government, religious leaders or other segments of society, but the fact is they have to be told.”
The Indian author was inspired to take up writing by his humble surroundings, and he believes that a novelist is a worker who goes about their task like anyone else.
He maintained that adding flavour to the novel is a must. “The author is like a prism. When a light passes through it, it is dispersed into a spectrum of different colourful lights. That’s what a novel is. It is real life combined with the author’s imagination.”
Pakistani writer and journalist Mohammed Hanif carried on the discussion on Daniels’ book, saying that such narratives, especially the ones focusing on the impact of the Middle Eastern culture in the Subcontinent society, help in understanding the drastic transformation our society had undergone in the last two or three decades.
“When I was a child, the concept of burqa was non-existent there. It started when people started heading to the Arab countries for work and on their return, they brought the culture back with them,” he said.
“In fact, my mother was furious when she saw a woman in a burqa for the first time. ‘She [the woman in the burqa] must be hiding something’ was her response.” Hanif also spoke about the hurdles and perils faced by journalists in Pakistan. “Sometimes, even stories that simply lay out the facts are not published. On other occasions, journalists have to pay with their lives for telling the truth.”
“Even outspoken colleagues are often reluctant to write on certain topics. They leave it for somebody else to work on it and put their life in jeopardy.”
Responding to a question, Hanif said he did not enjoy writing unlike most other authors. “It’s when I have written my work and then moved on to the phase of making it better, or you can say ‘chiselling’ it out, that I start enjoying it.”
Indian columnist Aakar Patel, who believes that non-fictional works create more impact, said that in the Subcontinent, where rampant corruption was responsible for human suffering, there was no need to dwell into the world of fiction. “An author’s responsibility is to show the world as it is... at least that is the case in our part of the world,” he added. “Perhaps it is my frustration that’s compelling me to say this. But there are real stories that need to be told.”