: From Farrukh Dhondy’s memoir: A blow hot blow cold encounter with VS Naipaul #IndiaNEWS I first encountered VS Naipaul – or, at any rate, his way of thinking – in his first book about India,

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From Farrukh Dhondy’s memoir: A blow hot blow cold encounter with VS Naipaul #IndiaNEWS
I first encountered VS Naipaul – or, at any rate, his way of thinking – in his first book about India, An Area of Darkness. I wasn’t to encounter the man himself till years later. In London, through my friend and painter Tarun Bedi, I met Naipaul’s younger brother Shiva Naipaul. On occasional evenings, over drinks in a pub, the persistent political argument or difference between me and Shiva would be the inevitable topic – he had not a distrust but a deep contempt for any left-wing sentiment or idea. His mockery of socialists didn’t seem to derive from any firm commitment to capitalistic or feudalistic principles or espousal of conservatism but seemed a visceral reaction. It was as though he had inherited the conviction as people of faith or ultra-nationalists do. It was much later that it occurred to me that his seemingly instinctive stances were reflections or imitations of those his elder brother held. I eventually met Vidia when we shared a platform at Warwick University for a forum on some literary topic. We made our contributory speeches, were asked questions and then audience and speakers were invited for a drink. I didn’t quite interact with him outside of this, but he told...Read more

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