Flying high with the Patang

From translating novellas of Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay – ‘No Child’s Play’ and ‘The House by the Lake’ as a hobby to serious translations like ‘14: Stories That Inspired Satyajit Ray’ and a translated collection of twelve stories by famous Bangladeshi short story writer Hasan Aazizul Haque, and now a debut novel ‘Patang’ – it has been a path of literature that has been opening up for Bhaskar Chattopadhyay from the time he came into the world of writing as a translator.

‘Patang’ is a fast paced thriller based in Mumbai where familiar situations and places suddenly turn out to be dangerous as a ruthless killer is on prowl, and it is up to Chandrakant Rathod, a private investigator who takes pride in not following the rules, to solve the mystery. During an interview Bhaskar shares his inspiration as a writer and the process of writing his debut novel.

Can you share a few details about your life and events that made you a writer?
I was born in a beautiful little town called Cooch Behar in West Bengal. And I spent the early years of my life in the remote hills of Nagaland, where my father used to work as a Wireless Operator.

We used to live in a lovely wooden cottage, more like an outpost on top of a hill, my father used to have his wireless set in one room, and we used to live in another. Some of the things that I have seen in those unimaginably beautiful hills have remained with me even today, and developed a spirit of adventure within me.

Later on, we moved to a town called Dibrugarh in Assam, where I finished my schooling. Then I moved to Kolkata for my graduation, and on to Bhubaneswar for my MBA. Every member of my family was into some art form or the other. My father used to be in the theatre, my mother has an excellent singing voice. My uncles, aunts, cousins – everyone is interested in art and literature.

Harpercollins that published my first two translations found my concept of translated anthology of fourteen short stories, which Satyajit Ray had adapted into films, interesting. The book went on to become a bestseller. It was then that people started to recognize me as a translator.

Approximately around this time, several ideas of my own were buzzing around in my head, and I soon realized that I had to convert some of them into my own stories.

Quite a thrilling debut, yours is…haven’t you worked on any other ideas/genres before writing ‘Patang’?
Well yes, I have. But ‘Patang’ is the one which has been published first. There are a few other novels in the pipeline. As a writer, I would like to work in several genres so that I can explore a new area, and also to improve my writing. Although, I must say I never choose a genre before starting to write something. I let the story find its place.

The strength of the novel is the narration style…do you have any set ideas about how a thriller should be?
I can only talk about my own writing. I think when I’m writing a novel like ‘Patang’ it has to be very visual in nature. Only when readers are able to ‘see’ the events unfold through the pages will their attention be captured and they will be thrilled and horrified in the true sense of the term. Along with this, the story itself has to be powerful – it has to have a core message, and the entire novel should be woven around it.

What were the high points in the writing process of ‘Patang’?
As with all endeavours of art, there were more lows than highs. In fact! I tripped, stumbled, staggered, fell face first, became moody and grumpy, locked myself in my study, clutched my head and stared at blank pages for days, and often felt ashamed of what I was writing, because I had to get inside the head of a ruthless killer, and it was a very disturbing experience.

But the highs did come. In a mystery novel like this, you essentially spin a number of yarns and throw them at your readers; your readers grab them and try to spin the yarns with you. And then, at the end, you gently pull all the threads back, collect them together neatly and tie them into a single string. That, at least for me, is the high point in the writing process.

Off late new Indian writing is going beyond family, and love stories, and veering towards fiction. Who among your contemporaries do you read? Who are your favourite authors?
To be honest with you, I’m a fan of authors of the past; I have noticed that my preferences usually hover around the classics – like the works of Dickens, Verne, Hardy, Hemingway. I think I still love to dwell in the old world, those fascinating times which I used to read about in my childhood.

I’m a big fan of Jim Corbett’s adventures and his writing has had some amount of influence on my own, I think, as has O. Henry’s. I also like Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Satyajit Ray and Agatha Christie. Modern, contemporary writers write very well, but I’d rather spend my weekend afternoon with the essays of Aldous Huxley, or the lovely, lovely short stories of O. Henry.

What about your future projects? Heard that you are working on a Whodunit!
Yes, that’s a mystery novel that I’m very excited about. It’s called ‘Penumbra, which means that half-light, half-shadow, grey, mysterious region that one notices (or perhaps one doesn’t!) between light and dark. It’s about a young, out-of-luck journalist, who receives a strange and enigmatic letter one day, inviting him to spend a weekend in a bungalow in the suburbs, even as a storm threatens to make landfall.

I wouldn’t like to give away much of the story. It’s a thrilling ride, and I think readers who like cerebral detectives would love it. It’s being published by Fingerprint Press, it should be out around September this year. Soon after, Penguin would release ‘Shiva’ – my translation of two of Moti Nandi’s famous novellas on Boxing, merged into one wholesome novel. Early next year, Harper plans to release ‘Nayak’ – my novelisation and translation of Satyajit Ray’s famous 1966 film of the same name.

By:Rajeshwari Kalyanam