Call Me Dan by Anish Trivedi - A novel about a non-hero in modern India

Recently chosen by the Hindu as a ‘PrintPick’ in fiction - Anish Trivedi’s debut novel ‘Call Me Dan’ is causing a stir amongst readers and critics alike. Wry, cynical, funny - it tells the tale of modern India through the eyes of call centre employee and seemingly doomed Casanova, Gautam Joshi or as he likes to go by, Daniel - the suave alter ego that he’s able to live vicariously through.

‘Call Me Dan’ is a no-frills portrait of India’s confused Generation Y - where it would seem the age of 30 is now the new 21, and matters of love and success always seem to be up in the air. Gautam Joshi is misanthropic protagonist who mirrors a  generation of young Indian men who lap up professional (and sexual) opportunities that were once not available to their fathers and yet scoff at the fact they’re still living in their father’s home. It is the story of the average Indian Joe coming to terms with the fact that most of us are not cut out to be super stars, but rather, destined to a life of inadequacy.

In the words of the author; “Gautam Joshi is not a wizard, nor a great warrior. But then no one is. Not anymore. He is just a funny man, with funny thoughts, and were he to look at it closely enough for a moment, a funny life. That is who we are. Men and women with flaws, faults and failures. And it is these stories that tell the world about the world in which we live.”* The novel roots itself in a burgeoning lower middle class who welcome the influx of western influence and at the same time grapple with the traditional Indian values they’ve been brought up on.  It’s the new age Indian dichotomy, where a girl is labeled a ‘half naked bar girl’ by her mother because she wears a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and yet, she is also a professional with a respectable job and stable income, who doesn’t rely on an arranged marriage as a future investment prospect.

‘Call Me Dan’ is so authentic in its nuances you can literally smell the thick Bombay air. The choppy dialogue is drenched in sarcasm coupled with hilarious first person commentary, emphasizing racy themes of a modern India flipping the bird at a bygone era and all the people who come from it. Far from pretentious, Trivedi’s style is a class above the run of the mill popcorn literature coming out of India… there probably won’t be a snazzy Bollywood movie adaptation of this, but the book is refreshing because of its conventional subjects and works for perfect easy reading.

Anish Trivedi might not light a path of inspiration or even urge the reader to find ‘true’ love, but he will have you laughing and more importantly empathizing, because in someway or the other, we’ve all been in Gautam’s shoes (maybe not so much his sexcapades as his life in general). And it’s not just Gautam; it’s his sister, his girlfriend, his parents, his drinking buddies, his co workers… these are characters we can well and truly connect with. Stripped down, these characters are essentially us, you and me.

In Pic: Anish Trivedi at Call Me Dan's Mumbai launch

*Excerpt taken from Anish Trivedi’s column “The Everyman” in the August 2010 issue of Elle Magazine

In an exclusive interview with Flipkart - Anish Trivedi discusses his diverse professional background, the emergence of a new India, the western effect on traditional Indian values, three reasons why we should read ‘Call Me Dan,’ the key to finding true love (or not), his decision to write fiction instead of nonfiction and much more…

Wall Street suit, radio jock, TV anchor, media guru - you’re someone with a lot of things to say with a wide variety of experience, but for those who aren’t familiar with you, who is Anish Trivedi?
I guess Anish Trivedi is now someone who does what he enjoys. The experience, whether it was as a partner at a Wall Street investment bank, or as a VJ, has helped in fostering my somewhat jaundiced view of the world. I’m cynical, I’m suspicious, I’m convinced there is no goodness in human nature. But I like being a chronicler of life around me. The characters in my plays, and my novel, ‘Call Me Dan,’ lead lives that are no fantasy, they are as real as the ones we all have, hoping in this slightly imperfect world to find some moments of joy. I guess I am too.

From investment banking to every facet of media - now an acclaimed writer, is there a reason you are constantly reinventing your career path?
Finishing university in the 80’s meant following a career path that was pretty narrow. With degrees in economics and international relations, I went down the banking route, ending up 15 years later as a partner at Oppenheimer on Wall Street. Fortunately there was enough madness in me that let me say, after those 15 years, that I was going to make a hobby a profession. I love radio, always have, so from hosting one of the most listened-to shows on the air at the time, to running a business with my partner, Dipika Roy, that programmes and runs radio stations around the world, I keep that part of me constant. Television was a natural extension, but apart from a stint as a VJ on Channel V’s Mangta Hai, most of the work I’ve done there has been anchoring business shows for CNBC, CNN and PBS.  And of course there’s the writing, whether it’s the columns and articles in publications, or the plays, or now a novel. If it seems like it’ll be fun and it seems like I’ll do it reasonably well, I’ll try it. Of course, since I’m no longer an investment banker, my father thinks I’m unemployed.

Who or what gave you the final push to publish your first novel?
The fact that I bound myself to a contractual obligation and cashed a cheque for an advance! Penguin took a huge bet in commissioning me to write a book without a word being put on paper. I think I started writing a novel 12 years ago, but never got past the first paragraph. Fortunately. Had I actually written that, it would have languished unpublished all these years, and I’d never have sat down to write ‘Call Me Dan’. This time, my editor Prita Maitra, who was then at Penguin, convinced me it was time to try again. She got me to agree, got me to sign a contract, and then waited patiently for a year until I finally started writing.

Three reasons why we should pick up ‘Call Me Dan’ and give it a read.
First, it’s a novel about India today, about a generation that will fuel this country going forward. It’s set in Mumbai, but the story is true of any city. It’s urban life, urban love, in today’s world. And we’re all looking for life and love no matter where we live. Second, it’s a funny book. I didn’t start off trying to write a funny story, I didn’t see this in the humour genre, but it just happens that the protagonist is a funny guy in a funny world, even though at times it seems like it’s falling apart. Third, this is us, you and me. These are people we know, people we like, people we sometimes want to be, sometimes wish we weren’t.

In a nutshell - could you tell us the basic premise of ‘Call Me Dan’?
In a nutshell? Young man looks for love, happiness and a better life in a changing world, a changing society. Just as India is going through a shift economically, culturally and socially, the lives of an entire generation are caught in flux. On the one hand there is the tradition in which we are steeped which still shapes our lives, particularly in our homes and with our families; on the other there is the economic independence that India’s youth now have, something that was never available to their parents, something that empowers them in ways that were never possible; and then there is the change in society around us, where it is socially acceptable for a couple to hold hands and kiss in a crowded bar in the presence of their friends, but not at home in front of their families. Gautam is growing up in this world, and he’s hoping to make the most of it while coping with the change around him.

How much of Gautam’s/Dan’s experiences can you personally relate to… was there someone in particular you had in mind when you developed his character?
I know it’s not supposed to happen in a first novel, that I should have delved into my life to come up with characters and situations, but there is nothing autobiographical in ‘Call Me Dan’. The people, the things they do, the things that happen to them, they’re entirely fictitious. Isn’t that what a novelist is supposed to have? Imagination? Otherwise we’d just push out those first novels that chronicle our lives, and then find we’ve run out things to say.

Call centres have become the setting of choice for the new generation of Indian authors - why do you think this industry continues to fascinate the Indian readership?
‘Call Me Dan’ really has very little to do with the call centre industry. The protagonist works in one, which allows me to give him the duality in some parts of his life, but I think that would have been equally possible had he worked at a bank. It’s about life, not life in a call centre.

One of the main themes in ‘Call Me Dan’ is the amalgamation of western culture in India and the conflict it poses on traditional Indian values - what’s your personal perception of this and it’s effect on the urban Indian? Should we be welcoming of the fact that the new generation would much rather eat a Maharaja Mac in McDonalds over a vada pav from a local street vendor?
I think we give the new generation too little credit for knowing what they want. I think they’re as comfortable eating at a street cart as they are drinking in a bar or having coffee at Costa. The fact that they have both the vada pav and the Maharaja Mac available to them says more for the economic change that we’re witnessing in the country than a social one. The conflict that remains in their lives is the one Gautam faces in ‘Call Me Dan’; of a dichotomy in values in his world. His life is one that includes the occasional one night stand, but his sister should be considering an arranged marriage. His Catholic girlfriend has to contend with constant reminders that her family is most displeased about her dating a Gujarati man. They both are slightly uncomfortable with pre-marital sex, but see nothing wrong in letting their friends know they’re sleeping together. The change that we face is cultural, not commercial.

The arranged marriage vs the one night stand - two very different means to find true love, and another inner conflict (if you will) posed in your book, what’s your personal opinion on the state of finding true love in India. Is it as easy as mommy and daddy finding us the perfect match? Do you think there is a little more to it?
Oh, hell, I’m a firm believer in true love, in love at first sight, in the durability of a commitment made. But then I’m a closet romantic under the cynicism. I think we all look for that one person who is going to make our lives complete, and sometimes life surprises us and actually lets us find her or him. An arranged marriage may well lead to love, certainly some level of affection, but that’s a benefit that isn’t uppermost in most couples’ minds when they enter matrimony because their parents found them a match. And I somehow suspect that the one night stand is more a means to slaking lust than finding true love, unless men and women have changed drastically since I was last anywhere close to that situation. I think love is an absolute. If you find it, it is all you need, all you want. And I think it’s the one thing we should never stop seeking.

Unlike many CEOs and industry leaders who feel the need to pen down their own life stories, or their own philosophies - why did you take the plunge into fiction instead of nonfiction?
I have no illusion that my life is of any interest to a reading public. Nor are my personal philosophies. For me writing about those would be self-indulgence. I’d rather write a book that people want to start, and finish, reading because they get pleasure from it.

Every writer has their own process - what are your quirky habits when you sit down and get writing?
None that you’d consider too quirky. I go for walks while constructing the pages ahead in my mind, then I sit down to write them. But I do like a cigar while I’m writing. It helps me think.

What have been some of the books that have changed your life and why?
When I was young enough to be impressionable, I had a tutor who said to me, “Don’t read good books. Life is too short. Read the best.” Good advice. If you’ve chosen well, every book changes your life in some way.

Which authors have inspired you to become a published writer?
None that I can name, in that sense. There are always words that I will read and wish that I had written them. But if I am to give credit for my writing, it’s not to another author, but to my partner Dipika Roy. She goaded me into writing my first play, worked with me until it worth putting on stage, and then agreed to act in it. She did the same with the next play. And then convinced Prita that I was a good writer and one that Penguin should consider adding to their catalogue.

Are there any Indian authors in particular you think are special?
There are a number of Indian authors whose work I like. But special? I think special is a word you use when you talk about Shakespeare and Steinbeck. I’m a big fan of authors from another age.

Is there any advice you would give budding writers looking to get their story out?
It’s probably a bit early for me to be giving advice, as a first time novelist myself. But I will say this: write for yourself. I began writing weekly columns in newspapers, and found I enjoyed writing, and that I could find a style that appealed to me and to my readers. That led to the plays, and finally to Call Me Dan. None of my writing is thought through with an audience in mind. If it does find readers, that’s terrific. If it finds readers that enjoy it, that’s even better. But you have to love your own work. Unless you do, you’re never going to be any good at it.

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Mumbai Boss’ review of ‘Call Me Dan’ by Deepanjana Pal

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