Encounter with a social laboratory
After being awarded the Crossword Book Award for Pundits From Pakistan, author-cum-sports journalist Rahul Bhattacharya has launched his second book The Sly Company of People Who Care. Like most writers, Rahul, too was interested in writing about people, but he says, “I was also drawn to the raw physical beauty of the place.”
Rahul had visited West Indies, at the age of 22, to cover his first cricket tour and the place stayed within him. “Guyana was the first port of call. And it stayed with me ever since — the topography, light, talk and the racial mix of people. I wanted to go back and explore it. I went back and hoped a book would come out of it, but I had no idea what that would be. I spent a year there, and it wasn’t till six months after returning, that I could properly start writing.”
The aim behind writing about Guyana was to articulate an encounter with a society. Defining the place, Rahul says, “This place is a social laboratory.” Human race is also the central theme of the book. “Guyana is a place defined by race. This cosmopolitan county has an African minority, descended from slaves, and an Indian majority, who are the descendants of the coolies, indentured labourers. Virtually everything in Guyana is race-based,” says Rahul.
However, the biggest obstacle faced by the author was getting the structure right. Rahul adds, “Writing is never really a joy for me, but it can be very fulfilling.”
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