Indian writer, Sankar, admired at London Book Fair

Updated on: Wednesday, April 22, 2009

London: Fortyseven years after he created a sensation with his best-selling novel about a hotel in his native Kolkata, Bengali writer Sankar is kicking up a literary storm in the West.

Sankar, whose real name is Mani Sankar Mukherjee, has turned out to be the surprise triumph of the ongoing London Book Fair - feted by academics, lauded by reviewers and mobbed by fans.

From heavyweights such as Vikram Seth to relative unknowns, Sankar's admirers have lined up to be photographed with him.

At age 75, Sankar couldn't be a happier man today.

His 1962 novel "Chowringhee" has been translated into dozens of Indian languages, sold hundreds of thousands of copies in India and Bangladesh and made into a film that is a Bengali cine-classic.

But for all his success in India, he has been a virtual unknown in the West.

"For 47 years I had this typically Bengali arrogance about me. 'Let them come to me,' I said, 'I won't go to them'," Sankar said.

"That is what happened. And now I feel relaxed. You know, it's been worth the wait," said Sankar with a broad smile.

"When 'Chowringhee' was first published and became a bestseller, many people in Kolkata began gossiping, 'Oh, he is an illiterate. What does he know about writing'."

Does he feel vindicated perhaps?

"No, no. Not vindicated. I feel relaxed, just relaxed."

Sankar, who is a household name in Bengal and much loved by book-lovers elsewhere in India, is among 50 writers who are in the British capital for the April 20-22 book fair, which has an India focus this year.

"Chowringhee," a page-turner that chronicles life in a hotel called Shahjahan as a microcosm of life in post-independence Kolkata, has been universally hailed by British literary critics in the runup to the book fair.

For more information visit : www.headlinesindia.com

Indian writer, Sankar, admired at London Book Fair

More Education news