The life of a hangman

BROODING. Dark. Intense. Three words that could sum up the mind of this individual. Except that somewhere there are flashes of tenderness. Left to describe himself, Shashi Warrier would perhaps insist that he is one with a dark forbidding mind; qualities that make him one of India's better known thriller writers. But there is an aberration - he also writes for children. Then, can he be all that dark and forbidding? "Writing for children is an escapism," says Warrier, "It is something that takes me away from the usual line of thought."

With Night Of The Krait, The Orphan and The Sniper, he managed to get a foothold in the literary world but it was his most recent work, The Hangman's Journal, that pushed Warrier into the limelight.

In an unusual plot, Warrier, mixing fact with fiction, traces the innermost life and thoughts of a man whose daily business was the business of death. "After working on this book there are many questions in my mind. A book like this makes you look at your own fear of dying and you suddenly realise that you must let go," says Warrier. "It was a long, and sometimes arduous, one year that made me finally write the book. There was much research involved but the main thing was to get the right feel of the man and his life." The Hangman's Journal does not set out to evoke any sympathy. Instead, it places the sequence of events in a rather unusual life where there were no friends and no foes. There was only the overwhelming stench of death.

Recently in Delhi for the launch of the book, the soft spoken, bearded Warrier spoke to SUCHITRA BEHAL about the character of the hangman and what the book meant to him. Excerpts from the interview.

This is a rather unusual storyline. How did you decide on it?

Let me say that the seed of this book did not originate from me. The editors at Penguin saw a news item on the hangman of Meerut and it struck them that it would make a good storyline. They approached me and that is how I came to work on the book. Except that instead of Kallu the hangman I have written on Janardhan Pillai who was the hangman at Travancore.

Why did they approach you? Do you have dark thoughts?

I spend a lot of time brooding. I am given to dark thoughts and I think that is why they chose me. I must add here that once I decided to do the book I had a practical reason for choosing Janardhan Pillai. It was the proximity of the place to where I stay (Kerala). I knew about executions in Travancore, which, historically, had its own untouched set of rituals, and that tradition and ritual had continued for a long time.

Did Janardhan Pillai have a family?

I met his widow, three children and a brother. All his children have blue collar jobs and will never have to starve. His marriage to the woman of his choice was very unusual at that time. She was a Christian and he a Hindu. She converted out of her own choice. People of that age group and at that time were not very demonstrative of their affections but within the limits they were a very caring couple. He was not a very articulate man and from what I gathered he was a bit of a chauvanist.

How did his wife feel about his profession?

What could they do, she said. Once you kill one then you cannot get away. That was the case with him. Once he started, there was never any question in his mind about it. I think for this one has to go back to the famine in 1942. I have to do this to survive. To a man like Pillai, it was never a question of doubt - though there was some amount of self-flagellation. He actually began to question the divinity of the king much later.

So what kind of a life did he have?

Each time he did his job, he suffered. He used to kill a rooster the first thing that morning. It was a ritual handed down to him from his father, from the priest.

After the event, did he share any of his thoughts with his drinking buddies?

One thing that he did discuss with them were his feelings for the king - he had a sense of betrayal, he was disappointed and a little bitter. But towards the end of his life, he seemed to have found some kind of resolution to his conflicts.

How long did the book take and once you started working on it, did you feel you did the right thing?

It took a year and a half. There were a lot of ups and downs. Often I felt it was too morbid a book. A book like this makes you look at your own fear of dying. Then there were times when there was a feeling of quiet elation. But this is the kind of story that leads to a tremendous amount of introspection.

Today, authors are being marketed like products. How do you feel four books later considering the fact that you are a late starter on the circuit?

No, no I have never done the rounds. There are some outstanding success stories like Arundhati Roy who produced a high quality book. Others are not so good and, therefore, need a push. In the long run I think marketing is a good thing.

What did you do before you took to writing?

I was the CEO in a software firm and my job was keeping everyone happy. I did not think that was a very good way to go about things. Between 1985 and 1990, I spent a lot of time going around getting contracts in India and abroad, so I travelled quite a bit. But by the time I was in my mid-thirties, I found my recovery time from various injuries to be getting slower - my reflexes eventually got worse and so did myeyesight.

What about money? Writing does not bring in that much, does it?

Money is not that important as long as you have enough to go by with.

Must a writer suffer in order to produce a good book?

This is most visible in the field of art. Some of the best works have come after great tragedies. As for me, my best writing has been done when I have felt down. But the fact also remains that you can be so miserable and produce nothing.

What are your views on the Commonwealth awards and other forms of recognition? Do you think it is unfair to pit a known name against a relatively new one?

Well, let us look at something like a cult book. You do not have to be an established name to write a terrific book. There are different categories for different kinds of writing and I think that takes care of it. Look at someone like me. With every book I write, I hope to get better. But some of these people are geniuses.

What has been your experience with A Hangman's Journal?

This book has taught me a few lessons. I have learnt that when I write simple it is better. Keep it honest and it is readable. The book has changed my life. I learnt that you have to drop things in life ... let them go.

Are you working on anything else now?

I am working on two or three ideas. One is a thriller on the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). How these men work very subtly on the minds of people. I am looking into the pychological aspect: How do you get hold of a person, how do you build linkages and, eventually, how does all that fit?

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