The Ever After Man

Farahad Zama is possibly the first man to win a romance writer’s prize. So watch out Barbara Cartland

Q Congratulations on winning the Melissa Nathan Prize for Romance Writing. What did your guy friends say?

A Most of my guy friends just know that I’ve won an award; I don’t have to be too explicit. But seriously, the award is for comedy romance, which is a different kettle of fish. And winning any award, especially one judged by such well-known media and literary figures, is an honour.

Q Love, marriage and other intricacies. How does a technology director in an investment bank know so much about these things?

A What a ‘careerist’ thing to say! To paraphrase a great writer, ‘Am I not married? If I am tickled, do I not laugh? If I am in company, do I not observe?’

Writing a novel is about imagination, coupled with discipline. That sounds a lot like software development to me. Too many people in India go into infotech because it is a great career and they cannot wait to stop coding and move up into management. There’s nothing wrong with that, but for those of us for whom programming is a vocation, software becomes an art. I can imagine a programmer’s furrowed brow behind a program’s facade, I can trace the exact thought patterns of the coder that led to an error message on the computer’s screen…. Sorry, you are right: how does a technology director in an investment bank know about love, marriage and other intricacies? Lucky for me that I was born in India and had an arranged marriage.

Q Hachette describes you as Jane Austen in India. Are you honoured?

A Who wouldn’t be? Jane Austen wrote at the dawn of the English Novel when various conventions like point of view and characterisation that we now take for granted were still fluid. Three hundred years later, her books are still fresh and people love them. I will be delighted if my books are still available on a Mumbai footpath 30 years down the line.

Q Do you read any romance writers?

A I read pretty widely across genres. To be a writer, I think that first you have to be a reader. I have met people who say that they would like to write a book, but don’t like to read. That’s like saying that you want to be a composer, but don’t want to listen to music. Every book an author has read has some influence, however tiny, on his or her writing.

Q Your book reminds me a bit of RK Narayan.

A RK Narayan is a genius. When I started writing The Marriage Bureau For Rich People, I thought of Narayan and wondered if I should invent a name for my hometown, just like Malgudi. After some thought, I decided to leave it as Vizag. The great man is certainly an influence.

Q You said your colleagues expected you to write a C++ guide. When can we expect that, hopefully with a dash of romance thrown in?

A What about How To Chat Up Girls For C++ Developers: A 21-day programme? That should get me a small but dedicated readership. The only problem is a lack of practical knowledge (and not in C++) that will need to be remedied with research. It will serve as a good excuse when my wife asks me what I am doing at the next book launch party I go to.

About The Author

Sohini Chattopadhyay