The journey that has changed me: Vaseem Khan
The journey that has changed me: Vaseem Khan
The award -winning writer Vaseem Khan tells us how India's "City of Dreams" made him an author
It cannot be denied: Vaseem Khan is a high -flyer. Born and raised in Newham (one of the most disadvantaged areas of Great Britain), Vaseem studied at the London School of Economics, one of the best universities in the world.
He spent a decade on the subcontinent and built up a chain of high-end hotels before returning to Great Britain to write The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, the first of a bestselling series of crime novels with Ashwin Chopra, a demanding inspector from Mumbai. And his unlikely buddy, a one -year -old elephant named Baby Ganesh.
in 2020, after five Baby Ganesh novels, published Vaseem Midnight at Malabar House, the first part of a new series with Persis Wadia, India's first police officer. In the meantime, he received a number of awards, including the coveted historical dagger of the crime writers' Association.
In his new novel "The Dying Day" Persis is on the trail of a 600 -year -old copy of Dantes "Divine Comedy", which was stolen from Asianic Society in Bombay.
Here Vaseem tells us why India is such a convincing backdrop and why it left a lasting impression.
You are a born Londoner. What do you like to do in the city?
I am a great fan of history and I don't find a place more inspiring than the British Museum. I like to take my notes and scribbled notes while I stroll through the various galleries. My favorites are the exhibits from ancient Egypt and the watch department - I love old watches.
Songquan Deng/Shutterstock The British Museum is Vaseem's favorite place in London
You moved to the subcontinent for a decade in the mid -20s. Tell us about the familiarization time.
I essentially went to India as a Western man. I still remember how I left Bombay (as it was called back then) and saw a group of leper and beggars who were running around the taxi rank ... India is an attack on the senses and at the beginning everything was a great adventure. Only later, when I experienced some of the darker sides of Indian society, did I see behind the glittering outer skin of the city.
I went to India with a three -month contract and finally spent a decade there to watch the country developed from a semi -developed, post -industrial nation into an almost global superpower. When I returned to Great Britain, I decided to put all these incredible memories in a novel, and so I wrote the unexpected inheritance of Inspector Chopra, in which we imagine a strict, honest police officer who only retreated from the police in Mumbai at the end of forty. He also has the unusual dilemma to take care of a one -year -old elephant.
These books record my own experiences with modern India and show the light and darkness of a rapidly changing nation. This first book was a Times bestseller, was translated all over the world and allowed me to write four sequels.
Your two crime series play in India. Why is this a convincing attitude?
We in the West are guilty of sometimes mythologized India; to treat them as the land of swamis and snake characteristics. The truth is that the country has so much more to offer, gray layers in the middle of the bright colors.
Aiko3p/Shutterstock The city of Mumbai made an author
India is so great that it is more of a accumulation of cultures - and Mumbai represents a crossroads of its cosmopolitan nature. There are so many fascinating stories to tell in the city, and my books try to use as much of this diversity as possible to illuminate aspects of the country with which we may not be so familiar.
For example, I examine the murder of a wealthy Parsen gentleman in Bad Day at the Vulture Club. The parsing are a small but wealthy and influential community in Mumbai. They do not bury or burn their dead, but let them in stone buildings called towers of silence so that vultures can eat them. What a perfect backdrop for a thriller!
we come to the journey that she has changed. Which region or trip did the most affect it?
I'm not passing Mumbai/Bombay. I am an author today because I lived in India's “City of Dreams” for years. The city got under my skin that I now work on my second series that plays there: historical crime novels named Malabar House series.
The first book, Midnight at Malabar House - now an international bestseller and winner of the Historical Dagger Award 2021 of the Crime Writers' Association - introduced us to India's first policewoman, Persis Wadia.
It is even more important that these books examine a key period in the history of India, just a few years after independence, the horror of the division and the murder of Gandhi. I feel like a documentary filmmaker who records the changes that were going on in Indian society when the country retained the reins from the British. Everything packed in hopefully gripping crime stories!
Which trip do you want to repeat?
I went to Beijing over a decade ago and worked there for a few months. It was incredible. Interacting and understanding with the Chinese was something special. Most of the Chinese I met at the time were quite satisfied with their government.
A photo story/Shutterstock The Chinese wall
Of course, things have changed since then because the country has opened and people have become more conscious how other nations work. My best memory is how I rode on a camel on the Chinese wall. I don't know what exactly a camel did up there.
Do you still have a dream destination you haven't seen before?
Resolute Island in the Hocharktis. Years ago I wrote a historical crime novel that plays on a series of islands known as Queen Elizabeth Islands. The focus of the book is a small community of islanders who are known as inuit.
CC BY-SA 3.0 Resolute in the Hocharktis is Vaseem's dream destination
I put the book there because I was enthusiastic about the area: temperatures under forty, crashing icebergs, polar bears. In the end, I decided not to submit the novel because I felt that I needed authentic experiences first -hand before I could do justice to the story. One day ...!
Are you a planner or onlookers?
Anal planner. I am this sad person who turns more energy to create travel routes for a vacation than for the actual vacation. Even if we never stick to it, the fulfillment of a plan laid on paper - a plan that mathematically optimizes the number of sights visited in a certain period of time - is its own reward.
Hotel or hostel (or camping)?
I worked in the 5-star hotel industry for 10 years and had many opportunities to try the goods, so I'm a little spoiled. Nothing goes through a good hotel. Tip: First of all, you should watch the toilets. If you shine, you are exactly right here.
What was your most important travel experience?
I got an Indian and my family traveled from England for the wedding. Then they accompanied us on our honeymoon. (Yes, we are very Asian.) We visited the Taj Mahal, then Jaipur and finally flew down to spend a week in beautiful Goa. The trip remains a valuable memory of my late parents.
Finally, why travel?
Imagine that the first people have decided not to leave Africa. Travel is built into our DNA. We are a restless, curious species. If this curiosity, new places, new miracles to search for new experiences, would die, we would die effectively. This also works on an individual level. The day I decide that I don't want to travel anymore is probably the day when I redeem my chips and make the last trip that we should all make.
