My Science School

Aravind Adiga made headlines more than 12 years ago when he won the Man Booker Prize in 2008. Aged 33 at the time, he became the second-youngest author to win the coveted literary prize. Before him, Ben Okri won it at the age of 32 in 1994. Eleanor Catton (25) is the youngest-ever, having won the prize in 2013.

And the fact that Adiga was a first-time author cemented his place among the literary greats. Today, there is hardly a reader in India who has not heard about Adiga and the White Tiger (even if they have not read it.)

Early life

Adiga was born in Chennai on October 23, 1974. Later, he moved to Mangalore (Mangaluru) with his family. Growing up in the provincial town, Adiga’s mother, Usha helped him cultivate a healthy reading habit. Since it was expensive to buy books, he joined a circulating library that would lend books at a nominal rate. Like other children his age, Adiga devoured comics and Hardy Boys. But he was getting bored with the typical fare for young adult readers. On the recommendation of a librarian, Adiga read Oscar Wilde and Agatha Christie. Christie’s unique narrative technique – using the murderer as a narrator in the Murder of a Roger Ackroyd – fascinated him. It inspired his Booker winning debut novel The White Riger.

Soon even the library had nothing more to offer the avid reader and so, Adiga started combing through his grandfather’s cupboards to find new titles to read. He was not disappointed. His grandfather, a local lawyer, kept his cupboards well-stocked with the works of prominent British writers Somerset Maugham, G.K. Chesterton, G.B. Shaw, and J.B. Priestley.

Tragedy strikes

At 16, Adiga lost his mother and suddenly his world turned upside down. Leaving behind his beloved town, Adiga moved to Australia along with his father. Holding a dual citizenship of India and Australia, Adiga spent some of his teenage years in Parramatta in Sydney, where he attended The James Ruse Agricultural High School.

Mangaluru and Sydney were worlds apart, but writing helped Adiga cope with his new environment. He devoted himself to writing and often spent whole nights typing away on his computer.

Journalism years

Adiga’s clarity of ideas, freshness of approach and exceptional grasp of topics earned him praise from his teachers. He went onto study English Literature at Columbia University in New York and then at Magdalen College, Oxford. Despite spending years abroad, he felt the pull to return to India. And so after graduation, he started working as a financial journalist in the capital. Working with Financial Times, he covered the dynamic world of stock markets and investments and later contributed to Time magazine in Delhi. But the desire to become a writer was so strong that he quit his job and moved to Mumbai to focus on writing.

Maximum city

Living in a dingy one bedroom apartment in the crowded suburb of Santacruz, Adiga hoped that the Maximum city would be his muse. The British Council library in Nariman Point, Prithvi Café in Juhu and small Udupi restaurants became his daily haunts. The city helped him discover his voice as a writer and soon, he gained international recognition for his first book, The White Tiger about a rickshaw puller’s son rising from the depths of poverty in rural India to becoming an entrepreneur in Bengaluru. It paints a scathing picture of the corruption and greed rampant in the country.

His subsequent works Last Man in Tower and Selection Day paid ode to the City of Dreams, Mumbai. In Last Man in Tower, Adiga captures the harsh realities of Mumbai’s real-estate market, while he focusses on the aspirations of its young in Selection Day.

His latest book, Amnesty, is a tale about an ‘illegal’ migrant from Sri Lanka who is caught in a moral dilemma in Australia.

Oh Really?

• Adiga was a state topper in his Class X board examinations.


• His mother, Usha, inculcated a love of reading in the young Adiga.


• As a financial journalist, Adiga once interviewed the current U.S. President Donald Trump.


• In 2008, Adiga became the second-youngest writer to win the £50,000 Man Booker award.


• In 2017, his novel Selection Day was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. The book has been adapted into a Netflix series starring Mahesh Manjrekar and Ratna Pathak.

 

Picture Credit : Google

It’s not every day that you hear of an author of adrenaline-fuelled conspiracy novels turning to children’s writing and music. But then Dan Brown always does things differently.

Growing up, he lived on the campus of his school, Phillips Exeter Academy, New Hampshire, where his father Richard taught mathematics. His parents’ decision to not keep a television set in the House forced Brown and his siblings to turn to puzzles and crosswords for entertainment.

Love for riddles

On birthdays and Christmases, the entire family took part in treasure hunts designed by their father. They eagerly pored over riddles and maps to find clues carefully hidden around the house. Racing from one clue to the next, the joy of finally locating their gifts – a shiny new bicycle, a favourite book or a cherished toy – would elicit shrieks of delight.

Besides solving puzzles, Brown enjoyed playing the piano. He was part of the Amherst College Glee Club, which was a singing group. His mother Constance too was a trained church organist. After graduation, Brown decided to become a musician. He produced songs for children – some of them such as Suzuki Elephants and Happy Frog became popular – and later went on to launch his own record company. He even moved to Hollywood to pursue a carrer as a singer-songwriter and pianist, but did not meet with much success.

A thrilling start

Brown took up a job as an English teacher at his alma mater, Phillip Exeter Academy. Reading Sidney Sheldon’s The Doomsday Conspiracy on a lazy vacation inspired him to try his hand at writing a thriller. Tapping into his passion for cryptography and riddles, Brown penned Digital Fortress, a techno-thriller that explores the theme of government surveillance of electronically stored information on the private lives of citizens. Its success led him to quit his job as a teacher and focus on writing full-time. His knowledge of art history and religion helped him come up with The Da Vinci Code, the second book to feature the character of Robert Langdon, a symbology expert. The book became an instant success and is credited with renewing interest in Da Vinci’s work and secret societies, as well as spiking tourism to Paris and Rome. It was adapted into a film in 2006 starring the inimitable Tom Hanks as Langdon.

Changing tack

Brown’s books usually explore the intriguing world of secret societies, saints, deities, poets, architects, code-breakers and symbologists. With a desire to share his love for music and mysteries with kids, he has now forayed into children’s literature. His picture book is wild Symphony, scheduled to release in September. The book is about a mouse who is a musical conductor. Staying true to Brown’s love for codes, the book will include different types of clues and puzzles. Readers can find anagrams that spell a musical instrument when placed in the right order. The book also promises a unique reading experience as it combines reading with music. Using an app on your phone, you will be able to play the right song for every animal.

Giving back

Brown has always acknowledged the role of his alma mater Phillips Exeter in shaping his life. His family makes frequent donations to the school to provide financial support to underprivileged students. In 2004, the family set up the Richard G. Brown Technology Endowment to give computers to children in need.

OH REALLY?

• Have you read Danielle Brown? Dan Brown used this pseudonym to co-author a book with his wife Blythe. It was called 187 Men to Avoid: A Survival Guide for the Romantically Frustrated Woman


• The Chapter 23 in The Da Vinci Code contains some events that are a part of Brown’s childhood. The book jacket even contains puzzles that give hints about its sequel.


• Brown uses inversion therapy – hanging upside down using gravity boots – to get ideas when he experiences writer’s block.

 

Picture Credit : Google