Hardly a day passes when I don’t hear someone whining about the quality of Chetan Bhagat’s writing. Some of these people occasionally read his books and columns, most don’t. The truth is also that Bhagat doesn’t care for what he once referred to as “E1s”, the tiny metropolitan elites. His citizenry is E2s, young Indians everywhere who are familiar with English, but aren’t fluent enough in the language to, say, enjoy a Salman Rushdie novel.
In a brief chat with Bhagat on the sidelines of the launch of his latest non-fiction book, Making India Awesome, at the India International Centre in Delhi, he talked about how he deals with the everyday snobbery of the so-called literary authors and readers. “I just carry on, ignore it. My readers also ignore it.”
The event at the IIC was an exception, though. The aim was an interaction between Bhagat, his “elite” (his word) readers and three politician panel members — Shaina NC of Bharatiya Janata Party, Baijayant “Jay” Panda of Biju Janata Dal and Milind Deora of the Congress.
“I know I am not the best author,” Bhagat said, with the modesty of someone who knows he has little competition. “I am the best-selling author. I’m okay with that.”
As for the panelists, he said, “this is going to be a social experiment, let’s see if we can have a sane discussion.” The joke was on the evening prime-time news where all the three panelists make frequent appearances.
The discussion started in earnest, with Bhagat himself moderating the three politicians who tried to sound as impartial as the event occasioned: parliamentarians Panda and Deora discussed problems with India’s Westminster model, why some of the crucial Bills lie stalled in Parliament for years, why the ruling party supports the very issues it opposed while it is in power. NC chipped in in between. This was about “Awesome Governance,” the most important of the four ingredients for Making India Awesome.
(Image from Making India Awesome published by Rupa Publications India)
But because “Awesome Society” and “Awesome Equality” are also ingredients for Making India Awesome, NC and Deora — both of whom by the way come from a fairly privileged background — talked about the hardships they faced early in their careers: a self-assured Shaina NC said she knew early on in life that her “calling” was politics, but was stereotyped initially because being a fashion designer she was thought unfit for the profession. Deora said when he fought his first Lok Sabha election in 2004, one of his competitors referred to him in the campaigns as a “Boston-returned guitar bajaane waala.”
The only tense moments were when Bhagat grilled Deora on the “Congress party’s terrible image”, and whether it had anything to contribute to India’s future. “We made mistakes, and paid heavy prices,” Deora replied mildly, before suddenly becoming aggressive, “Columnists like you wrote us off after the Emergency, but we bounced back.”
By the time it was audience’s turn to ask questions, the debate had lapsed into the usual prime-time circus. “You must ask the audience what they think of Rahul Gandhi,” NC said mocking the Congress leadership. Deora rebutted, “You must ask the audience what they think of Modi’s15 months.”
The “elite” crowd here wasn’t the usual Delhi literati that often gather at the India Habitat Centre or IIC for a book launch. There were a great many first-timers: a bunch of nervous-looking college kids who ensured that at the end of the event they had a selfie with the paperback god; author of a published chick-lit novel who came so she could meet or at least hear her inspiration talk; a bunch of elderly men in the last row who discussed the sad state of current real-estate market in the NCR; a Lady Hardinge Medical college prof who wanted Bhagat to sum up his book in exactly three bullet points.
“When are you joining politics, Chetan?” Deora joked in the end, adding, “If you do I must tell you, you are better suited for South Mumbai than Kendrapara.” (Deora is an MP from South Mumbai, Panda is Kendrapara’s MP.) Bhagat brooded for what looked like really long, and said, “It’s hard, very hard, you know, very difficult. You guys do a job that is completely thankless.” A final afterthought: “Not everyone has to be an engine driver. I would be happy being someone who makes announcements.”
