One Point Two Billion - an Interview With Mahesh Rao

Mahesh Rao’s new collection One Point Two Billion brings together thirteen stories, each set in a different Indian state. Crossing boundaries of gender, class, age and religion, the stories explore the tension between tradition and modernity in India. The collection builds on Rao’s debut novel The Smoke is Rising, marking him out as an author capable of balancing wit, insight and humanity brilliantly.

Here, Rao speaks about the challenges of  representing the diversity of India in fiction, his writing routines, and plans for the future. 

Read my review of One Point Two Billion here. 

- Each of the stories in One Point Two Billion is set in a different Indian state -  was it a long term plan to organise a collection like this? When did you begin, and did the plan change over time?

It wasn't planned like that at all. I began to write short stories when I was sending out my novel to agents —  this seemed like a series of manageable projects, in terms of scale, rather than starting a new novel. The one thing I did tell myself was that I would try and make each story as different as possible, in terms of setting, character, plot. But because of the immense diversity in India, whether you're thinking of language, religion, caste or social background, the stories necessarily transported me to different parts of the country. It took about three and a half years, on and off, to complete the collection. 

- How did you decide which thirteen states to write about? Were there any where you started, and just thought 'this is a literary dead end?'

I wrote the first few stories without really thinking about the states in which they were set. But as it became apparent that each one was unfolding in a different state, there was more of a conscious decision later to try and find narratives that could be set in parts of the country that I had not written about. This also began to chime with the title that I had settled on for the collection - I was aiming for a wide snapshot at a moment in time. 

I wouldn't say a 'literary dead end', but there were states that I wanted to write about, where the stories simply wouldn't come. Or if they did, they were real duds. I tried really hard with Gujarat and Bihar, but it was a failure of my imagination. I just had to grab the ones that did come. 

- In One Point Two Billion and Smoke is Rising, you look at the conflict between traditional and contemporary life in India. Do you think progress is being made towards achieving a balance, or is the divide too great?

I've been interested in how this conflict is generally and stereotypically represented, and how to look at these frictions in a more nuanced way. India is very often described as a "country of contrasts", which of course it is, but much of this comes from the fact that the visual drama of India's particular modernity seems to be superficially very appealing. So we get a constant stream of pictures of sadhus (holy men) with mobile phones and oxen transporting spacecraft components, or whatever else it might be. And then the focus moves on. But the more interesting and specific stories resulting from the changes in the economy and in society often get lost in the churn. That is what I wanted to look at in the novel and in a few of the stories in the collection too. 

And I think the question of balance is a very subjective one. Who gets to decide what is the right balance, for whom and on what basis? It's the way in which these power structures work and the way in which they come into conflict that really interest me. 

- In a recent talk on diversity in publishing, Nikesh Shukla described an expectation amongst British publishers that Asian characters will behave in a noticeably 'Asian' way. There have been successes in recent years for writers like Sunjeev Sahota, writing very contemporary fiction about a globalised world - do you think there has been a shift in what UK audiences expect from an 'Indian' novel? And how does the Indian literary scene compare with the books that are published in the UK? 

I honestly have no idea what UK audiences expect from an 'Indian' novel, and whether they would even approach it in those terms, as opposed to being attracted to plot, character, genre, themes, the things that would normally attract them to any novel. I certainly think there is a major problem with the people who market Indian novels thinking audiences expect a certain kind of novel; and, as a result, slapping a rather glum sari-clad woman on the cover and hoping for the best. It's just one symptom of the glaring lack of diversity in British publishing, across the board. 

It's really difficult to talk of one Indian literary scene, given that there are more than 20 officially recognised languages, and many dialects, with very rich literary traditions across a range of forms. Given that most people would only read in one, or possibly two languages, translations are the only way that readers within India can discover the literature that is being produced in different parts of the country. And while some publishers are trying hard to support works in translation, there is such a long way to go. It's very much a case of groping your way round your own literature and sometimes discovering a brilliant book. 

- Do you have a muse, and if so what is it - a person, place, or something else?

I don't really believe in muses. It's too much of a burden for one person or place to carry! I believe more in fragments — phrases. images, snatches of conversations, memories — that can ignite. The first spark for the stories in the collection came from all sorts of places: an anecdote about a man peeking at his daughter-in-law through the bathroom window; a magazine article about female preachers in Punjab; a Youtube video taken in a detention camp; a throwaway line of dialogue in Mad Men; a series of photographs of young wrestlers at a traditional wrestling academy. 

- Who are your favourite contemporary authors?

This changes every day but today I'll say Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Colm Toibin, Jenny Erpenbeck, William Trevor, Damon Galgut, Vikram Seth, Percival Everett, Aleksander Hemon, Hilary Mantel and Kazuo Ishiguro.  

- Where is your ideal place for writing?

I scribble notes everywhere but I've only ever written properly in my study at home. In moments of procrastination, of which there are many, I sometimes look at pictures of writing retreats — not because I intend to apply to one, but because it's quite interesting to see where people think might be inspiring places to write. So I gaze at log cabins and light pouring into attic windows and desks on sea-facing balconies, but actually am terrified that I'd be unable to write in a new place. And this is all done while not writing in the place where I am able to write. Very poor, really. 

- What are you working on next?

I am working on a novel but I think we're on a sort of unofficial break. It's become apparent that we both have commitment issues and are just delaying the conversation as to whether we're really going to carry on or not.