Melvin's blog

Nshima & Curry

Melvin's  Blog

Nshima & Curry

MANY INDIANS EXCEL IN ENGLISH

Is this the golden age of Indian literature in English?
Perhaps not, but in honor of Indian jewelers
everywhere, we should at least call it the gold-plated
age.

In recent years, so many writers of Indian descent have
produced superb novels and exposed more people to
Indian culture than Hollywood and Bollywood
combined.

Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize, Jhumpa Lahiri
won the Pulitzer Prize and Salman Rushdie won an
even bigger prize: Padma Lakshmi. (The Chennai-born
model isn't as prestigious as the Booker, but as
Rushdie knows from experience, it isn't that much fun
kissing the Booker.)

The list of fine Indian writers includes V.S. Naipaul,
Vikram Chandra, Anita Desai, Rohinton Mistry,
Chitra Divakaruni, Amit Chaudhuri and Amitav Ghosh.
And let's not forget about Vikram Seth, whose book
"A Suitable Boy," was BIG. So big, I needed two
cranes to lift it.

The latest Indian to join this esteemed group is Manil
Suri, whose debut novel "The Death of Vishnu"
transformed him from an obscure mathematics
professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore
County to an instant star at bookstores everywhere.
Last I heard, his book was flying off shelves so fast,
Boeing wanted to hire him as a consultant.

Yes, Indians have stormed the world of English
literature and taken at least a few publishing companies
hostage.

Agent: "My client, Mr. Suri, is looking for a new
publisher for his second book. What is your company
willing to offer?"

Publishing company editor: "Mr. Suri? You mean the
great Manil Suri? For him, we're willing to offer a
million-dollar advance, a book tour to 98 countries,
including Afghanistan, and a lifetime supply of Horlicks.
We're also willing to change our name from Simon &
Schuster to Simon, Schuster & Suri."

Agent: "Mr. Suri will be delighted. He didn't think
there'd be so much interest in his textbook on partial
differential equations."

I'm excited about the success of Indian writers partly
because it helps squash the widespread assumption, in
America and other countries, that English is a foreign
language to Indians. I noticed the assumption as soon
as I arrived in America almost two decades ago. Many
of my fellow college students were overly impressed
with my English.

American student: "Where did you learn to speak
English so well?"

Me: "On the plane."

Student: "Wow! That's pretty amazing."

Me: "Thank you. Please fasten your seat belts and
extinguish your cigarettes. We're about to land in New
York."

Even after I had earned two degrees in America, a
university dean suggested that I take an English
proficiency test to enter a master's program. I wanted
to scream: "Do you think all my courses in America
were in Hindi? I've been speaking English all my life
and could probably teach you a thing or two."

With the success of Roy, Lahiri and others, perhaps
more people will realize that Indians can excel in
English. And more publishing companies will pursue
Indian books.

Agent: "I just signed a new client. She's very talented."

Simon & Schuster editor: "Does your client have any
connection whatsoever to India? If so, we're willing to
offer an advance of $500,000."

Agent: "Any connection whatsoever? In that case, I'd
like to introduce you to another client, Bill Jones. When
he was in college, he roomed with a student from India.
Bill learned all kinds of neat things about Indians, which
he has detailed in a fascinating book called 'Keep Your
Hands Off My Chapattis.'"

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