»It’s true what they say – it’s not we who control money, it’s the money that controls us When there’s only a little, it behaves meekly when it grows, it becomes brash and has its way with us,« the son concludes about his family’s dilemma. In a delicate interplay of omissions and allusions, Vivek Shanbhag portrays the moral deterioration of an Indian family. But with the sudden wealth comes a new structure of dependencies: Now, the entire family’s prosperity depends on the uncle’s success, and it must be protected at all costs, even from their own relatives, if necessary. The once poor clan moves into a large house in a rich neighborhood, where they get new furniture and new acquaintances. When the young narrator’s uncle enters the spice trade, he changes the family’s destiny overnight. The societal changes observed by Shanbhag in India have undeniably influenced the development of his novel’s characters. It has been translated into 16 languages across the world and highly praised by critics. 2017) is his first novel to appear in German. English is not the language of the street in any part of India.« »Ghachar Ghochar« (2013 Eng. So I had no choice but to write in Kannada. As a writer, it is very important for me to immerse myself in this language if I want to capture the nuances of this world. The author, who is also fluent in English, an important literary language in India, justifies his decision to write in Kannada like so: »Music, dance, folk-songs/tales, and proverbs are born from the language of the street, which has very deep connections with the everyday life of people. Vivek Shanbhag has published five short story collections, three novels, and two plays, all written in the South Indian language of Kannada. His work for this international company took him on extensive travels throughout his country, from which he gained deep insights into modern India and the problems of rapid economic growth. He trained to be an engineer and became a manager at a consumer goods company. That does not.Vivek Shanbhag was born in 1962 in a small coastal city in the Indian state of Karnataka. I like Hemingway's Iceberg Theory: that most of the story is beneath the surface, like an iceberg. I started out writing short stories, a form that demands much discipline, and all of my novels are relatively short. Was this your intention when you began writing? Is brevity a hallmark of your work? Neel Mukherjee calls Ghachar Ghochar "a book of distilled simplicity " indeed, it is a paragon of concision. There is a saying in Kannada, which roughly translates to "one must not try to discover the source of a river " such efforts inevitably end in disappointment. This may have been the seed, but it takes a lot for a seed to grow into a tree and bear fruit. They even knew the codes assigned to hundreds of products he was selling. At that time, I worked with a few salespeople, and I vividly remember visiting a salesman's house where every member of the family was involved in his job.
It is difficult to put my finger on a single incident or experience and say it was the inspiration, but I have a hunch that the seed of the story was sown twenty-five years ago, when I first began working as an engineer. This novel was inside me and growing for several years.
What was your initial inspiration for this novel? Interview An Interview with renowned Indian author Vivek Shanbhag about his first book to be translated into English, Ghachar Ghochar.