Karan Bajaj’s latest book, The Seeker, traces the journey of a New York banker who goes to the Himalayas to become a yogi. It is through the protagonist that he seeks to find the answers that would end suffering in the world, he tells Shrabasti Mallik
Tell us something about your third book, The Seeker.
It is something I have not written before. If I were to categorise it into any genre, I would call it a spiritual thriller, because this genre has not been explored before. Spiritual books are full of advice and I wanted to make sure that the internal journey of the character is reflected in a very powerful external adventure.
How does the protagonist, Max go from being brought up in a drug inflicted neighbourhood, to becoming a banker with Wall Street and end up on a soul searching mission in the HimalayasIJ
He embarks on that journey because of his back story. Max is a German American who comes from an underprivileged family residing in the Bronx area of New York. The area is a hub for druggies, illegal activities and is very shoddy. He has seen suffering all his life and when he comes to terms with Wall Street money, he is transported. But the fact remains that he has seen a lot of ill in the world. He comes to face with this universal question that we all ask ourselves once in life, “Why is there so much suffering in this worldIJ” and, “Why some people have it good and why some don’tIJ” His mother’s death propels him to seek the answers. That’s when he goes down to the Himalayas and so I have tried to make it kind of like a throbbing external journey as much as possible of the character.
Your earlier books have references to spiritual journeys as well.
They were references but I have not really done a full spiritual book. All the books have an underlying Buddhist trend. There is always a little bit of Buddhist angle. The way I think about it, it is kind of man’s journey and his evolution. I believe in the Yoga Sutras ethos that, “Man’s purpose is first evolution, then involution: an eagle in perfect rhythm flaps its wings high, then brings them down gracefully. If it kept flapping higher, its wings would break. If it always kept its wings down, it would never experience flight.” But in all my books there is a dominant theme of a man finding himself in the end.
Do your characters bear resemblance to anyone you know personallyIJ
Every fiction is emotionally autobiographical. An author’s deepest motivations comes across the character’s. Mine were quite similar, I did not come from a poor background as such, but growing up in India I was exposed to a lot of stuff. So those questions have always been at the back of my mind. Kind of similar to the character, my mother had a very terrible decline from cancer for over three years. She went through a very drastic physical decline before she died and I was very present there during the entire time. I witnessed the whole act of her body declining and it was immediate and I was young enough to be bothered by it because it was the first death I had seen at such close quarters. And those questions became very immediate for me to answer.So then Terri and I took a sabbatical for a year. So much of the novel is inspired by that but I haven’t heavily fictionalized it. I believe that fiction is reality without the boring pieces.
Your blog describes you as a striving yogi.
The eastern spirituality has always been of interest to me since IIM, 2002. I have been reading a lot about it but it was never up and center, it was always at the back of my mind. Then seeing my mother decline and the question as to why this happens became very immediate for me to answer, what is the true cause of suffering in the world. It was while I was searching for those answers that I truly got into meditation and yoga. Those questions kind of prompted the journey.We were in ashrams in India for two three months in Madurai learning yoga and becoming teachers ourselves. We were also in the Himalayas for a month, learning silent meditation and stuff. Everything that the character does has some reflections from my life. In fiction you have to tale leaps of fantasy to keep your story from becoming boring.The way to express deep thoughts in fiction is not to write it in a philosophical manner, it is best to write it in the context of a character with whom you can connect with and his journey.
Your style of writing is very different in books and in your blogs, which are more informative.
It is not very unlinked from each other in a way because I believe that the best way to communicate any kind of message is to do it in the context of a story. Humans understand stories rather than theory because you can connect with characters more than you connect with theory and reason. You don’t fully embrace philosophy. A character’s struggle to answer a question is very emotional and that strikes a chord with the readers.It is very dry to talk about yoga and meditation but it is much more engaging when I talk about it in the context of a character and a story. It is kind of linked to me, it is my way of providing information in a way that is exciting that makes you connect and touches your heart. The information is the same, but it is packaged differently. The protagonist becomes a way for you to experience that information.
Would you call yourself an instinctive writerIJ
Yes, very much. If you see all the three books, none of them are in a particular genre. I write what I feel and it is all about the things happening very actively in my life. I am not a planned writer; I cater to what is burning in my heart and pour it into paper. For this book what was very dominant in my heart was my spiritual awakening. I write in the present state with no audience and commerce in mind.
Was it your plan to become a writerIJ
I wanted to write after I started living a life which was worth writing about. Since I got involved in pushing the boundaries of life, writing became important and I wanted to express it. I took a year-long sabbatical; I went backpacking across Europe and travelled to many parts of the world. In India, it is not the norm in India to leave everything and undertake a long journey and that is why I wanted to share it.
Any plans of turning your stories into moviesIJ
Both the movie rights of my first two books are sold. The first was auctioned by UTV Motion Pictures but it never saw the light of day. The second, Johnny Gone Down, is in its pre-production stage. The rights belong to a German producer based in Hollywood. He happened to pick the book up at an Indian airport and expressed his wish to turn it into a movie. It is going to be a very expensive movie because it is based in multiple places including Cambodia, so it will take time to put things together.
photo Sanjeev Kumar