R P Subramanian (‘Mani’) spent the first two decades of his life in Shillong. A science graduate, he went on to become a banker and then quit after 14 years to take up freelance writing. He’s currently based in Delhi. Besides writing he loves music and travel. He recently won the India Today Travel Plus Best Writer Award at a Travel Writing Workshop conducted in Delhi.
Please tell us about yourself. Have you always been a writer?
After graduating in science from NEHU, Shillong in 1977 I became a bank officer, but quit after 14 years to write. I began by writing freelance for newspapers – features for Deccan Herald, middles for the Times of India and Indian Express, a few kids’ stories – but soon realized that this kind of freelancing barely paid the coffee bill. So I took up writing/editorial consultancies to keep the pot boiling. I still like writing for papers when time permits.
What drew you to writing as a career?
That’s a tough one! Most of all it was a kind of deep compulsion…I still don’t fully understand it. This much I can say: as a banker, I was lucky to have had the chance to work in a whole lot of places across the country and to meet diverse people from every stratum of society – particularly, during my eight years in that utterly maddening yet incredibly alive city of Mumbai. All those experiences, the interactions, made me aware of just how little I knew about how much, and created a kind of thirst to learn more and to share my experiences with others. Writing seemed the natural choice.
Have you faced any hurdles in becoming a writer? How did you cope?
It’s tough making a mark as a freelance writer. And freelance writing just doesn’t pay! These, I think, were the hardest lessons, the toughest hurdles to overcome. I realized I needed some kind of income to keep me going while I wrote…at least till such time as my writing itself began to earn something decent. The last thing I wanted to do was go back to being a banker. I looked for work related to editing/writing…and was fortunate to get a break in TERI as editorial consultant.
You are a consultant-writer with TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), what made you sign up for a travel writing workshop?
With TERI, I write primarily on issues related to energy and the environment. Over the years I’ve written over a hundred articles for papers on all kinds of topics – except travel! This workshop sounded like a good opportunity to learn about what’s special in travel writing… and so it proved to be.
Will winning the India Today Travel Plus Best Writer Award at the Delhi Travel Writing Workshop make you switch to becoming a travel writer?
Well… not a full-time travel writer. But I’m certainly keen on trying my hand at a few travel articles; who knows where this path might lead?!
What kind of writing do you enjoy the most?
It’s hard to pinpoint one genre…it keeps varying! Nowadays I enjoy science writing (Gribbin, Feynman), travel (Pico Iyer, Theroux)…and never get enough of humour (Bryson, old MAD magazines, Wodehouse, Thurber.
What is your favorite piece of writing?Tell us about it.
The Mahabharata. I’ve read it (if ‘read’ has any meaning here, there are as many versions as there are humans alive) at least twenty times…and learn something new each time. The characters in it – including the ‘gods’ – are like you and I, so utterly human, with all their frailties and doubts and strengths and weaknesses. Nothing is black or white; there are no clear-cut lines between good and evil, virtue and ice, heaven and hell! It’s reality, it’s eternal… I love it.
What kind of writing do you hate?
Any turn-offs? I shy away from books where the critics write longer books/essays on the books than the writers themselves (for instance, ‘Lord Jim’. It must be a wonderful book, I’m sure…but I’m never going to read it.)
If writer’s block strikes, how do you cope?
I play percussion, make table lamps out of junk, take a walk, do anything except pick up a pen or hit the keys.
Do you prefer writing for yourself or to a brief for clients?
I love writing for myself…but the trouble is it rarely interests anyone else! So I write for others…and enjoy doing it too.
What is the best feedback you received about your work?
A blogpost on water harvesting, which inspired a reader to say he was actually going to go out and do something constructive in the field.
Who is your biggest critic? What has their most valuable piece of advice to you been?
My (late) father. His advice: ‘Nil desperandum!’
How do you see the internet changing the way writing works?
It offers a whole new worldwide medium, the ability to use multimedia and to gain instant worldwide access to readers if you get your ‘positioning’ right. But there are downsides too: the sheer intimidating size of the Web, the bewildering maze of hosts to choose from (everything looks good on the Internet!), the incredibly low attention spans of online readers, and of course serious copyright issues.
What has writing taught you about life?
That true creativity comes not from one’s individuality, one’s ego, but from some collective eternal realm into which every one of us can tap – with patience, with faith.
What qualities of yours do you think help make you a better writer?
Resolve. Empathy. And an ability to laugh at myself
What would your autobiography/biography be called?
‘In search of Equanimity’.
What is your dream as a writer? Any publications you’d like to see your work in?
I would love to write books for kids that kids would enjoy and remember even when they become adults.
What kind of mistakes do you think new writers usually make? Do you have any advice for writers who are starting out on their careers?
The greatest danger – and the most common error – is forgetting who one is writing for. Form an accurate image of the reader…and never forget her/him while you write.
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