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The average is the peak

Author Amitabha Bagchi on how he is a critical insider in "Above Average"

NEW VISTAS Author Amitabha Bagchi writes how competition can create a community

It started as a story about a guitarist in New Delhi's Mayur Vihar. Today, it is "Above Average", "an autobiography of a generation", published by HarperCollins. It has already sold 11,000 copies. Asked about the early success, debut author Amitabha Bagchi says, "I sent my team to the World Cup, it hasn't won but it has made it to the Super Eight."

Mediaperson Barkha Dutt recently launched the book at the India International Centre. Unlike the typical unwrapping of books, the release was followed by an insightful discussion. The panellists included Antara Dev Sen, Editor, The Little Magazine, Amrit Srinivasan, Sociologist, IIT, Delhi, and Shormistha Panja, Professor of English, Delhi University. Bagchi has been educated at IIT and Johns Hopkins. He teaches at IIT Delhi today. But the novel is not a chauvinistic anthem. In fact, this book serves as a critique of the IIT's triumphalism. "This is my contribution backwards," he explains, "to critique something I love and know." He explains, "It's a critique of the pressures middle class families put on their children to perform. People should try to be the best they can instead of trying to be on the top."

The book revolves around Arindam Chatterjee, his pursuit of IIT, his stint there and his move to America. Simultaneously, Arindam also yearns to be a rock drummer, hiding his visits to the opera from his friends.

Semi-autobiographical

How autobiographical is the book? Bagchi is quick to say it is "semi-autobiographical", where the characters have been inspired by real life but the situations are different.

The book has a "wonderfully simple style" affirmed Antara Dev Sen. Detailed descriptions of actions and situations make the book. It is honestly bilingual and devoid of annotations. In style, Bagchi is influenced by cinema. He says, "I want to put scenes in motions," adding, "the crucial emotional interchanges happen in theme." But it is the influence of the Indian authors that makes him go into the heart of human experience. He admires the work of Hindi writer Krishna Sobti and Bibhuti Bhusan Banerjee's "Pather Panchali". He recounts that in Sobti's "The Heart has its Reasons" a man's nostalgia for the old city's river and chaat make apparent his tremendous love for the city.

A similar attachment to Delhi appears in "Above Average". To Bagchi, Delhi plays an intrinsic part in the story. Be it the greens of JNU or the lanes of Khan Market or the details of Mayur Vihar. Previously, Delhi was written only through its monuments.

He says, "To me Delhi is the percussion background music of the book." He elaborates that the city's crossings, landmarks, become repositories of memory. As a writer he is interested in connecting action, and he hopes that the reader will be able to comprehend the emotions it is played against.

Comparisons with Chetan Bhagat's "Five Point Someone" are expected. But with candour Bagchi says, "The books are different," adding, "Bhagat did help change the dynamics of the market." Ads for the books have been appearing on Radio City. Asked about this tool of marketing, Bagchi turns bashful: "Books in India don't have the market they should. Word needs to go out." In his attempt to sell, the book has been marketed as an IIT novel. He hopes the blurb will prompt people to buy it but hopes too that his readers will discover it is more than just another IIT novel.

NANDINI NAIR

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