Nothing average about it

Q&A: Amitabha Bagchi

Amitabha Bagchi graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the mid-1990s and then went to the US for his PhD. He is currently employed at IIT as an assistant professor and his debut novel Above Average is largely set there. Incidentally, Bagchi had completed his book before Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone hit the market and created the "IIT genre" in Indian publishing. JAI ARJUN SINGH spoke to Bagchi about his book, his day job versus his passion, and the democratisation of Indian publishing

Was it frustrating to be "scooped" by Chetan Bhagat?

To an extent, but it doesn't really matter as long as people are buying and appreciating my book. I had finished the first draft by early 2004 and was looking for a publisher when a friend called and told me that Chattu [Chetan Bhagat, who was a year senior to Bagchi in IIT] had a book out.

My heart sank, but in a way it's good that it's taken this long for me to get published because there's been no head-to-head competition with Five Point Someone.

Was Above Average an IIT book from the outset?

No, it began as the story of a guitarist, set in Mayur Vihar. When I began writing it I realised I had to bring IIT into it to provide a concentrated setting for all my characters and their aspirations.

There's a lot of reflection about the things you dream about when you are young and what eventually becomes of them.

Some of the disappointments and setbacks are my own. The writing process was therapeutic for me. When I was younger I had no model for dealing with failure, and I resolved some of that while writing this story.

Also, around the same time, I realised that the trajectories of many of my friends' post-college lives were similar to mine "" they were faced with the same questions, and I worked some of those issues in through the various characters.

My editor was looking to market it as an IIT book, which made me a bit uncomfortable, but at one point she told me, "Amitabha, there's a deep sadness in this book." And I said to her, "Yes! You've finally got it!" (guffaws).

The book's website (http://aboveaveragebook.com/) has a page with "deleted scenes" from the book. Your idea?

Yes, it's like the extras you get on a DVD. When my editor asked me to tighten up the book, I took a few passages out, and now I'm putting those up on the site.

The Internet is wonderful that way "" it gives one the opportunity to share a lot of material around the book. I've also uploaded an audio clip of me reading from the book and [music director/guitarist] Pankaj Awasthi performing alongside.

I like your descriptions of parts of Delhi, Mayur Vihar in particular. Do you think there is a gap in the portrayal of this city in literature?

Yes, there is, especially in terms of contemporary writing. But I don't think people should set out to write "the Great Delhi Novel". The city, like a good percussionist, should be in the background, a sub-strait around the lives of the characters. I've tried to do a bit of that here "" make it obvious how [the protagonist] Arindam's life has been informed by the place he lives in, the spaces he occupies.

There's a new democratisation in Indian publishing "" reaching out to the mass market. Was pricing the book at Rs 195 part of that process?

The overall entertainment spend in India is shooting up, and there's no harm in making a bid for that. We live with too much exclusivity in our daily lives anyhow. Besides, genuine democratisation is still some way off "" reading is still quite marginalised compared to other leisure pursuits.

Is it difficult balancing your day job (teaching at IIT) with the love for writing?

No, there isn't a major conflict in my mind-space. Teaching is my job and it's nice to have one "" necessary too, for most writers in India! And I enjoy my work.