Paul Theroux in Bangalore!

“You’ve got be hefty and tall to meet Paul Theroux”, remarked a guy next to me while we waited patiently to get his autograph. I had grossly underestimated the number of people interested in travel writing and Theroux’s popularity in the city.
Landmark, the bookstore, had invited him for a talk on his experiences as a travel writer on 13th Feb to their store at Forum, Bangalore. I grabbed at the opportunity to meet him even though I had to travel across the city for an hour and a half, get caught in a traffic jam caused by a local temple function and do an Olympic sprint from the parking area to the 2nd floor to get there.

A tall, clean shaven man without his trademark spectacles, Paul Theroux was extremely at ease with the audience. He spoke animatedly, gesticulating with his hands, about his experiences in Uganda, Hong Kong, China, and the UK, his friendship with V S Naipaul, the passion for trains and the journeys across different countries. Listening to him, one could feel the passion this man had to travel and how he transferred this to us.

Some unique insights from him on writing and travel:
Travel writing cannot happen without travel.
Good writing involves a lot of reading.
Having a mentor is very important. I was fortunate to have met Sir Vidia.
Take a train from here to Mumbai, talk to people, see the life around you.
India is a world within itself – a quote he attributed to Anthony Burgess, a famous British novelist.

Q&A at the end of the session:-

Q. Do travel guides, travelogues give a better preparation or colour one’s perspective?
I usually refer only maps before a journey. Maybe after the trip, I’ll read books about them to know about other’s perspectives.

Q. Your take on censorship of content required e.g. cartoons of Prophet Mohammed
While some books like Lady Chatterley’s lover were unnecessarily banned, cartoons or phrases that inflame a certain set of people is not correct. Rudy Giuliani kept mouthing the word Islamofacsists in his speeches while running for the Presidentship. No, I don’t think the cartoons were in right spirit.
ps: There was a light moment when he compared Lady Chatterley’s picture on the cover page to Shilpa Shetty.

Q. How do you cope with loneliness during your travels? Do you miss your family, friends?
In my train journeys for the book, the Imperial Way, I made only two phone calls and one of them didn’t get through! All of you have the small handheld phones. But having a phone always ties you down to the caller at the other end. Yes writers do have lonely periods, but that is productive in the end. It’s a phase all writers have to go through.

Q. I am a poet of Indian origin and I have come from the US to rediscover India. Have you rediscovered America?
I cannot write poetry, it’s too hard, but I remember many good ones. They just get locked in my head. Poetry is in a cassette in my head. I recall them in leisure.
ps: I thought he was a bit immodest & didn’t answer to the point on this one.

Q. What is your opinion about India’s democracy?
India’s wealth is its poor. You are talented, English speaking, working on lesser wages and help the country’s economic growth.

While getting his autograph on the book ‘The Elephanta Suite’ , I asked him how he coped with food during his travels. He smiled broadly and confessed that he had been really sick in Assam. That’s Paul Theroux for you. Novelist, traveller, writer but without a cast iron stomach.