Shobhaa De’s new book ‘Sethji’ explores ‘political churnings’

JAIPUR - Novelist Shobhaa De is moving on from teenage angst and the joys of growing up to Indian politics. Her new fiction, “Sethji”, will explore the “big political churnings” in contemporary Indian politics.

“I think the climate is just perfect for a novel to explore the interesting political processes. Characters like Amar Singh and Mayawati have mesmerized Indians for a long time because of what they represent to their constituency and to the future of the country. The book has always been staying with me. It is not set in Mumbai - it covers the nation,” De told IANS at the Jaipur Literature Festival.

“Sethji” will be published by Penguin Books India.

Contemporary Indian politics has been the “the most amazing thing” that has happened in the last six decades, De said, talking about her book. “There is so much of s**t”.

“People in villages sell their votes. Even in elite urban constituencies like south Mumbai - candidates who have paid to contest have been marked out at the last moment. In the end, we will always get a dynasty - from Mahatma Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi - that is the history of Congress. Unless the dynastic structure changes, nothing changes in India,” De said.

“In a young India (where 75 percent of the population is below 40), which is so aggressive, the elected representatives are treated like ‘maa-baap’ figures of authority. We treat them like demi-gods and you cannot challenge them. The youth will have to kick them in their butts for change,” she said.

De, who spoke at length about the problems confronting the youth of the country, felt “education was the good part of the social churning in modern India, but the bad part was joblessness”.

“I guess the depressing situation in the job market is forcing students in Australia to get killed,” she said.

The youth, observed De, “was in the midst of a psychological breakdown like the dhobi ka kutta (the washerman’s dog) - they do not know where they belong”.

“They are going through an identity crisis. Our kids are thinking global and don’t know where they belong. The signals are mixed because even the parents have forgotten what the great Indian values are. It is very hard in a dynamically changing India to pin down what the values are. I meet a lot of young parents who ask me how cool is cool. I tell them that the rules have changed,” she said.

Talking about her “home” Mumbai, where she grew up as a model and went on to edit the Stardust cine-magazine and then write her books, De felt that “Mumbai was still living in a kind of bubble”.

“Has Mumbai woken up? The situation post 26/11 is something which still continues to trouble. Nothing has changed and there is complete callousness and neglect for the last many years because of the nexus between the police and politicians. Mumbai is still as vulnerable as it was. We have the best police force in India but they are completely crippled,” she said.

The bright side of the “Superstar India” - the book De released in 2009 - is of women stepping out their homes to work.

“My generation is the first generation when women stepped out to work in big numbers. Today, it is something every young woman has grown up with. Women have found a voice,” De, who has 16 books in her kitty, said.

The books explore subjects as diverse as corruption, mafia, the life of Bollywood, sexuality, young blues and changing human relationship.

However, the writer made it clear that “politics was not an option for me”.

De wrote on the joys of growing up in her last book “S’s Secret”.

The literature fest is from Jan 21-25.