The Indian publishing industry has flourished considerably in the last few decades. It got a boost when international publishers like Penguin, Harper Collins, Hachette and others entered the market. A Scrapbook of Memories offers an insider’s view about book publishing in India. Written by Ashok Chopra, currently the chief executive of Hay House Publishers India, it is an account of his encounters and associations with people from varied backgrounds — authors, writers, poets, singers, actors, filmmakers, artists.
Beginning with a chapter on Chandigarh, where he studied and got his first job, Chopra talks about finding the love for the written word in the city. He describes Chandigarh, in terms of colours, as rosy with a tinge of light green. Apart from Chandigarh, Chopra talks about three more cities — Shimla, Delhi and Kolkata. He laments about changes in the first, not only in name (Simla to Shimla) but also in landscape (lush green to dull grey) as well. Chopra draws a comparison between Delhi and Kolkata, which are the major book markets in the Indian subcontinent.
Going down memory lane, Chopra brings forth numerous stories about his friendships, working relationships, associations and a few disappointments; of how he pursued people to write and then acquired manuscripts. There are interesting accounts of Balwant Gargi, Begum Akhtar, M.F. Hussain, Dom Moraes, Dev Anand, Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, Khushwant Singh, I.S. Johar, Zail Singh, Shobhaa De, Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar.
As a publisher, Chopra regrets that he could not publish two books in particular — Khushwant Singh’s translations of Iqbal’s Shikwa and Jawab-i-Shikwa and Dev Anand’s autobiography. The first was published in June 1981 by Oxford University Press, then headed by Ravi Dayal, Singh’s son-in-law. And Chopra has not forgiven himself for losing Anand’s Romancing with Life, as he had urged the actor to write his autobiography.
He talks about waiting 24 long years to publish Dilip Kumar’s autobiography, The Substance and the Shadow, which came out last year. The most surprising part is about actor and filmmaker I.S. Johar whom Chopra terms ‘sex obsessed’. He recalls the contents of Johar’s autography, which never saw the light of the day. “It was like a blue film on paper — enjoyable for the first few minutes or so, sick after that.He had churned out 50,000 words or so on his sexual orgies and each one was more descriptive than the previous one, with graphic details and names of all the ladies involved with him — big or small, known or unknown.” Chopra has also written about his interactions with another Bollywood veteran Raaj Kumar, well-known for his eccentricities.
Talking about poetry, Chopra argues that, though writing poetry in English is in fashion, there are hardly any takers. His reason is that much of Indian poetry in English is vapid and further adds that, as English is not our language, ‘poets’ are incapable of expressing emotions with depth. His observations about religion, gods, godmen/women are interesting too.
Chopra calls publishing both an art and a business where market acceptability is the final criterion of excellence. He classifies book releases into two types: genuine releases where the publisher organises the event and vanity releases where the author has to bear all the expenses though the invites go out in the publisher’s name.
Chopra ends by talking about publishing as a career and says it is not for those who are eager to earn money quickly or make a name but for those who are interested in books. He has not minced words while describing people he has met or worked with. Forthright and honest in his narration, the book is truly a ‘journey with, and through the written word’.
(Published in The Hindu)