Dominique Lapierre started writing mega-bestsellers long before personal computers were invented and he isn't about to change the habits of a lifetime. "This is my personal computer," he declares, whipping a distinctly unbranded ballpoint from his top pocket with a flourish. Since he doesn't tap out his stories on a gigabyte-sized personal computer, Lapierre depends heavily on his wife, also confusingly named Dominique (and known in the family as Little Dominique) who has the tough job of filing the reams of research churned out by Lapierre and his writing partner Larry Collins. She's also his chief aide and keeper of the files in all his multifarious charity works.
We've gathered "" Lapierre, Little Dominique and I "" for lunch at the Haveli in the Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi. Lapierre and his wife are on one of their frequent trips to India, checking how his many charities in Kolkata and the Sunderbans are progressing.
It's a slightly different trip in one way because Lapierre and Collins have just published their first book together in almost two decades and the English edition was launched globally last week in India.
Is New York Burning? is unlike their other collaborative efforts in one important way "" it deals with current events. The fast-paced thriller deals with the story of three Arab terrorists who try to smuggle a briefcase-sized nuclear bomb into New York.
Interestingly, Lapierre decided to launch in India because he wanted the book on the stands quickly before the realities on the ground altered beyond recognition (for example, George Bush going out of power or Osama Bin Laden being killed). The publishers abroad all had a one-year waiting list.
For both Lapierre and Collins it was a major effort and a radical break with their past. Their other bestsellers like Is Paris Burning? and Freedom at Midnight were an attempt to bring history to life.
This time the research involved deep-throat interviews with Federal Bureau of Investigation and CIA agents and trips to Pakistan and undercover work on a scale they had never attempted before.
What made them attempt another collaborative efforts after all these years? Lapierre always says that he and Collins were on the phone soon after the 9/11 attacks. Soon afterwards, they began criss-crossing the globe putting together their tale of nuclear skulduggery.
We don't get a glimpse of the menu today because Master Chef Irshad Qureshi and the Taj have decided to turn out a special platter in honour of Lapierre and his wife. To set the ball rolling we are all served a murgh yakni shorba which, I suppose, can best be described as an Indian soup.
Anybody who has ever met Lapierre will know that he is a volcano of genial energy and that charity work has taken over his life. Also, he's utterly unaffected by the fame that has followed him for the past 30-odd years. He reckons off-hand that about 60 per cent of his time is taken up with charities like the City of Joy project and the gynaecological project in Bhopal for victims of the gas tragedy.
Lapierre is a hands-on philanthropist and he visits India three or four times a year to check on the progress of all these ventures. "When you decide to share all your wealth sending a cheque is not enough. You have to know what happens with this cheque and how it can serve best."
Charity can be a costly affair. Lapierre says he now spends about 1 million euros every year. "I have to find 1 million euros from my royalties each year," he says. Even though he has turned out novels that that have been translated into scores of languages, it's still quite a stretch.
Lapierre is proud that his charities are kept low-cost. So, his wife is the key administrator, keeping her finger on the pulse from their house in the south of France. Says Lapierre cheerfully: "If one day you learn we are divorcing it will be because of the papers. Our bedroom is full of papers, the dining room is full of papers, the chairs of our dining room are covered with papers."
How do Lapierre and Collins turn out their bulky bestsellers? They start in an orderly fashion by researching and putting together an outline that can run for anywhere between 100 and 200 pages. Then they sit down at their typewriters separately and churn out chapters and different plots.
At intervals they sit down together and put together what seems to work best. "Larry will write one scene and I will translate it in French. Never ask who has written what in the end." Collins owns the house next door and lives there when they are involved in a writing project.
There have been accidents and missteps. When they were putting together one book Collins was worried about his son's education. So they all shifted temporarily to London. But says Little Dominique: "There were too many distractions. Theatres, restaurants. After a month we decided to go back because no work was getting done."
The waiters arrive bearing silver platters groaning with different types of kebabs and roasted meats. There's a tandoori nisha (prawns), and a melt-in-the-mouth galouti kebab. Next on our plate is a paneer ambi ka tikka and a murg tikka malai. At this point I nervously inquire what the main course will be like if the starters are so gigantic. Don't worry, I'm told. More is on its way but this is the main course. I will draw a discreet veil of the rest of the menu except to say it was delectable and copious.
Lapierre's story is well known. He wrote his first novel at 17 and then became a journalist. He and Collins "" they had met as youngsters "" hunted for a subject that they could both tackle jointly. One day, they spotted a news item about how Hitler had given orders for Paris to be destroyed but it had not been carried out by the city's garrison commander. The result was, of course, Is Paris Burning?
What draws Lapierre back to India so frequently? Don't forget that three gigantic hits have been based in the sub-continent "" Freedom At Midnight, City of Joy and Five Minutes Past Midnight, which graphically deals with the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
City of Joy was, of course, by far the most successful, selling an astronomical 8.5 million copies. Why did it strike a chord with readers? "Because, there's a message that even I was never conscious of," says Lapierre. "It told people that no matter where they are in the world, no matter how bad the situation, they can fight." He has had 1,70,000 letters from readers about City of Joy and they still keep coming in.
Inevitably, Lapierre is eager to talk about his charity work. He constantly grouses that Indians show little interest in his projects and the corporate world seems disinclined to put money into it. "We are so meticulous, making sure we have no overheads, no salaries, no offices," he says.
He insists that he is first and foremost a writer and that philanthropy comes second. "I don't want to be a little Mother Teresa. My vocation is to write," he says firmly. But Lapierre the philanthropist gets a great reception when he visits places like the Sunderbans where he sponsors three power boats that provide medical facilities to the people living in the remote islands. "No politician has ever been received in the Sunderbans like that. I come to a point when with the garlands I choke, I die."
The proceeds from Is New York Burning? are all being donated to Lapierre's charities. And his publisher Shekhar Malhotra has made some unusual moves to prevent pirated editions from spoiling sales. He even invited some of the better-known pirates for dinner and requested them not to pirate the book because the royalties were destined for the "poorest of the poor".
After the meal, the pirates touched his feet and vowed that they wouldn't touch Is New York Burning? "Such a Gandhian way of doing things," says Lapierre. The move was not entirely successful because he was offered a pirated edition by a pavement bookseller in Kolkata.
For the time being Lapierre has already made his reservations to be in Bhopal for the 20th anniversary of the gas tragedy. He travels for about six months a year. Does he always have a book in the pipeline? He quotes a famous Frenchman who summed up life by saying, "You are old when you have no projects."
