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A love for ruins, Geoff Dyer

British award-winning writer Geoff Dyer professes his concerns for the dilapidated foundations of old heritage structures in Rajasthan.

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Back from the recent Jaipur Literature Festival, Geoff Dyer is preparing to pack his bags soon and head back home. His mother is ailing and for the UK-based author, it is top priority to be with her till he jet-sets to Australia for the literature festival there. However, that’s not the only thought on Geoff’s mind.

On the way to Jaipur for the meet,Geoff stopped by in Jaisalmer to soak in the city’s glorious past. However the author rues, “I was 15 years too late.”

He explains: “My wife had come to Jaisalmer 15 years ago. She had always maintained it was magical.” However, Dyer’s maiden trip to Jaisalmer was filled with despair. The foundation of
the heritage structures in the city rotting away has become a prime concern in his mind.

Dyer refers to his conversations with the authorities in charge of the forts in the desert city. “Lots of backpackers are increasingly choosing to stay at the forts. With the rising influx of foreign tourists into Jaisalmer, it is only going downhill. However, authorities are working hard to reverse the process and say it will take more than a decade to completely eradicate the problem,” he informs.

India’s glorious past has influenced the Somerset Maugham Award-winning author so much that he has even begun writing a book on the ancient ruins of Hampi (a popular tourist destination in South India). The author who chose Varanasi as the setting for his latest novel Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, admits, “Though I haven’t been able to finish it yet, Hampi reminds me of the lost city of Incas with its huge boulders and majestic ruins.”

In India, as part of British Council’s Lit Sutra programme, an initiative to bring Indian and British writers together on a forum, he feels that though not many of his books have found their way into the Indian publishing industry, Indian writing has become part of the British society. He points out, “Indian writing is very much a staple part of the British tradition.”

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