My new book set in India, Pakistan, Britain: Louis de Bernieres

JAIPUR - Acclaimed writer Louis de Bernieres, who made headlines with his 1994 novel “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”, says his new book is about his grandfather and is set in India, Pakistan and Britain. Interestingly, the novel is partly a ghost story too.

The book titled ‘SNAFU’ - a military term that means situation normal, all f***ed up - is based on the life of my grandfather who spent his life wandering the world. It is a family saga. I wanted to capture a large portion of the 20th Century, but my little boy gave me the idea that I turn it into a ghost story. I have started it. Part of it will be set in India and in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, Bernieres told IANS in an interview at the Jan 21-25 Jaipur Literature Festival.

The author and musician said he used his five-day stay in the Pink City as a reconnaissance trip.

I will return next year and travel through Pakistan up to Khyber Pass, where my grandfather was stationed. He was in the frontlines during the two wars. Now, I am looking for a story to put him in context. The ghostly part of the book is going to be set in England, Bernieres said.

Bernieres has begun researching for his new book… in a very small way.

I don’t believe in doing too much at a time. I am looking into the structures of average British households, how many servants did they have, what did they do and their normal diet. I am also looking at a small military regiment - the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) which was involved in the great wars. They have a regimental museum from where I am sourcing material, said the writer, who lives in Norfolk with his two children.

Bernieres is known for his books like The War of Don Emmmanuel’s Nether Parts, Senor Vivo and the Coca Lord, The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman and “Red Dog” apart from “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin”, which won the 1995 Commonwealth Writers Prize.

His last book, published in 2008, was A Partisan’s Daughter which is a story of love between a young Yugoslav woman and a middle-aged Englishman set partly in 1970s London and partly in wartime Yugoslavia.

The writer says he has been influenced by Gabriel Garcia Marquez because of the years he spent in Colombia as a teacher.

Bernieres calls himself a storyteller and says he doesn’t restrict himself to any region. If I find a good story in an unfamiliar region - I come back to research it. I have this bit of imperial British impudence - I think the world is mine, the writer said.

While writing ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’, I was primarily interested in the earthquake, but found out about the war. If I were asked to describe the book, I would say it had multiple love stories, not just one… all different kinds of love. Perhaps, that was the reason why I made Carlos a homosexual in the book, the writer said.

I am interested in different kinds of love. When people talk of love, they think of romantic love, but there can be different kinds of love, he added.

The 56-year-old took to professional music six years ago - and gets paid for it.

I play the flute because I trained in it. But classical guitar from the Balkan region is my greatest passion, said the writer, who played a Scottish composition on a Cuatro, a traditional four-string instrument from Puerto Rico, which Bernieres had improvised with 10 strings.

Cuisine is another of Bernieres’s passion, which creeps into his book that encapsulates cultures, people, lores and social history.

I cook Balkan, Turkish, Greek and French food at home, but I love Indian rice, dal (lentils) - and the different varieties of mutton and lamb cooked with spices. Indian meals are normal for me… I would not be anywhere where there is no Indian food. I live in Norfolk, which has two Indian restaurants, he said.

The writer is “crazy about aubergines - the desi variety of brinjals - and cats. I have two at home. I like ginger cats, tabby cats and south American spotted cats.