Sujit saraf biography template

The novel, which opens in in the north western corner of British India where the Chhappaniya famine stalks the desert region of Shekhavati, ends inas eighty-five-year-old Hari lies dying in the great mansion that he built but never actually lived in. Did you want this to be a book about Marwaris? He died nine years before I was born.

And this is a very Indian thing: People do not keep good records of what happened even in their own family. My father could barely answer any question because my grandfather was 55 when my father was born. So, perhaps there was no connection between father and son. And there is this constraint that once people have passed away, we only speak well of them.

So, everything that was spoken about him was couched in platitudes — that he was a wonderful man, a very religious man and the like. I always wanted to tell his story and I was very fortunate as one of my cousins had made a one-hour recording of an interview with my grandfather shortly before he died. So, the age difference between me and my grandfather is great.

When writing the book, since I did not sujit saraf biography template the man himself, the human being in the novel is entirely how I imagine. I broadly traced the outline of his story and it became as much a story of Marwaris as of the man himself. Naturally, I made changes here and there. So, aside from the general historical research that one must do while writing a historical novel, I travelled to Bangladesh.

I went to the usual places — Rajasthan, Mumbai, Kolkata — and interviewed a very large number of people, some of whom have passed away because they were in their 80s and 90s. They will not talk of the non-cooperation movement. I took their local reminiscences and situated them in a context. I did have to dig up a fair amount of material from some obscure libraries in Kolkata filled with weird Marwari books — books that enjoyed limited circulation.

A rich Marwari Seth will decide a book has to be written about his life. It has to be largely be hagiography. I was fortunate to have access to many such libraries. Everybody knows what happened in and and So, I combined personal accounts of Marwari seths with what we all know about Indian history. Rather than situating his life in history, I often work the other way.

So, I know exactly when the Japanese, for instance, bombed Kolkata. They only bombed it once or twice. Now, I have no clue when that wedding happened. It may have happened with two or three years of that date. So, I exploited that bombing and deliberately brought a wedding to Kolkata, thus bringing all the characters in the novel and having them see the wedding.

S: comes back to her. Those are beautiful plays and. S: they do. S: have some universal themes that perhaps appeal to anyone in any age. S: there is a large part of my lived experience and the lived experiences of people in Naatak that are not covered. S: by such plays. So what does Silicon Valley mean to me in terms of theatre? About 15 years ago.

S: I did begin to write a few plays set in Silicon Valley and. S: began to stage them. Now, there is a push within Naatak. S: by me, of course, that we should stage more plays set in Silicon Valley. S: particularly our lives in Silicon Valley. S: There are many things going on here in our lives and in the world at large that. S: perhaps cry out.

S: to be placed on stage and we do intend to place those stories on stage. S: I can perhaps give one of those, one of those examples. S: This is not particularly Silicon Valley. It's India connected to Silicon Valley. S: You are certainly familiar with Ammachi, 59 S: Hugging Saint who comes, she she's from Kerala, I think, and she travels all over the world once a year.

S: I think, and does her thing which is hugging people and when she hugs them they supposedly. S: feel vibrations. So I could, and this about 10 years ago, I. S: think. She was of course visiting the valley and in the restaurant where I always used to eat at, all my meals in those days. S: So I wrote a farce where a woman. S: modeled on Ammachi, comes and does her hugging.

S: activity in Silicon Valley and of course things go wrong. S: So Naatak has only in the last, Naatak has been around 25 years, but only in the last 10 or 12 years. S: have we begun to explore our lives in Silicon Valley on stage. I: Okay, great. So when you say our lives, I mean that is a segue for me to go to my next question. I: Do you identify yourself as a Desi of Silicon Valley?

And what does that mean to you? S:I do, I do. S: I'm very much a Desi of Silicon Valley. What it means to me? Wow, so. S: Desis didn't choose to be Desis. We were born Desis. What it means to me: a certain set of…. S: You know what? S: I always like to say when I go to Delhi and meet. S: highly westernized Indians, my own family, not necessarily my family, but people I know, I tell them that you have.

S: Desi; what do I sujit saraf biography template them? S: while I, living in America, have. S: Indian tastes but Western values. S: That's what it means, being Desi in Silicon Valley. To me means having completely Indian tastes and. S: completely Western values, having grown up in your standard Western type schools in India, having been taught by.

S: Western educated people, my values of course are Western, perhaps slightly liberal left-leaning Western. S: Silicon Valley values, and you would not be able to. S: distinguish my values from that of my neighbor who's of course, not Indian or. S: from my colleagues who again are not Indians, but if you were to look at my tastes, not my values.

S: but my tastes they are fully Desi. I of course still eat. I just ate some dosa. S: Listen to Indian classical music and I of course stage plays the vast majority of which are in Indian languages. S: But in my case mostly Hindi. S: In Naatak stages, Naatak is about to stage Hindi plays. S: So to answer your question in one line: being Desi in Silicon Valley to me means having Desi tastes and.

S: Western value. I: Okay, that's very interesting. I: Why and how is Desi culture so vibrant in Silicon Valley? S: Well, some of it is just the power of democracy. There are I don't know,S: Desis in the Valley. S: with lots of money to throw around; so they are able to fund it, this culture. When I do. S: my plays, my shows sell out.

S: One of the simple reasons is there are a very large number of Desis with money to watch the play. S: I know of almost every Indian theatre company in the U. S: I know them all. None of them are able to stage plays on the scale that we do. S: and as I said, the primary reason is just the power of numbers and. S: once people congregate in sufficiently large numbers, naturally they want to recreate a bit of the country they have left behind.

S: Hence, Desi culture is. S: prevalent and vibrant. I: Do you think Desis of Silicon Valley are. I: quite distinct from Desis in other cities in the country? S: Hmm, I. S: actually don't know; my best guess is no. S: my guess to the to the extent. We are mostly. S: employed in white-collar professions; a. S: very. S: disproportionately large number are techie type people; we are affluent.

We are somewhat conservative, you know, it is fair to say that. S: When Desis leave India, they somehow in some ways become a little more conservative. S: We send our daughters to Bharatanatyam and our sons to. S: something similar. S: I think we are all the same, Desis in America all over, no matter where they live.

Sujit saraf biography template

S: Especially if they live in big cities, like metropolitan areas like the Valley. I: How does being Desi help you succeed in your work in Silicon Valley? S: Well,in my case the answer is very specific. I run a software company; naturally all my engineers are in India, but of course. S: that's not what you mean. S: Okay, when we Indians, I can now speak as a generic techie, like.

S: when we Indians come to the Valley, certainly there is a large network of Indians which helps us land our jobs and. S: supports us through the. S: problems that arise when you first start out in a career. S: Beyond that, we have, and this is not a Desi thing, being immigrants, we are naturally willing to put up with some discomfort. S: And some inconveniences because that is why we came to this country.

S: To do well in our careers even at the expense of some other things. S: So as you certainly know. S: we Indians who come to the US and that applies. S: I suppose to Chinese immigrants and so and certainly to Mexican immigrants even though they come to do a different type of. S: different set of jobs, we come with the idea of. S: making do and making compromises to succeed in our careers.

I: Give me some examples. What do you mean? S: had no money and my roommates and I shared rooms. Of course. We have two, two rooms. S: We got discarded mattresses from our. S: neighbors, white neighbors. S: Those new mattresses are perfectly fine. S: We are Indian. In the Bay Area, Sujit Saraf is best known as the founder, director and creative head of the Indian theatre company Naatak which recently celebrated its 25th production.

But Sujit also works full time at Lockheed Martin as a research scientist and has recently published a novel. He has also directed feature films. He quotes from Kabir — nindak niyare raakhiye, aangan kutii chhavaay. They clean your nature without needing water or soap. Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like Loading Leave a comment Cancel reply. Toggle the table of contents.

The Confession of Sultana Daku. Add languages Add topic. First edition cover. Sujit Saraf. Historical fiction. Penguin Books India.