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The sharp shooter!

Photo: Sandeep Saxena

Lucid Tarun Tejpal in New Delhi

Tarun J. Tejpal says literature is a way to understand the incorrigibly plural world. For him the job of literature is not to present complex things simply but to bring out the complexity of the world we live in. “Literature refines us. It makes us compassionate…makes us look beyond our narrow concerns.” Exactly, and he does it with precision of an inquisitive journalist – at times you feel the J in the middle of his name stands for his profession – in his latest novel, “The Story of my Assassins”, a muscular account of the turbulent times we live in.

Early in the novel he takes a dig at our literary culture where we are moving back to pre-literate age. “For centuries there had been the hunt to find a word for every image, every sensation, every feeling; now we were working at finding an image for every word, every sensation, every feeling.”

He holds the visual media responsible for the situation. But at times the language he gives to his characters is as crude as we find on MTV’s reality shows? “It depends on the characters. The only problem I faced while writing this novel was to find a voice and when I found that rude voice things fell into place.” As for the impact, he says, television is for mass audience while literature is for people who have the ability to put things in perspective.”

The voice gives the impression of a journalist upset with things around him. Is it his story? “Not quite…but there is nothing like absolute fiction. It is as much mine as R.K. Laxman’s ‘Malgudi Days’. As a journalist, particularly the kind of publication I run, you get lots of interesting material, tales of injustice, poignant faces and stories. You publish the facts but the faces stay with you. You want to know the lives of these people, who can’t tell their stories.” This, he continues, how his literary works take shape. “Our English literature has been elitist. Now we are breaking free from the Colonial hangover.” He is against the top-down approach of some litterateurs.

Tarun and his team introduced us to sting operations for public good but now it seems the modus operandi has lost its bite. “Unfortunately, people started misusing it. It depends on the goal. If you want to kill some birds for personal gain then it is not justifiable but if you want to breach the wall of the fort, sting operation is still valid and justified.” With seniors reclining in the offices, youngsters are goofing up with the double-edged tool? “It depends on how the organisation handles the young journalists. I have seen the same person giving opposite results in two different organisations.”

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