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Writing is a calling
SUCHITRA BEHAL
He does not like being typecast and believes writers can seamlessly exit from one state to another, through their work of course. So, for M.G. VASSANJI, the departure from the familiar to an unknown terrain did not pose much of a problem. Talking abo
ut his new book, The Assassin’s Song, he said that he had already started working on a book about a Sufi saint who came to Gujarat in the 13th century. “But after the 2002 violence, I decided to begin the story in Gujarat,
which has seen the worst kind of violence.”
When asked why he turned his attentions to India after concentrating on east Africa, he answers, “I really don’t know. The subject brought me here. Initially I wanted to set it in Central Asia but later, as events progressed, I changed it.” Vassanji believes that the main character of the book, Karsan, who is finally forced to take a stand between filial responsibility and his own desires, is much like the writer himself. “Like me, he has literary sensibilities, can’t take sides and is caught in the middle,” said Vassanji. He refuses to be called a “post-colonial writer”, saying that “this is an academic packaging. Each book can be placed under different heads depending on what you want to say.”
For Vassanji, who worked earlier as a nuclear physicist, “Almost everyday I am asked why I finally chose writing. For me it’s not a career it’s a calling,” said he.
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