Amit Chaudhuri in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Author, teacher and musician Amit Chaudhuri was in the city at the author’s meet hosted by Arya Vedanta Publications. Namita Panda of The Telegraph spoke to the acclaimed writer about his latest book, music and more.

lYou have been to Odisha before. What are your memories from those visits?

I was on a trip to Puri in 1969-70 when our hotel was full of America tourists. As a young reader of comic books, I used to be dressed in a cowboy like attire. I remember an American asking me if I was from Texas! Now when I visit Konark and look at those marvellous sculptures, I ask myself if these excellent artists were really my ancestors? Do I have a right to say I have inherited this!

lMoving from Odisha to Calcutta, your birthplace, though you grew up in Mumbai, you have often written about Calcutta in your books. Why this attachment?

As a kid, I used to visit Calcutta during school vacations. So, Calcutta was synonymous to holidays. I loved the terrace available there unlike the high rise Mumbai building I lived in. Also, French windows, red brick pathways, the variety of distant sounds and even the lifestyle there interest me.

lTell us about your latest book Telling Tales.

It is mostly a compilation of columns and articles I have written for The Telegraph and some other journals. There is no particular subject I write about for The Telegraph and I love the freedom that I can write about just anything that I observe or that comes to my mind. The book has essays on varied themes.

lYou are also a trained Hindustani musician. What are you working on now?

This is Not Fusion and Found Music are my two crossover music albums. I had worked with jazz musicians for them. A classical music CD was earlier released by SaReGaMa and now another one mostly based on ragas is ready to hit the market.

lComing back to writing, how do you see the pulp fiction generation of authors in India?

For a friend’s research work on a celebrated Bengali author of pulp fiction, I picked up a Chetan Bhagat book and though I read only few pages, I loved them. But he doesn’t have verbal flair and the authors of this genre are unaware about the different styles of literature that already exist. In a market place of literature, they begin afresh and it sells. But it doesn’t have to be like that.

lYour take on the readership of literature in India.

Indian readership is largely about self help and self-improvement books. At least that is what I see as the general trend here. There are very few people who take pleasure in reading. But slowly there is a rise in such readers who enjoy reading literature.

lYour next book?

I’m writing a novel right now and it is set in the 80s in London. It is about Indian characters though with London as the backdrop. The book may release in India by November.