Overwhelmed by the diversity

India seems to have struck Christos Tsiolkas, an Australian author of Greek origin, exactly as how it is portrayed in Western pop-culture.  It has perplexed him with its diversity, the plethora of people and the languages that make this “compact country wonderous”. “I used to think that there was traffic in Australia but not anymore,” he laughs.   

In the City recently, he talked about how his stay here brought out an “at home” factor.
Describing the people with whom he had a chance to interact with as “well-informed”, he says, “An interesting observation was the numerous young people I saw. It’s heart-warming to know that youngsters are interested in writing and literature. It means that they consider such subjects and the sister-branches like politics, culture and society as vital.” 

He was amazed by the commonalities that the Indian and Greek heritage share, one of them being the prime role that the family as an institution played in both cultures.  He fondly talks about his favourite Indian writers and books - be it the hard-hitting work of Rohinton Mistry in ‘A Fine Balance’ which was about how the Emergency movement pinched the poor, the underground realm of Bombay in ‘Narcopolis’ or the crass way in which Devdutt Pattnaik re-visits the Indian epics with his powerful perspectives. Christos adds, “I have an urge now to read books on Indian history as that’s the first way to understand a country’s culture.” 

His books like ‘The Slap’ and ‘Barracuda’ have stirred many a hornet’ nest as they delved into sexual and racial politics in Australia. However, he is anything but scared as he is working on his next novel which is a book on St Paul, and will revolve around his
letters and what faith meant to him.

When asked about the criticism he might face from extremists after the release, he calmly says, “I don’t think about the after-effects. If I did, I would never write my book. I don’t write to provoke or please. I write because I want to.” He goes on to add that as an artiste, he is against censorship of any kind as a censor would mean making an artiste compromising with his work. “There is so much inspiration in India. The best thing about India is that one can get up, have coffee, sit back and watch because there is so much happening in just a few hours,” he
wraps up.