Kashmiri Talent flourishes in Alien lands

KS Correspondent

JAMMU, Mar 28: Poet Iqbal once said in a lighter vein to Prem Bhatia, the former Editor-in-Chief of the Tribune, that exile from homeland has given new meaning to the talent of Kashmiris. He argued that had he and Moti Lal Nehru stayed put in Kashmir, Nehru would have been a district level pleader, while he himself would have been a poet known at district level only. These remarks of the famous poet, who often prided in his ancestry from Saproo Pandit family, retain relevance even today.

In the field of languages Braj B Kachru (USA), Aga Shahid Ali (USA), ML Raina (Chandigarh), Suvir Koul (Delhi) etc have carved out a niche for themselves. The latest to join this club is Hari Kunzru, a 31-year old Kashmiri, who holds British citizenship.

Hari Kunzru, working as a Journalist for wired magazine and the Daily Telegraph suddenly shot into prominence, when he landed a massive contract worth $ 12.5 million for a two-book deal following the draft of a novel he submitted less than a month ago. The books are yet to be published. Hari secured $ 750,000 for the American rights (Dulton-a division of Penguin) and $ 50,000 for the European rights from Hamish Hamilton (Penguin). The draft manuscript was submitted to publishers in the first week of March 2001. Three days later he received the first offer. Three publishers competed in the British auction for the book. Without concealing his joy, Kunzru remarked, “I never expected anything like this and I’m overjoyed. I just hope the positive reaction from the publishers will translate into a positive reaction from the public”. Johnny Geller of Curtis Brown, an agent for the book commented, “This book has become a phenomenon. It has really caught the imagination of the book world and everybody wants to publish it. More popular fiction may have made more money but this is a huge payment for a literary novel. The book itself is accessible, funny and a great story.” Kunzru, whose manuscript became the subject of a transatlantic bidding war, has been quoted as having said that Hollywood filmmakers had expressed a lot of interest in buying the rights.

The draft manuscript is entitled “The Impressionist,” which Kunzru describes as “Midnight’s children meets Tom Jones”. It is his third attempt at writing a novel. Set in the 1920s, “the Impressionist” is the story of a half English illegitimate child who is disowned by his Indian family. The child travels to UK, where after getting trained as an anthropologist he moves on to Africa.

Hari Kunzru, who lives in South London belongs to the distinguished Kunzru family. He was born to a Kashmiri father and English mother. His father Dr Krishan Mohan Nath Kunzru, an Orthopaedician migrated from Agra to London in the mid 1960s. Hari was educated at Bancroft School in Woodford Green and later at Wadham College, Oxford. Hari’s illustrious grand-father, late Hriday Nath Kunzru was a leading legal luminary and a celebrated name in India’s anti-colonial struggle. Great institution builder, HN Kunzru helped set up Sapru House (Indian Council of World Affairs) for the research scholars from the country and abroad.

HN Kunzru loved his homeland and his community immensely. Every year he would visit Kashmir and stay with Sapru family. His concern over discrimination meted out to his community after 1947 in Kashmir was more genuine then that expressed by many of his other colleagues. HN Kunzru’s ancestors had also migrated around the same time as Nehrus’. As the surname indicates, this distinguished family migrated from Kunzar, a village in the Tang Marg area of North Kashmir.

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