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Man behind the Wish
Updated On: 02 August, 2009 11:21 AM IST | | Janaki Viswanathan
Novelist Ali Sethi talks about why he took three years and three drafts to finish his debut novel The Wish Maker
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Novelist Ali Sethi talks about why he took three years and three drafts to finish his debut novel The Wish Maker
Tall, lanky and melancholic, Ali Sethi is a spitting image of Zaki, the protagonist of his debut novel, The Wish Maker. The 25-year-old writer from Pakistan, son of respected journalist Najam Sethi and social activist Jugnu Mohsin, has been travelling with his book for nearly two months now.
At the cafe where we're scheduled for a 45-minute interaction, the aura changes. Sethi is restless, animated, his hands thump the table passionately as he makes a point and his Blackberry isn't spared either. Suddenly, he yawns. Coffee? "No, ignore me. I've recently quit smoking, so I've become extra fidgety. Ignore me," he repeats. Tough, considering he's the subject of this interview but I try.
Reactions to The Wish Maker about a Pakistani boy who returns from the States for a cousin's nikaah only to find that his memories of home are in danger of being lost have been varied, says its writer. "Some are surprised, some are pleasantly surprised. Some are startled that Bollywood is so popular in Pakistan. But the one steady reaction is that people are reading it as a sort of national narrative. Which is really unfair. No one book can fully represent the story of several million people or 62 years of one country. People want to know about the North-Western Frontier, martial law, democracy, some of which are topics that I do raise," he says.u00a0
Tall, lanky and melancholic, Ali Sethi is a spitting image of Zaki, the protagonist of his debut novel, The Wish Maker. The 25-year-old writer from Pakistan, son of respected journalist Najam Sethi and social activist Jugnu Mohsin, has been travelling with his book for nearly two months now.
At the cafe where we're scheduled for a 45-minute interaction, the aura changes. Sethi is restless, animated, his hands thump the table passionately as he makes a point and his Blackberry isn't spared either. Suddenly, he yawns. Coffee? "No, ignore me. I've recently quit smoking, so I've become extra fidgety. Ignore me," he repeats. Tough, considering he's the subject of this interview but I try.
Reactions to The Wish Maker about a Pakistani boy who returns from the States for a cousin's nikaah only to find that his memories of home are in danger of being lost have been varied, says its writer. "Some are surprised, some are pleasantly surprised. Some are startled that Bollywood is so popular in Pakistan. But the one steady reaction is that people are reading it as a sort of national narrative. Which is really unfair. No one book can fully represent the story of several million people or 62 years of one country. People want to know about the North-Western Frontier, martial law, democracy, some of which are topics that I do raise," he says.u00a0
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u00a0Ali Sethi strikes a pose on his first visit to Mumbai to release his debut novel The Wish Makeru00a0Pic/ Shadab Khan How do you like the new new mid-day.com experience? Share your feedback and help us improve. Read Next Story Trending StoriesLatest Photos |
