Taking a leaf from the book of life

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A still from Slumdog Millionaire

This “argumentative Indian” is articulate, accommodating and being a diplomat in foreign service, has infinite patience. Meet Vikas Swarup, the suave and charming author of Q&A (his maiden novel on which the eight Oscar-winning Hollywood blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire was based), Six Suspects and the just launched The Accidental Apprentice, which by his own candid admission, has come out in nine long years.

So, is he a lazy writer or simply a busy man? “Well, I don’t certainly possess a professional pen like the accomplished litterateurs across the globe. I only jot down my thoughts at a leisurely pace. If you ask me what am I working on, I seriously have no clue. When I get the creative signals, I stoop to my desk to scribble those spurting ideas,” explains Vikas.
Choosing themes from everyday life, Swarup sources his stories from within India and the Indian sensibilities. “My heart lies here. I know my motherland best and there’s an umbilical connection to it,” he insists. Hence, delineating Indian characters and rendering their journey through a panoramic Indian landscape come quite naturally to him.
Currently posted in Japan as India’s Consul-General to Osaka-Kobe, Swarup never hesitates to motivate youngsters whenever an opportunity arises.
Already tagged as the most eagerly awaited page-turner of 2013, The Accidental Apprentice speaks through a female voice to its readers. Albeit it’s become a habit for this writer to put forth a narrative that is already a movie script. Nevertheless, no feelers have been sounded out as yet on this front for his third novel. Ideally crafted into a Bollywood-ish social-thriller in which a young woman gloves in a tempting opportunity to steer a billionaire’s company, provided she hurdles over a series of seven tests, the novel aptly rings true to its genre, thereby keeping the nail-biting suspense alive till the last word.
But before we wind up, we are extremely curious to know, are there any plans for his silver years? “To cut the long story short, I am basically a storyteller. So I’ll keep asking myself even at the dusk of my life, do I have it in me to still surprise my target-audience as an amusing raconteur?”