In Conversation with Kamesh Ramakrishna
1.
Why do you think mythology was the one for you?
As a child, mythology was fantasy that made me feel strong
and good. When I was bullied, in school or in the neighbourhood, fantasizing
created alternative worlds where the oppression did not exist.
[1] Imagining the
stories and imagining what I would have done if I had been there was both
therapy and training to empathize.
2.
Mahabharata attracts a lot of authors these
days. Why do you think this happens? Why it attracted you?
The Mahabharata is not only rich in stories, it is rich in
characters. A character has a life of its own and that makes it easy to use. In
addition the Mahabharata supplies the plot plan and all the writer has to do is
fill it in!
Why did it attract me?
Definitely the flexibility of the plot! Also,
the Mahabharata gives karmic reasons for so many characters that it is amusing
to imagine modifications.
3.
Who are your favorite characters from
Mahabharata? Are there some characters on whom you focused more on your book?
I have no favorites!
This book is about Devavrata/Bhishma and focuses on the
parts of his life that the Mahabharata neglects to say anything.
4.
I was wondering what exactly the cover of your
book means? I couldn’t decode the real sense from it. If you would like to tell
more about it and its reference with the book?
NOTE: I think that the cover should be replaced for the
planned re-launching, so the comments below are probably irrelevant.
The cover shows a stylized flower, possibly a lotus,
burning. I wanted it to hint that this is a novel about a war. Also, the lotus
is a symbol for India, for the sub-continent that the mythology calls
“Jambu-dvipa”, the Continent/Island of the Jambul.
How did I come up with this cover? Leadstart’s cover
designer came up with a number of cover, but I did not like any of them. Because of the ways in which I’ve re-framed
the epic, the traditional portrayals of Mahabharata characters do not work. The
idea of Bhishma in my book is not an old man with a long beard! My book does
not have 11 armies consisting of over 1 lac horses and elephants, and 20 lac
humans. The warriors in my book do not wear golden armor, carry long swords by
their side, have composite longbows. They are not helped by the gods or other
magical beings, nor do they have super-weapons.
So, it was very hard for the designer to come up with
something. But, in one of the designs he
had a secondary motif of the flaming flower. I liked the motif and we
experimented with how to use it and add a person. But there was simply no way
to show any of my characters. So we went with just the motif.
5.
Mahabharata is a very fragile yet very strong
tale. How you dealt with it in the long run?
I would disagree – the Mahabharata is not fragile at all.
Generally speaking it is a perennially fresh story. The weak points are,
frankly, interpolations and they are there because this epic was modified to
carry messages and theories. The Bhagavad-Gita is completely unnecessary for the
epic, especially since other places in the Mahabharata (Shantiparvan) give different
advice on how to rule and take responsibility for actions. Making Krishna into
an avatar of God is unnecessary and some ancient manuscripts do not make him
God – none of the things he does requires his god-hood to sustain the story.
I am still working on novels based on the life of other
characters that would fit with the narrative in the first book. Maybe 4 novels.
6.
What can readers expect from this book? What is
the x-factor for freshness in this tale? What does your book have which can
make people distinguish it among the rest of the pile?
My book replaces a mythic world with a realistic one. That will
make people think about the reality of India’s history, whether archaeological
discoveries support or describe events that could be the source of the myth or
of parts of the myth.
The x-factor for reader who knows the Mahabharata is the
focus on Bhishma and what his life was like and what he really thought when he
died.
How to distinguish it from the rest:
The story is set in the Bronze-Age India of 2000 B.C.E..
There are no gods, goddesses, miracles, or other magical events or actions or
objects. The technology is restricted to what could have been available around
2000 B.C.E.. Technical and Scientific Knowledge is also restricted to what we
know was known at that time.
7.
What is in store after “The Last Kaurava”? What
will be the next venture?
I am working on “The Last Matriarchs”, the story of Kunti
and Draupadi.
If by “next venture” you mean some other novel – I am
working on
a) Something entirely different, or
b) A story with Ashvatthama as a main character set in
modern-day India, or
c) A collection of stories from the Mahabharata focusing on
the psychology of the main characters.
8.
Do you prefer reading mythology or you are open
to all genres? Who all your favorite writers, your favorite books and genres?
I read many different kinds of books. For a long period from
the age of 13 to about 45 I read a LOT of science fiction – good, bad, mediocre,
whatever – Asimov, Clark, Niven, Pournelle, van Vogt, Ellison, … I’ve read Georgette Heyer and I’ve read Gore
Vidal; I’ve read folk stories from all over the world; I’ve read modern novels
and I’ve read Henry Fielding’s “The History of Tom Jones, a foundling”. I don’t
think of my reading as genre-driven anymore, though “history” is probably a key
component.
My favorite authors have changed with time, so I am going to
sample from different times of my life: Gore Vidal, Robert Graves, Isaac
Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Yukio Mishima, Jack London, Roberto Calasso, Marvin
Harris, George Gamow, Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Imre Lakatos, U.R.
Anantha Murthy, R.K. Narayanan, A.K. Ramanujam, Thomas Mann, Enid Blyton, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, … Some of these authors didn’t even write fiction…
My favorite books – I don’t think in these terms but here
are five … Gore Vidal’s “Creation”, Robert Graves’ “Julian”, Calasso’s “Ka”,
Asimov’s “Foundation, books 1, 2, 3”, Mishima’s “Spring Snow”, Ramanujam’s
“Folk Tales”, Russell’s “Why I am not a Christian”, Lakatos’ “Proofs and
Refutations”, …
Oops, it’s more than 5…
9.
How was your journey with the book? From writing
to publishing it, what all hindered the path and what made it smooth?
The path to publishing the first book has been a long and
meandering. I first conceived of a novel based on the idea that the Mahabharata
(The Great War) was a result of the Sarasvati drying up around 1900 BCE, during
the height of what is called the Indus Valley Civilization, and the evolution
of Hindu “Dharma” from that. That was 1991. I wanted to select episodes and
modify them to reflect the proposed historical event, but the more I worked at
it, the more it became clear that the background had to be built up and when I
tried that the project became huge.
In 1992, I contacted A.K.Ramanujam and made a fool of myself
because I knew very little about him (other than that he had written an
anthology of folk stories). He was very kind. He read my summary and agreed to
read the whole thing and told me to call back in a few weeks. I then read other
books by him and freaked out – he was a giant of Indian literature and I had
called him like he was my next-door neighbor. I did not have the courage to
call him back, and when I finally did a year later, I found out that he had
just passed away. I can only look back in horror & embarrassment.
In 1993, I mentioned this project to a close friend and he
was excited – he suggested that I should make it an “Internet book”, publish a
page with the background and one episode and invite the world to add episodes.
He even had a prologue to a story he had written (It was much better written than
mine) that he said he would add. I could
not see my way to doing this – maybe I should have.
In 1996 I showed my stuff to a well-known Indian writer. To
be fair, he read it. His response was that I would never finish the project as
it was conceived. He was right. That version was unwritable and perhaps
unreadable.
Life went on and I stopped working actively on the book. I
tried many different approaches to re-starting it, but failed. There was no
story.
I gave up and wrote two papers on the idea and published in
a Canadian journal and an Indian journal. Nobody read them, as far as I know.
I tried writing other novels, just to keep in practice. As a
result, I have a number of unfinished novels sitting in my To Do list.
I started up again in about 2010. The project was still
hopeless.
Then in 2013 I came up with the idea of writing just the
life of Bhishma, since he was such a critical character in my concept. The first
draft was finished in about 6 months, I worked with two editors for about 12-18
months and the book, The Last Kaurava a novel, was published in November 2015
by Leadstart.
What hindered? I was the biggest obstacle. I had/have
terrible work habits – I only survived in the computer software job market
because I was better at problem-solving than most people. I’ve pulled a rabbit
put of a hat at the last minute a number of times. None of this helped me with
writing this book.
What made it smooth? My family’s support, without a doubt. I
credit the writing workshops I went to over many years in New York and Boston –
they did not help me with this book (they had no Indian background), but the
exercise of writing for an audience that gave critical feedback improved my
writing. But I also credit the first editor (Jayashree Anand) I worked with – I have never believed that an
editor could help me, but her detailed feedback was truly fantastic. It helped
me re-doing the first draft into a novel that could be sent to publishers.
10.
Any part of the book which:
a.
You want to change.
I removed the frame story from the version published in Nov.
2015. I also moved some of the discussions from the main text to an Appendix.
The resulting story moves a bit faster.
b.
You find the best.
I like the opening chapter.
c.
You can re-read till death.
Don’t want to do that!
d.
You memorize by heart.
I will not do that – I will colour my other writing.
11.
I have noticed in all my reading experience that
people have played with the story of Mahabharata. Young authors mend the truths
sometimes. What have you done to avoid this?
I do not avoid it at all! I want to change anything that has
magic, gods, anachronisms, etc..
-
My Bronze-Age story will not have a boy breaking
a window by throwing a stone.
-
My story will not have steel long-swords which
only came with the invention of steel!
-
There will be no gods, goddesses, rishis with
magic powers, rakshasas, yakshas, apsaras, etc.
-
There will be no beautiful palaces built of gold
and silver.
-
Characters will have jobs…
12.
Why the word “LAST”?
Devavrata’s step-brothers died without children and
Satyavati asks her son, the Vyaasa (who is writing the story) to father
children for them. So, Pandu and Dhritarashtra are the Vyaasa’s children! Not
descendants of Kuru, at least not by birth. In my story, Devavrata has a son,
Shikhandin (not true in the original). So, Shikhandin is a Kaurava. Bhishma and
Shikhandin are the last Kauravas and the story begins with Shikhandin dead.
13.
Share your favorite quotes from the book?
I am trying to avoid remembering such writing details.
14.
Should the readers come with fresh mind to your
novel or they can have some pre-conceived notions after reading the title?
Yes, absolutely! But if you come with preconceptions, be
prepared to see them broken.
15.
Would you like to pass on a message to your
readers before they try your book?
This is a relaxed book that will make you contemplate. Any
fighting is brief and people do not fire arrows until their arms are tired. If
you know the Mahabharata, you will find that just reading the first page will
challenge the original in many, many places!
About the book:
"“I am Amba.” The voice rang in Devavrat’s ear
like a forgotten melody. ... Ancient memories from lost time veered in and out
of focus. The memories came with flooding questions. How could it be Amba? What
was she doing, here and now? ...I must see her. He tried to turn. The stub of
an arrow, sticking under his left shoulder, made him pause with every move,
however slight.
Devavrat Bhishma is dying, wounded. He tells Yudhishthira the
story of how the Kurus established Hastinapur as a trading outpost on the
frontier of Panchnad. The river Sarasvati dried up creating a crisis for
Panchnad as cities were abandoned and immigrants poured into Hastinapur looking
for safety and support. The Kurus under Devavrat address the crisis with social
policy. The success comes at a cost to Devavrat’s personal life. Devavrat’s
narration becomes part of the epic poem of the Great War. The story survives,
memorised as oral history by the Kavi Sangha, the guild of bards. A thousand
years later, the story is written down by Vyaasa, the head of the Kavi Sangha,
with help from many others.
“No Indian ever hears the [epics] for the first time ... It
requires great courage, therefore to re-imagine [the Great War] as the author
has done. He captures the reader’s attention from the start, with a sense of
theatre, making the characters tangible and even more complex than in the
original.
.…The book … conveys the high tension of the immediate.
S. Anandalakshmy, Ph.D.
President
Bala Mandir Research Foundation
Former Director
Lady Irwin College, Delhi"
About the author:
"Kamesh Ramakrishna grew up in Bombay (now
Mumbai) and completed his undergraduate studies at IIT-Kanpur. He went on to
obtain a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie-Mellon University in
Pittsburgh, specialising in Artificial Intelligence. He worked as a professor
and a software engineer; received some patents; was software architect for some
foundational products; was CTO for a startup; and in recent years, has been a
consulting software architect. For over twenty years, Kamesh has been an avid
student of history, archaeology, science and philosophy and the interconnection
between these disciplines. Kamesh has published the core ideas underlying this
novel in two reviewed journals - The Trumpeter (Canada) and The Indian Journal
of Eco criticism. Kamesh lives with his family in Massachusetts."
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