Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway- The Brown Sahebs by Anupam Srivastava

THE BROWN SAHEBS 

BY 

ANUPAM SRIVASTAVA

Blurb 

The Raja of Teekra, a dusty and forgotten kingdom near Lucknow, gets lucky when the British Resident visits him but also brings with him a leading revolutionary. The Raja enters India's struggle for freedom and is rewarded with a berth in the cabinet of free India. He is shocked to see the ministers and officers living and operating like their imperial masters but is suitably rewarded for his silence. As he begins to enjoy the good life of Lutyens' Delhi, the British capital which India's freedom fighters abhorred, he faces only one adversary in his plans—his journalist son Pratap. A novel that will blow you away with its depiction of love, passion, intrigue and betrayal.

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Interview 

1) What inspired you to write a book?

Among most things I did as a child, I enjoyed writing and it was also what got me a little appreciation, so much so that my teachers would sometimes elevate me so much that it became embarrassing for me. Anybody’s friends would treat them as a distant acquaintance if they got too much appreciation. At this stage I was writing essays and stories on suggested topics. Later, I started getting excited about ideas that would come to mysteriously, and I would write them down else they would not show themselves again to me. That was the only way to imprison them. This continued and became a way of life with me – some ideas became poems, some others short stories. The bigger ones lent themselves as the basis for novels.

I have been inspired by good books and good writers, all of whom have inspired me.

2) What advice do you have for aspiring writers? 

The path of writing may lead you astray. You may even get lost as you balance jobs, writing, social and family commitments, but when you begin to count your life’s achievements, the books that you write will probably figure in your top jobs. So, write against all odds.

6) What advice do you have for aspiring writers? 

The path of writing may lead you astray. You may even get lost as you balance jobs, writing, social and family commitments, but when you begin to count your life’s achievements, the books that you write will probably figure in your top jobs. So, write against all odds.

3) What's next in store for you when it comes to writing? 

I am working on a novel. That is all I can say. It is a novel with real people and real situations.

4) Which are some of your favourite books and who are your favourite authors? 

I loved the Russians and their ability to create riveting novels without excessive movement in the plot. The novelists of today would dare not try what Dostoyevsky did with his psychological novels. I also liked Joseph Conrad for his marvellous language, Tolstoy and Dan Brown for their plots, among so many other greats such as Paternak, Lampedusa, Solzhenitsyn, and so on. I also read non-fiction for new ideas and thoughts.

5) If you could have only three books with you, which books would you pick and why? 

The Leopard by Lampedusa which I have read – the book was published after he died. It’s a book I would like to read again and again. Two other I would like to read but haven’t are Brothers Karamazov and War and Peace. Both of these are milestones in world literature and I have, unfortunately, not read these. There are many more on my list.

About the Author 

Anupam Srivastava was born in Lucknow, India, where his novel, The Brown Saheb's first part is set. However, he never lived there as his father and mother, Ashok and Veena Srivastava, lived in different parts of India. However, Anupam spent some of his childhood and most of his vacations in Lucknow where he flew kites and learnt about the craft of pigeon-flying. He went to a boarding school near Delhi, the Motilal Nehru School of Sports, Rai, where he played cricket but earned his college colours at St Stephen's College, Delhi, in cross-country running. He studied English literature (BA Hons and MA), won the college annual poetry prize while pursuing his MA, and being sure his vocation was writing and journalism, became a journalist with The Times of India in 1993. In 1999, he was awarded the British Chevening scholarship by the British government.

In 1999, he left journalism to work with the United Nations Population Fund in India in communications. Subsequently, Anupam worked with Oxfam India Society, Unicef and other development agencies. The Brown Sahebs is his first novel and tells the story of India not taking off its colonial clothing even as it became a democracy.

Anupam is married to Radhika Srivastava, and they have two children who figure in his children's novel, A Family Secret.

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