classifying who they get attracted to." His candour leading to much mirth among the gathering.

OA tells the story of Ananda, a young literature student in London in the mid-80s, and his impossible uncle, Rangamama. Struggling with the shift from an upper middle-class Indian lifestyle to that of a commoner, Ananda forms an unlikely bond with his uncle, who lacks basic hygiene and squanders his handsome pension recklessly. Chaudhuri has loosely based his characters on the relationship he shares with this maternal uncle.

Earlier, he had recounted to this reporter the instance which had inspired OA. "A few years before his demise, I bought a charcoal sketch by Souza – which bore a striking resemblance to my uncle – for only Rs 55,000. A few days later when my uncle came over, he wanted to see the sketch I had put up in my apartment. But when he saw it, he just grunted disdainfully and said, 'You could have asked me to fart for the same amount', adding, 'it's amazing how the work of geniuses and complete idiots is so alike.'

I was stunned, but kept quiet, incredulous at what he'd said." This conversation led to Odysseus Abroad, says the author.

This one-time Leverhulme Fellow at Cambridge University and Samuel Fischer Guest Professor of Literature at Freie Universität Berlin, is an award-winning author, scholar, and musician, who has written five novels besides books of literary criticism. He received the Commonwealth Literature Prize and Betty Trask Prize for 'A Strange and Sublime Address', the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for 'Freedom Song', and Infosys Prize for 'Humanities-Literary Studies' for his literary criticism. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and professor of contemporary literature at University of East Anglia.

Chaudhuri, who is also an Indian classical musician and singer-composer, said: "I want to return to Hindustani classical after several decades," adding, "I'm ready for another album."

ZJLF, which will take place on Jan 21-25, will see APJ Abdul Kalam, Jung Chang, Lucy-Hughes Hallett, Prasson Joshi, Paul Theroux, Elizabeth Gilbert and Naseeruddin Shah attending, among others.