Monday October 25, 2004

V.S. Naipaul in Bangalore

V.S. Naipaul was in Bangalore for the second time this year, promoting his new book, Magic Seeds. The Landmark bookstore had arranged a reading last week. The moment he arrived at the venue, he was mobbed by hordes of photographers. The last time he was in Bangalore, he seemed to be enjoying the adulation, but this time, he just blinked lazily at the cameras, looking a bit like a fat Wiltshire cat. His hands shook quite a lot, and he was not enjoying himself. He looked hot and bothered - one wonders why he has to dress up in hot weather - and he probably just wanted to get the session over with.

The reading was disastrous. Someone decided to get two other people to read from the book instead of Naipaul himself. That was disappointing, for the man speaks almost as well as he writes. He picks his words carefully, and has a considered manner which, though not condescending, appears to be gently appending to every sentence, "Do you understand, my child ?"

The reading was followed by a question-and-answer session. Sensibly, no one wasted time asking him anything about the book. Magic Seeds is something of a sequel to the already boring Half a Life. I asked him, having read him complain in his books about the shoddiness of Indian products, what he thought had effected the creation of the rather posh mall and bookstore we were in. His take was to the effect that "If people need things badly enough, they will happen."  It's not clear that people don't need good roads in Bangalore badly enough, though. Other people asked him how he approached death (with great pleasure), who he kept in mind as he was writing (often one specific person) and how difficult writing gets as one grows older (a lot).

(2004-10-25 06:35:55.0) Permalink