The man whose day job involves living in a world of numbers spoke to Shana Maria Verghis about the last book in his trilogy, City of Devi, set in a futuristic Mumbai
It took Manil Suri around twelve years to complete the third part of a trilogy which includes Death of Vishnu and Age of Shiva. Suri, who has another life as a mathematician, shared that he “kept getting stuck”– and he was also going through issues in his personal life, because he is gay, and this book expresses homosexual thoughts very vividly.
Unlike his other ones.
It’s set in Mumbai, the City of the Devi,(by Bloomsbury), where everything is going on.
From communalism to separated lovers.
The plot of the novel is really a love story about someone in search of a missing husband.
Someone else want to meet his boyfriend.
The spouse had reasons of his own for walking out on the relationships. Mainly because he is still in the closet, while his lover has no illusions about his sexual identity and is unabashed about it.
Suri who is based in the US, often visits India and said that he took a walk along a long stretch inn Mumbai followed by Sarita, the woman in the story .
And he “took notes along the way,” of all the sights and sounds.
He also shared that he is currently involved in a maths project to make the subject more visual.
“People expect visual gratification. And the challenge of a novel, is to make it visual enough. I’m trying to create a type of video format. But its still work in process, to make mathematics accessible.”
He added, “Maths is formula. So you must be able to absorb it. In the novel, City of Devi, Sarita’s husband is a statistician.
“My characters are all ordinary people, and their experiences make the sum of he novel.”
Suri went on, “regarding the names of the books, Shiva, Vishnu. I had here the components of the Trimurti, in the form of Karun, Sarita and Karun’s lover Jaz”– who becomes connected to Sarita through the narrative in a very dark way.
“There is also the notion of the past, present and future. All these people are stuck in situations, and they are willing to gamble to find a way out, when they are in love.”
The Goddess figure that rules the city looms in the middle of the landscape.
But she’s a psychedelic futuristic goddess, peddling her deityhood in neon lights. As well as vibrations to her followers who sometimes run amuck, when they get what they think are messages from her.
Suri recalled, “Age of Shiva was written pre-9/11. By the time I came to this one there were new developments between India and Pakistan, which could have been far more dangerous. But as long as the situation is contained, everything is fine.”
He added, “I got the idea for the Superdevi (who could be an Indian female superman) in a movie featured in this book, from Ramayana shown on tv.
“I felt there was some kind of religious resurgence then, that had other forces initiating the wheels. And it led to a change in government.” But he shared, “Primarily, the book is the search for love. Sarita has no clue what’s gone wrong in her marriage.” Except her partner doesn’t seem particularly animated in the bedroom.
Suri recalled that one of the primary incidents that made him feel he must have a second career, apart from an academic one, was watching a fellow mathematician wolfing down a meal.
“He had half of it down the front of his shirt and dribbled all over the place, and his focus was somewhere else. Probably on his work. I felt immediately that I must not turn into the kind of person who doesn’t seem to have much of a life. Or only one kind of life.”
He added its a cliche that mathematicians are genius nuts, wrapped in their little cocoon worlds. “That’s only those who have no social skills.” As for himself, “my modus operandi is to keep working. My first unfinished book was about a mother and son. I give lectures. A friend at Godrej Culture labs wants to gather a think tank.”