Q. Since it is the first novel of its kind in India, was it easy to find a publisher?
A. No, for a long time I tried to get a publisher without any luck. Even the mainstream press was very skeptical about publishing a contemporary slice of life urban story, they were quite happy with the syndicated stuff, Hagar the Horrible, Garfield and Archie’s. but I guess I had to continue somehow, there were several rejections, to the point someone said that Indian readers are not ready for a graphic novel yet, proclaiming the fact that some people seem to have a very clear idea of the reader’s intelligence - which is very disappointing. Also this thing about looking to the West for directions, for things that have already been tried and tested has to stop. We need to be a bit more self confidence about our own creations. At the end Penguin turned out to be the most receptive to the idea. My editor (V.K. Karthika), I feel, was quirky enough to take a huge risk.

Q. So how was your book received in India?
A. The response to the book in India has been very encouraging. Since I am a life -long skeptic it is difficult to be optimistic. It will take time and more graphic novels should be written. This is because we Indians come from a rich oral tradition. Some of us were exposed to word and pictures together, such as the Kalighat pot, Pabuji ka phaad, and the scrolls, which are of course dying and completely isolated from the urban existence. There is still a hierarchy of text in our society where sobriety of printed running words is still the holy cow. But then we’re living in the age of Visual culture. So at some point this has to pick up, right?

Q. What about launching your book in other countries?
A. I am going to London in June, because my book is highlighted at the super prestigious ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) as a part of the world comics festival called Comica. Penguin. who holds the international rights to the book, are looking into the matter. Already a Spanish publisher has shown interest in the project. Lets see. My main concern is that it should sell in India and the genre gets popular here.

Q. Your selective use of colour graphics is interesting. Please elucidate on this aspect of the novel.
A. I like the idea of hybridity and my work uses a lot of such visual tools, such as photographs, old prints, bus tickets, etc. It just adds to the imagery of simultaneous realities. I like the idea of manipulating images (without computer) borrowing older traditions, advertising, magazine designs, architectural blue prints, electrical diagrams, maps and catalogues to create a pastiche of images. To my mind this also matches with the narrative complexity.

Q. More than the contemporary theme, it is your technique which is drawing all the attention. What do you have to say about this?
A. As I said before under best condition my comics are read the way they should be told. It is directly inspired by conversations with people that I have encountered. One could have made a film, or written a novel, my preferred tool is comics, because it compliments the way I speak.

Q. You seem to be the latest entrant in the august group of Rushdie’s Midnight Children. In other words, there is a clear influence of Rushdie in your character delineation.
A. Like some one asked me yesterday, so Sarnath, you write very well, when are you going to write a real novel? What can I say? This august thing, and all these stories about mythical advances given to Indo-Anglican authors makes me a bit nervous. I am a great admirer of Ground beneath her Feet Rushdie’s, as a matter of fact Shame and Satanic Verses are among my favourite novels. However, a lot of it is also pre-Rushdie, such as Borges, Vargas Llosa and of course Marquez. Also James Baldwin, Thomas Pynchon are big influences. All of which, it is most likely, have influenced Corridor.
(a) Was this a conscious choice?
Involuntary, I am very impressionable.
(b) Besides, what was the motivation behind urban characters like Jehangir Rangoonwalla, Brighu, Digital Dutta and Shintu?
People I know or have met briefly or might not have known but think I have or imagined I have met. Jehangir is based on a book seller in Nehru Place who looks like a cross between Abraham Lincoln and Yoko Ono, Digital based on a small publisher on Calcutta, who told me that my book is just an intelligent gimmick, Shintu is loosely based on my ex-landlord’s son.

Q. Have you read graphic novels before? Who were the authors? What did you like about these novels?
A. The list is very long, Will Eisner, Allan Moore, Neil Gaiman, the Hernandez Brothers, Chris Ware, Art Spigelman, are some of my favourites. Of course Daniel Clowes, the creator of Ghost World, and last but not the least. Robert Crumb.

Q. What are you planning to write next?
A. Working on a graphic novel on the eccentricities and scandals of 18th century Calcutta. And a search for a lost inheritance in the form of a leather-bound diary maintained by an Obadiah Ben Aharon Hakohn, who settled in Calcutta during the early part of 18th century. The novel traverses between Kolkata of the present and a babylonesque 18th century Calcutta, with occasional visits to London.

Q. Finally, how was the experience of launching Corridor at Oxford Bookstores in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata?
A. Oxford has hugely contributed to the fact that the book is doing unexpectedly well. The book tour was important to introduce the genre to the ‘non-converted” and the events organised at the three stores in Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata were very popular. They definitely helped in setting up and redefining what is cool and encouraging alternate forms, things that you want to happen in your city but never does. Take you mind away, even for a fraction of a second from the India-Pakistan cricket tour, the elections and India fashion week.

- Interviewed by Satarupa Ray